Thai protest group calls for Singapore goods boycott

Boycotting is so last year...Well 2nd of December 2005 to be exact. Why is the Australian media paying so much attention?
By South-East Asia correspondent Peter Lloyd

A protest movement trying to force the resignation of Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has called for a boycott of products from Singapore.

The purchase of Mr Thaksin's family-run telecommunication business empire by the Singapore government investment arm Temasek sparked big demonstrations after the Prime Minister's family paid no tax on the deal.

The anti-Government protest movement operates under the name of the People's Alliance for Democracy, or PAD.

Today the umbrella group published a list of 100 products or companies it says have ties to Thaksin Shinawatra and called for a consumer boycott.

The list includes Singapore Airlines, several banks and beer companies as well as multinationals with ties to the prime Minister's ruling Thai Rak Thai party.

The PAD is planning another major protest in Bangkok next Tuesday to coincide with the next scheduled meeting of cabinet.

Mr Thaksin says he won't resign and is preparing to fight elections on the second of April.

A boycott of the poll by the three main opposition parties has created a political crisis, and led to calls for Thailand's revered King to appoint an interim prime minister.