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Thaksin
was
a friend and a business partner and after he cheated me out of my business, one of the
first things I had to do was forgive him. I forgave him for everything he had cheated
me out of because I wanted to be free from Thaksin. I didn't want to be Thaksin's prisoner
and he was a master of deceit. Basically, I grew up in Seattle and my older brother
was a pioneer in the cable TV business in the northwest. During the '60s and '70s, I
built a cable system in Renton, Auburn and everything down south of Seattle. I built
that into a successful cable TV business. But, in the late '70s, early '80s, I felt
like I wanted to be a pioneer in the Pacific Rim. So, in the early '80s, I sold my cable
TV business to Westinghouse, which is now part of Comcast. My headquarters is in Honolulu,
HI and I built a cable system in Hawaii and I started to research Australia, Philippines,
Thailand, Korea, all of the U.S. Military bases in the Pacific and the Thai government
approached me in Honolulu and asked me to come to do feasibility study in Thailand for
cable TV. We went there in the mid 1982 to do that research. We put a report in and the
chairman of the MCOT asked us to then put in a proposal. We put a proposal in late 1982.
We put a proposal to the MCOT in the late 1983 and we established an office to put managers
in and we started to build a framing work for cable TV in Thailand. By the late 1985,
we had everything arranged for cable TV but we still needed some frequencies, so at the
point, I was introduced to Thaksin Shinawatra from the chairman of MCOT as a potential partner
that could get those frequencies for me. So, I signed a joint venture with Thaksin in the
late 1985 and we actually put a system on the air in the middle of 1986 and started
to serve the hotels in Bangkok. At that time, the government froze the use of frequencies
because Thaksin haven't followed the proper procedures. Thaksin decided he didn't want
to continue to invest so he sold it back to me. So, I bought his interest out and we continued
to provide CNN in Thailand. During the next two years, Thaksin agreed he would do the
politics for me and late in '89. Thaksin said it was time to put the system back in the
air. So, we did that and negotiating of terms of our agreement and his office said "I am
not going to honor the contract, I'm going to do this cable TV business myself" and I
said "Well, what about all the money I paid you and the contract?" He said. "Oh, this
is Thailand, I can do it!" So, that started a legal battle and it still went all the way
to the Washington State Supreme Court and they said you have to pursue justice in Thailand.
So, we went to the Thai court. Thaksin has been able to corrupt the process and the last
time I went to testify in the case over there, the judge didn't even take our testimony and
a month later, he was working for Thaksin. Thaksin was a master of deceit. He was my
close friend. I was trying to help him and he was trying to help me, he was my partner.
But when he wanted to cheat, then, I was only an employee, I sold him all of the equipment,
he just lied. This indicates what kind of person Thaksin is. Thaksin and his wife was
a cosigner on all of the checks with me, so it's the family and not just Thaksin. I have
felt peace, even though Thaksin because the multi-billionaire and I became poor. I have
something that Thaksin doesn't have. I have peace and I have joy. I have two wonderful
Thai children. That is worth a lot more than billions of dollars. My Thai son is in the
Air Force, he is based in Florida right now and he's a wonderful kid. My daughter is a
straight A student in high school. Even if a man can gain the whole world but lose his
soul, what's he got? Even Thaksin with his billions, he doesn't have peace. He doesn't
have joy. Thailand deserves leadership. Thailand is a wonderful country, wonderful people,
and my example is good leadership
is
the Seahawks. Look at what they've done! And that's because they pursue their excellence
and even though Seattle is diverse
and the Seahawks are diverse, you can see
what good, honest leader can provide
and I
pray
for that for Thailand.