Let he who is without sin cast the first stone – who among us hasn’t avoided journalistic scrutiny of our military government by placing a cardboard cutout of themselves in front of a microphone and telling stunned onlookers that the cutout will answer any questions they might have? Think on that before you judge Thai prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha for doing exactly that at a press conference.
According to the Associated Press, Chan-o-cha plonked the statue down and told the assembled journalists “If you want to ask any questions on politics or conflict, ask this guy.” – an action I can only describe as a power move.
Chan-o-cha’s government was installed in a military coup in 2014 and he has certainly demonstrated that he’s a bit of a, uh, character (if you expand the definition of ‘character’ to include fascist crackdowns on press freedom and using extrajudicial military force to suppress dissenters).
In 2014 he blamed an illness he came down with on his enemies casting spells on him. In 2015 he wrote the song ‘Because You Are Thailand‘ as a gift to the Thai people – a follow up to his 2014 post-coup smash hit ‘Return Happiness to Thailand‘. In another incident, he fondled the ear of a kneeling journalist for several minutes during a press conference. Oh yeah, there’s also the time he threw a banana at a cameraman. He’s a bit of a weird unit.
Regardless of his actions and his politics, I think we can all agree this is a fantastic move to pull for dates you suddenly realise were a bad idea:
WATCH: Thailand’s prime minister places cardboard cut-out of himself in front of microphone, tells reporters to “ask this guy” if they have any questions, and walks away. pic.twitter.com/tW28YGJ4tv
— NBC News (@NBCNews) January 8, 2018
