It had seemed like a good commercial decision by Temasek Holdings then to buy up all of Shin Corp in January 2006, but what followed was out of Temasek's hands and their investment is now left hanging in the air.

The Thai government is now in the midst of deciding what to do with Shin Corp and have discussed seizing the satellite that now belongs, technically, to Temasek.

It has since taken over the country's only private TV broadcaster – iTV – and will halt operations there temporarily, but may re-open it under government control soon.

As sorry as you would feel for Temasek, you really should be worrying about where Thailand is heading.

Ever since the junta overthrew then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the interim government introduced measures to halt the westernisation of Thai society.

Newsweek reported the interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont as saying they want to “maximise happiness, not growth”.

Chulanont said these measures were drawn from King Bhumibol Adulyadej's advocacy of “sufficiency” in Thai life, but others have a different name for it – Buddhist economics.

In Thailand's case, politics should not be mixed with business.

Since the coup, the Thai Stock Exchange has become one of the world's most sluggish.

This followed the Thai market crash in early January when Thai finance minister Prodiyathorn Devakula announced new foreign investment restrictions in early January.

Major global markets subsequently went into the red following that, prompting the Thai government to retract the decision and rethink it.

Newsweek quoted an unnamed Thai economist as saying he did not understand these new policies and that the junta was taking to “sufficiency with a puritanical streak”.

It is an extreme counter to Thaksin's style of doing things.

And because businesses there are in such disarray now, citizens are wondering if things might have been better if Thaksin was still in control.

If the junta thinks that strict measures which suggest isolation is what would bring the Thai people back down to the ground and that it would create a better way of life, they will find themselves in even darker days in no time.

King Adulyadej might really want his people to be happy, but happiness is a choice that would probably be more accessible if the country were prospering.

Not resistent to change or growth.

P.S: Meanwhile, the Business Times reported that Temasek is in talks with two top Thai investors to sell its stake in Shin Satellite.

These investors are chairman of Thai Beverage Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi and chairman of CP group Dhanin Chearawanont.

Charoen is also Thailand's richest man, according to Forbes magazine.

The BT also wrote that “Coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin has said he wants Shin Sat's four satellites back under Thai control as a matter of national security”.

Serene Lim