BANGKOK, Thailand — Thailand's prime minister is not suffering paranoid symptoms reminiscent of the film, A Beautiful Mind, despite insisting taxi drivers are being used to destabilize the country, government officials said.

"Is Paranoia Now Setting In?" ran an editorial headline in The Nation newspaper Tuesday (March 26) about Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

"How can a prime minister concentrate on his job when he gets so paranoid daily over what the media have to say about him, or what taxi drivers hear from their passengers?" The Nation asked.

"The Great Taxi-Driver Conspiracy Exposed," a headline in the Bangkok Post taunted in a satirical "Insider" business column also published on Tuesday (March 26).

The prime minister's staff and supporters quickly defended Mr. Thaksin and insisted the threat posed by taxi drivers and their passengers was real.

"The prime minister is in good shape, physically and mentally," said Deputy Health Minister Surapong Suebwonglee.

"As for his mental health, I can say he knows when to let go. He falls asleep easily," Dr. Surapong said.

Malicious Taxi Gossip

The unusual controversy began when Mr. Thaksin warned on Saturday (March 23) in his weekly nationwide broadcast that political opponents were hiring provocateurs to travel by taxi and feed the drivers malicious gossip about him.

According to the prime minister, the unsuspecting, talkative drivers would then spread the rumors to impressionable passengers.

"Such a devilish practice, as well as the distribution of leaflets with bad rumors about me, is not good for the country," Mr. Thaksin added in his speech.

"The country is being damaged."

After the prime minister's speech, taxi drivers immediately became media stars. Journalists flagged them down for interviews about the possible plot and their experience with passengers who expressed anti-Thaksin views.

Thai newspapers splashed the interviews to stunned readers, including many who said they saw the Oscar Award-winning film A Beautiful Mind about paranoid schizophrenic mathematician John Nash, which is currently showing in Bangkok's cinemas.

"Cabbies Surprised But Couldn't Give a Toot," concluded the Bangkok Post.

It quoted drivers who said they usually ignored passengers' political views because they heard so many conflicting opinions about the prime minister it was impossible to determine who was telling the truth.

The government, meanwhile, warned it would retaliate.

"The government will take legal action against anyone caught spreading rumors," said Prommin Lertsuriyadej, the prime minister's secretary-general.

"An investigation will be ordered," Mr. Prommin said.

Taxi Spies

"I do not like violence, but if a response is called for, I may pay taxi drivers to hit rumor-mongers on the head, or scold them back," said Thamarak Isarangura, the prime minister's office minister.

Opposition politicians insisted the populist prime minister was using the issue to crush free speech.

The government "is exposing itself as an autocracy in the disguise of a democracy," said Sathit Wongnongtoey, spokesman for the opposition Democrat Party.

"I have never seen any national leader of a democratic country who is as good as Mr. Thaksin at fabricating stories," said Democrat Party deputy leader Abhisit Vejjajiva.

"Why is the government so paranoid about people with different opinions?"

The Democrat Party lost power when Mr. Thaksin, a telecommunications billionaire, won a landslide victory in January, 2001.

Human rights leader Pairote Polpetch said, "To claim that people who criticize him while riding in a cab are hired, is a blatant disrespect for human rights.

"He is also insulting the intelligence of his compatriots," said Mr. Pairote, who heads the outspoken People's Rights and Liberty Association.

One columnist tried to deconstruct the prime minister's allegation about taxi drivers and their passengers but concluded that the plot, if true, would not succeed.

"In order to reach out to, say, half of the cabbies, hundreds of trained 'provocateurs' would have to be hired to do the job," wrote Veera Prateepchaikul on Tuesday (March 26).

"How many cabbies each would they be able to approach each day? Not many, I believe," the columnist said.

"How many passengers are there that each 'poisoned' cabbie can spread the anti-Thaksin rumor to each day?"

Mr. Veera said, "All things considered, the alleged smear campaign among the cabbies is the most stupid and least effective way to discredit Mr. Thaksin."

The dean of prestigious Chulalongkorn University's Mass Communications faculty, Jumpol Rodkhamdee, said, "It is unlikely people can systematically spread rumors through taxis. Even if that could be done, it would not have a significant impact."

Other columnists wrote humorous impersonations of frustrated conspirators riding taxis around town in circles while failing to convince apathetic drivers that Mr. Thaksin is the root of the country's problems.

The Thai Taxi Conspiracy Exposed

by Richard S. Ehrlich