In Thaksin Shinawatra’s hometown outside Chiang Mai, neighbours say they hope the royal pardon gifted to the tycoon offers Thailand’s most loved – and quite possibly, most loathed – politician a chance to exit the kingdom’s bear-pit politics ahead of his 77th birthday.

But after eight months in jail, a coup against his government, a battery of legal cases, threats to his family, assets – and even his life – those hitched to the Shinawatra bandwagon since Thaksin won his first election in 2001 doubt he is destined for the political sunset just yet.

“He deserves to rest after fighting all this time. I really hope he does,” said Non, a 69-year-old resident of Thaksin’s home district of San Kamphaeng, a 30-minute drive from Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.

“But I don’t think he can leave politics behind,” he said, requesting to give only one name.

On June 3, Thaksin received a royal pardon after his release on parole from a Bangkok jail.