Samak, Briefly Thai Premier, Dies

Wall Street Journal, 24 November 2009

Samak Sundaravej, a firebrand politician who briefly served as Thailand’s prime minister but was ousted for simultaneously getting income as host of a popular TV cooking show, died of cancer Tuesday. He was 74.

Mr. Samak died at Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok after a long battle against liver cancer, hospital official Navachamol Sangkaew said. Mr. Samak had sought treatment for the cancer late last year in the United States and kept a low-profile after returning to Thailand.

Known as a straight-talker with a penchant for the profane, Mr. Samak’s political career spanned four decades but many supporters remembered him best for his TV show called “Tasting and Complaining,” a mix of traditional Thai cooking and rants on Mr. Samak’s pet subjects.

It was ultimately Mr. Samak’s TV work that ended his political career, which peaked in December 2007 when he became the country’s 25th prime minister a job that lasted only nine months.

Mr. Samak’s tenure as prime minister coincided with one of the worst political crises in Thailand’s history and followed the September 2006 that ousted Thaksin Shinawatra. Mr. Samak rose to power as the self-proclaimed proxy for Mr. Thaksin, who was living in exile. Mr. Samak became the focus of street rallies by anti-Thaksin protesters who demanded his resignation.

Tens of thousands of protesters stormed the prime minister’s compound in August 2008, but it wasn’t the protesters who led to his ouster.

A court ruled in September 2008 that Mr. Samak’s appearance on his TV cooking show while prime minister and the fact that he had accepted money constituted a conflict of interest. The hasty decision prompted speculation that the court ruled to curtail protests and end Mr. Samak’s divisive tenure, amid fears of another coup. – WSJ

Republished from Wall Street Journal