Thaksin remains Thai rural hero despite charges

AT SAMAT, Thailand, Aug 16 (Reuters) Even though Thailand's Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for him this week, ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra remains a hero to the rural poor.

Almost a year after he was deposed in a bloodless coup, farmers in the rice-growing district of At Samat, where Thaksin staged a reality TV show of his visit last year, still talk about the projects he started and the empty promises of his predecessors.

''There had never been a prime minister who paid so much attention to farmers as Thaksin,'' Pradit Saengtamas said by the paddy fields where Thaksin, now in exile, promised to provide an irrigation system that was scrapped after his removal.

During his three-day trip to At Samat, Thaksin prescribed ''integrated'' solutions to tackle poverty and ordered cabinet ministers to give his village ''patients'' what they needed.

Samorn Poteboonmee, 71, said Thaksin -- a former policeman who became a billionaire in the telecoms business, was a man who did what he promised during election campaigns in which he secured two landslide victories.

Samorn, upset by negative coverage of Thaksin on Thai television, said she, like millions of farmers, loved his policies of cheap loans for every village, almost free health care for the poor and his anti-drugs war.

''He said he would eradicate narcotic drugs and he did. But after he was ousted, drugs have returned to every corner and police can't do anything about it,'' Samorn said of the 2003 campaign in which more than 2,500 people were killed.

The post-coup government, which is prosecuting Thaksin for corruption, has reopened a probe into the crackdown, a bloody campaign that outraged human rights groups at the time.

Arrest warrants were issued for Thaksin and his wife, Potjaman, after they failed to show up to answer charges revolving around land she bought at auction from a government agency while he was in power.

VAST RICHES FROZEN Thaksin also faces other corruption charges and more than 1.5 billion dollars of his money in Thai banks has been frozen by an anti-graft panel appointed by the military council that ousted him.

Thaksin, who nevertheless bought English Premier League soccer club Manchester City from exile in London, denies all charges and says he cannot get a fair trial with the military in charge and will return only when democracy is restored.

Villagers said the charges were just a means of getting rid of Thaksin because the generals were jealous of his popularity.

''He had tirelessly dedicated his life work for the people.

Perhaps he did too much for the people, which might have offended some people,'' said farmer Jamras Rojanasom, 52.

His purchase of the football club should be a matter of pride for Thais, they said.

''Thaksin wouldn't have cheated the country to buy a football club,'' said 67-year-old farmer So Tointa.

The government installed by the military, which accused Thaksin of presiding over rampant corruption, says his populist policies might have brought votes and love, but they undermined a strong economy.

''Such a populist approach has weakened the people and is not sustainable,'' said Alan Wonganan, head of a government public relations ''war room''.

But villagers said they would vote for Thaksin or parties dedicated to his policies, even though his Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party was disbanded because of electoral fraud, in elections the government has promised for December.

''I pray for him every day to return to Thailand,'' said 61-year-old Saengjan Poteboonmee, fighting tears.

REUTERS SV VV1559