FALLEN STAR DIES, GRAB TALES, SKIN DRAMA, CONSCRIPT COLOUR
Rehab fails for ex-actress
Former starlet Manatsanan “Tai” Pandee, who underwent psychiatric treatment last year after being plucked from a rubbish dump where she turned to begging and petty theft, has died of a suspected seizure.
Tai was found in soi Ruambun of Si Racha district, Chon Buri early on Thursday by local Jan Kongkaew, 81, who had given her a place to sleep after Tai turned up a few days ago with nowhere to stay.
Locals say Tai, 33, a former singer and actress who last December was nabbed on an old theft charge dating back four years before being sent for psychiatric care, was discharged about 10 days ago and headed back to her old home in Si Racha.
Unfortunately, her mother, who had started seeing a garbage collector, was jailed recently, and Tai had nowhere to stay. She turned up at Ms Jan’s place asking if she could sleep there.
Ms Jan, who has known Tai and her mother for years, took pity on the young woman, whom she said was wandering around stiffly, talking little sense and dribbling. She moved in with nothing but a bag of clothes. Ms Jan went to wake her on Thursday and found her dead. Police have taken her body for autopsy.
“When she turned up she had a seizure right in front of me,” Ms Jan said. A video clip filmed by locals has circulated online of Ms Jan offering her first aid.
The public was shocked to see images of Tai, shaven-headed, thin and wearing rags, living in a lean-to next to a rubbish dump in Si Racha, where she and her mother begged for money and sold recycled goods, when images of her first emerged in March last year.
Large crowds of sympathisers and officials gathered in the Wat Khao Taeng On community in Si Racha where she was found. Actress Pattaratida “Tangmo” Patcharaveerapong also came forward to offer support.
Her mother, Ausa Jankad, 52, has said Tai left the industry through lack of work. Her life took a turn for the worse when her boyfriend, a well-known singer, was killed in an accident. In grief, Tai, who has two children aged under 10, and was once a big earner after appearing as a supporting actress in various big-name movies, returned to Chon Buri where a friend introduced her to drugs.
She turned to life as a vagrant, and ran into trouble with the law for stealing. She was also assaulted, leaving her with a head injury and permanently confused.
Quick wits save Grab driver
A young GrabFood driver says he was lucky to escape a robbery or worse when a youngster jumped on the back of his bike when he stopped to check his bearings and ordered him to an isolated spot.
Tanongsak “Prem” Langklang, 21, said he was delivering a food order to a condo in soi Charoenkrung 85 of Bang Kholaem district but after getting lost stopped to check his location on GPS.
“A youngster saw me sitting there, jumped on the back, grabbed my shirt, and ordered me to drive ahead,” Prem told the admin in a clip for Grab’s Facebook page.
Prem, who said he suspected the youngster was a local druggie, aged in his mid-20s, said he did as ordered while trying to figure out how to get rid of his unwelcome guest.
“I deliver food, I am not a Grab taxi driver,” he said, to no avail.
The young GrabFood driver, a newcomer to the area, had stopped in the soi Charoenkrung 107 area after getting lost. His passenger directed him to a narrow, darkened soi in which he could make up two other youngsters lying in wait.
“I did not like the look of what lay in store, as they may have been trying to lure me into the soi to rob me. Some assume Grab drivers have money as we have to give change to customers. I was also wearing a 7,000 baht gold ring,” Prem said.
Keeping his wits about him, the driver insisted he would have to deliver his order first and started to speed off. The youngster on the back jumped off and fled down the soi, he said.
Speaking to the Grab Facebook admin about an earlier clip in which he warned locals off darkened sois in that area, Prem apologised for earlier identifying the soi incorrectly, upsetting locals who did not like the association with a criminal element.
The Grab admin said the youngster who jumped on the back could have come from any number of sois in the Charoenkrung area, as they all lead into each other.
“However, we are aware of a number of such complaints in that area, but police have been unable to catch the culprits. We would rather locals help act as our eyes and ears,” the admin said, while urging authorities to install more street lighting and CCTV cameras.
Bullying victim bounces back
A teenager bullied about her skin colour as she sold whitening cosmetics online has had the last laugh against her critics, after sympathetic netizens started ordering from her in droves.
Kenika “Neuy” Siri, 14, a Matthayom 2 student from Sa Kaew, was visibly in tears as she read comments from netizen bullies who asked why she was selling whitening soap and cream online via Facebook Live when her own skin was toned.
“How can you sell whitening products when you look so dark?” the critics teased.
Neuy said she was inclined to brush off the comments until one online bully also went as far as criticising her parents, who sell goods in fresh and flea markets.
She consulted her parents, who decided to lay a complaint about the online harassment. Neuy’s mother Nittaya Peunbaht notified Sa Kaew regional police. After news of Neuy’s plight reached the media, the parents of a Chachoengsao teen who bullied the teen contacted Ms Nittaya to make amends.
The bully’s parents agreed to travel to Sa Kaew station to meet Ms Nittaya. However, they failed to show as arranged on Thursday. Staff from the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, Damrongtham centre also turned up.
The police called back the bully’s parents, giving them one last chance to appear. Media reports said the family claimed they were tied up and could not make the first meeting, but pledged to turn up for the second.
Neuy, meanwhile, says the publicity has given her online sales a welcome boost. Before, she was making 200-300 baht a day from selling her soap, which goes for 19 baht a cake. Now, thanks to the bullying episode, she is selling more than 100 cakes a day, as netizens rally to lend her support. Even better, various merchandise brands have made contact asking if she will review their products online.
Neuy, who spent her childhood years helping her parents sell goods at markets, turned to online sales to bring in some extra pocket money. Teachers said she was head of the class, popular at school, and a hard worker.
Transgender shines at army meet
A transgender beauty pageant winner was the bright spot in the annual conscription round in Sukhothai last week, drawing admiring looks among the young men who reported.
Panupong “Lookmen” Ornwang, 22, reported at a conscription centre in Wat Bot district as the Third Army Region prepared to select 58 youngsters for conscript service from a total of 228 eligible by age, drawn from six districts. Lookmen, a fixture on the beauty pageant stage who recently won first prize in the Phrae transgender beauty pageant, and won a similar contest at the traditional buffalo races in Chon Buri, sought a second deferral from conscription as she is still studying.
Lookmen, a fourth year student at Sukhothai College of Dramatic Arts, said she is likely to put her name forward next year, though as a transgender she expects to be given a waiver. Transgenders are lumped in the same category as those with health problems and physical disabilities which authorities decree makes them unsuitable to serve.