Thailand to ask Man City FC about Thai flag with name of Thaksin
Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said Tuesday he would contact Manchester City Football Club to investigate how a Thai national flag bearing the name "Thaksin" was displayed at the club's stadium.
Matichon newspaper published a picture of the flag taken as City lost 3-2 to Fulham at the City of Manchester Stadium in the English Premier League last Saturday.
Noppadon said it was a sensitive issue among Thai people. He believed the club would cooperate with the ministry to ban the improper act.
"Thaksin [Shinawatra] is unlikely to be involved in what we saw," he said. It could have been done by City supporters who didn't realise that it was improper to Thais, he added.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said printing the name of "Thaksin" on the national flag was inappropriate. He has asked his aides to look into the matter, but believes local supporters were responsible.
The point was whether Thaksin saw the flag with his name, Samak said. He believed Thaksin would have ordered club officials to take it down if he had seen it because it would ruin his image. Samak urged Thaksin to clarify the incident when he returns to Thailand.
Thaksin's spokeswoman Sansanee Narkphong said the flag could have been placed on the terrace by local supporters. She appealed for Thais to wait until the truth was revealed otherwise they could become the tool of a group who want to ruin Thaksin.
It seems to me that we could apply some Thai logic to this one - if Thaksin wasn't there then it wouldn't have happened, therefore it is Thaksin's fault....
