As Thailand's troubles worsen, the nation is tuning in to the cliffhanger predictions of superstar seer Mr Luck, writes David McNeillin Bangkok
TIMES ARE tough in Thailand. Exports and tourism are slumping, the stock market has lost over a quarter of its value since the summer and the country waits anxiously to learn whether it is in for a repeat of the catastrophic financial meltdown of 1997/8. Bangkok is mired in a stubborn political deadlock which last week turned deadly. But for at least one man, the turmoil is very good news indeed: Mr Luck.
Thailand's top fortune teller is a superstar here, with his own prime-time television shows, newspaper columns, a string of hit books and a lucrative commercial hotline that dispenses telephonic fortune cookies to callers every day. Millions of Thais tune in to watch him make his TV forecasts, which are signed off with a flamboyant wave of his trademark red flag - meaning he is 100 per cent certain they will come true.
Mr Luck's astrological radar has, however, been known to go awry. This year, he wrongly picked the winner of the Bangkok mayoral election, and waved his red flag off on a forecast that July 2nd would be Thailand's "scariest" and most violent day in 30 years. In fact, the violence came this month.
His latest cliffhangers include a prediction that the country's billionaire fugitive ex-leader Thaksin Shinawatra will be jailed - if he ever returns from exile in London.
Mr Luck mines a rich seam of local superstition. Poorer Thais will happily spend $15-20 a pop for a session with a seer who claims the ability to look into the future. As prime minister, Mr Thaksin famously made decisions based on astrological forecasts, at one stage abruptly cancelling press conferences because "Mercury was unfavourably aligned".
The former leader recently predicted the end of Thailand's political chaos "once Mars leaves Saturn", though he sadly missed the planetary warning signs of the military coup that ejected him from office two years ago.
Making televised judgments about the political future in a country with a history of military interventions and revolving-door leaders can be dangerous.
Mr Luck says a group of soldiers once kidnapped him and threatened to feed him to crocodiles unless he stopped predicting the collapse of the government. Although he now carries a gun, the threat hasn't deterred him: he is forecasting that current leader Somchai Wongsawat will resign by the end of the year. With the prime minister under virtual siege by anti-government protesters, many observers believe this is one of his safer bets.
The 37-year-old, whose full name is Luck Rakhanithes, is on safer ground with celebrities, and made his name by predicting the pregnancy of a famous unmarried Thai film star. Ordinary folk are encouraged to call his hotline - at 26 cents a minute - and listen to his advice on love, politics and everything in between.
"Any time Thailand has a problem, or some famous person is experiencing relationship difficulties, he appears," says Bangkok resident Yechiela Pojanames.
Mr Luck puts it more bluntly. "Every time there's a crisis in Thailand, it's a glorious time for astrologers," he told the Wall Street Journallast month.