Banjerd Singkaneti (; ) (born, 11 February 1964) is a Thai legal scholar, a lecturer of law at Thammasat University and a noted critic of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Education and early career

Banjerd completed an LL.B. at Bangkok's

Ramkhamhaeng University Ramkhamhaeng University (RU; , ) is Thailand's largest public university. It was named in honour of King Ramkhamhaeng, one of the 5 children of Por Khun Sri-Intharathitaya and Nang Sueng, who was believed to have created the Thai alphabet and ...

. He received an LL.M. in

public law Public law is the part of law that governs relations and affairs between legal persons and a government, between different institutions within a state, between different branches of governments, as well as relationships between persons that ...

from Thammasat University, followed by a Magister Legum (LL.M.) Doktors der Rechte (Dr.jur.) from

Ruhr-Universität Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. He returned to Thailand after completing his doctorate and now teaches

administrative law Administrative law is a division of law governing the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law includes executive branch rulemaking (executive branch rules are generally referred to as "regul ...

and

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

at Thammasat University.

Criticism of Thaksin Shinawatra

Banjerd was a leader of the

People's Alliance for Democracy The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD; ; commonly known as "Yellow Shirts") was a Thai reactionary, monarchist political movement and pressure group. It was originally a coalition of protesters against Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime M ...

, a group active in 2006 which attempted to bring down the government of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Thaksin Shinawatra Thaksin Shinawatra (, ; born 26 July 1949) is a Thai businessman and politician who was the 23rd prime minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006. Since 2009 he has also been a citizen of Montenegro. Thaksin founded the mobile phone operator A ...

. He famously criticized Thaksin as being even worse than

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

dictator

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

. The Embassy of Israel protested in a letter to the

Bangkok Post The ''Bangkok Post'' is an English-language daily newspaper published in Bangkok, Thailand. It is published in broadsheet and digital formats. The first issue was sold on 1 August 1946. It had four pages and cost one baht, a considerable amount ...

, the English-language newspaper which published Banjerd's statement.

Assect Examination Committee

After a military coup overthrew the government of Thaksin in a coup, the junta appointed Banjerd to the Asset Exemination Committee to investigate allegations of corruption against Thaksin. He was also appointed to the Constitution Drafting Committee prepare a new constitution. During the drafting process, Banjerd said in an interview:

I personally believe in social structure and administration through traditions and customs that we once had in small communities. It’s more real than western-style democracy because people rule by themselves. I firmly believe that we really need to look back into our village life.Bangkok Post

26 February 2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singkaneti, Banjerd Living people Banjerd Singkaneti Banjerd Singkaneti Banjerd Singkaneti Ruhr University Bochum alumni Banjerd Singkaneti Banjerd Singkaneti Scholars of administrative law Scholars of constitutional law 1964 births