Sondhi Limthongkul
Thai media mogul (born 1947)
Sondhi Limthongkul (born 7 November 1947) is a Thai media proprietor, conspiracy theorist, anti-American, anti-establishment conservative nationalist activist, demagogue, and leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD). In 2009, he was elected leader of the New Politics Party (NPP).
Starting his career as a journalist, he later founded Manager Daily newspaper as well as satellite broadcaster ASTV. Originally a strong supporter of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, he later became a leader of the anti-Thaksin movement. Under his leadership, the PAD was the major player in the 2005–2006 Thai political crisis that led to the 2006 coup d'état that toppled the Thaksin government. When Thaksin-affiliated parties won the 2007 general election, Sondhi became the major player in the 2008–2009 Thai political crisis, leading the PAD in violent clashes with security forces and anti-PAD protestors as well as the seizure of Government House, Don Muang Airport, and Suvarnabhumi Airport. Sondhi is more or less a supporter of the Democrat Party and stopped the PAD's protests after Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva was appointed prime minister.
In April 2009, Abhisit faced massive anti-government protests led by the pro-Thaksin red shirts which caused the Fourth East Asia Summit to be canceled and was followed by riots in Bangkok. Days after the Bangkok unrest was quelled by military force, gunmen ambushed Sondhi's car, a black Toyota Vellfire, at a petrol station. They shot out the tires, and fired over 100 M-16 and AK-47 assault rifle rounds at the car. The attackers escaped from the scene when Sondhi's followers in another car opened fire on them.
“Sondhi Limthongkul” enters the record as thai media mogul (born 1947). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Sondhi, Limthongkul and Thai can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q717617. VIAF identifies the subject as 77913439. The Library of Congress control number is n89241347. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1947, 2009, 2005 and 2006.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sondhi Limthongkul” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.