Nitiphumthanat Ming-rujiralai

Nitiphoom Naowarat (Thai: นิติภูมิ นวรัตน), born 1960, is a columnist and Senator-elect of the Kingdom of Thailand. He is noted for his anti-privatization, anti-globalization, and anti-GMO views.

Early life, education, and police career

Nitiphoom was born Boonchuay Yoophrom (Thai: บุญช่วย นามสกุล) in Trat province (Thai: ตราด). He graduated with a Bachelors degree from Ramkhamhaeng University. He was admitted to the Police Cadet Academy and graduated in 1985, after which he joined the Thai Police. He resigned from the Thai Police in 1994.

He completed a Masters degrees in political science from Thammasat University in 1991 and a PhD in history from the Institute for Asian and African Studies of the University of Moscow in 1998. .

Political Views

Nitiphoom is a columnist for the best-selling Thai daily newspaper Thai Rath. Some of his noted political views include:

• He claimed the existance of a grouping of radical Muslim militants aiming to create a Southeast Asian Muslim federation. The core idea was to group together part of Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, southern Philippines, northern Australia and southern Thailand into the federation in a bid to counter Western nations in the long run. Nitiphoom, a Muslim himself, opposed the idea.
• Nitiphoom predicted that ethnic and religious strife would split Indonesia into 6-14 countries.
• He predicted that GATT and the WHO would result in Thais ordering rice from Vietnam, garlic from the China, Longan from Korea and that Thai rice would be destroyed by GMOs.
• He predicted that Thailand would split into several countries.

Early political career

Nitiphoom had campaigned successfully for the Parliament in Bangkok's Bang Kapi district under the Prachakorn Thai party of Samak Sunthoravet. He has lost the Provincial Administration Organization (PAO Thai: )election

Campaign for Bangkok Governor

He unsuccessfully campaigned for Governorship of Bangkok in the 2004 elections, but lost, getting only 78,000 votes.He was 6th place with 135,369 votes, loosing to Abhirak Kosayothin. Nitiphoom had promised in his campaign to build urban motorways on which vehicles could accelerate to over 100 KM/h. Nitipoom also promised to improve government schools under the BMA by providing students with better English and Thai-language programmes.

The Mahachon Party

In 2004, after his defeat in the Bangkok Governor elections, Nitiphoom joined the Mahachon party of Sanan Kachornprasart and Anek Laothamthat.. The Mahachon party contested the 2005 legislative elections on an anti-privatization platform and suffered a stunning defeat, winning only 2 out of 500 seats.

Campaign for Senate

Nitiphoom ran in the 2006 Senate elections in Bangkok, the first in Thai history. During the campaign he played a prominent part in anti-Thaksin protests, strongly attacking Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's energy privatization policy. He was one of the 18 winners in Bangkok, getting the highest number of votes (257,420).

After his victory was announced, the Thai Rak Thai Party called for his disqualification on grounds that he campaigned for votes in the anti-Thaksin rallies. Under the elections law, senatorial candidates are banned from campaigning for votes.

Financial dispute scandal

In May 2006, the secretly recorded dialogue of a telephone conversation that Nitiphoom had with a woman caught the attention of the media and the public. The telephone conversation references a THB 200 million venture between the woman and Nitiphoom, and features the woman trying to get Nitiphoom to pay her back THB 20 million. A statement released by the Balance Group, of which Nitiphoom is board chairman, blames a "third party" for trying to destroy Nitiphoom's good name. It was part of a "plot to ruin me" Nitiphoom claimed.

External references

• http://www.nitipoom.com/ Personal website (Thai)