Thai leader not cut out to speak to the media
THAIS were left bemused by the latest antics of Thai junta leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha after he told reporters to direct any serious questions to a cardboard cut-out of himself.
Speaking outside Government House, Prayut turned the media’s attention to the life-size likeness after an aide dutifully placed the cut-out in front of a microphone.
“Whoever wants to take a picture, ask political questions about conflict, ask this guy,” Prayut joked, before saying ‘bye bye’ and flashing sign language for ‘I love you’, and swaggering away.
His humorous approach did not go unnoticed by Thai social media users, but many were left befuddled by Prayut’s casual attitude to media scrutiny.
Others said it was in character for an authoritarian former general who has stamped out dissent since seizing power four years ago.
“If you don’t have the ability to answer people’s questions, how can you solve people’s problems?” Phanuphong Thongfueang said on Facebook.
Another Facebook post by Pinyo San accused Prayut, who is also Thailand’s prime minister, of showing bad manners while calling out Thailand’s downtrodden media for being pliant before the kingdom’s military ruler.
Since seizing power in a 2014 coup, Prayut has developed a reputation for his rough treatment of the media.
On separate occasions, he has tossed a banana peel at a cameraman, threatened to smack someone with his podium and pulled a reporter by the ear.