Celebrity Politicians

[Pas]

I can't help to notice on the 2Bangkok front page today is the picture of three political posters:

http://www.2bangkok.com/gift01.jpg

In the middle there is the picture a famous Thai actor "Sam" aka Yuranan Pamonmontri who has appeared in many soap operas & host tv variety shows. Anyone has more details about his political campaign?
I'm curious when did Sam enter politic and how did he come to represent the Thai Rak Thai party??

Is Thai politic becoming more like the US or the Phillipines (sorry for the generalisation) with lots of actors becoming politicians. I mean political candidates here used to come from military backgrounds or beurocratic tradition. Now it seem we have moved away from that and more and more civilians or so called 'technocrats' are entering politics. This should be more encourage?

[Hat-Yai Junc]

Poor Sam. He tries to do good things. Now he will learn what it is like to be exploited by a party with no policy except 'lets get rich at any costs'. In fairness, all the parties are the same. This is NOT a democracy, but democracy is practically dead in most countries anyway. I'd recommend he sticks to worthwhile activities that actually help other people. Much more satisfactory in the longterm.

[The Enforcer!]

Originally posted by Hat-Yai Junc
In fairness, all the parties are the same.
I hope, for the sake of democracy, that you are wrong.

Although as Churchill said "democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."

The Enforcer!

[ncr]

Originally posted by Pas
In the middle there is the picture a famous Thai actor "Sam" aka Yuranan Pamonmontri who has appeared in many soap operas & host tv variety shows. Anyone has more details about his political campaign?
I'm curious when did Sam enter politic and how did he come to represent the Thai Rak Thai party??By the way, in an article in The Nation yesterday he was cited as TRT's "Deputy Spokesman"....!

Apart from that, I found some older articles on the Nation website by typing "Yuranan" in the search box. Apparently he was nominated in July 2004 to run for TRT in Bangkok constituency #11:

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/search/page.arcview.php?clid=2&id=102499&usrsess=

[Hat-Yai Junc]

Don't get me wrong! I have some respect for Sam's public-minded actions. But, it must be a real grind if you've lived in a political family all your life and studied political science or communication science at Harvard to play second fiddle to a celebrity.

When I take my car to be fixed, I don't want the salesmodel doing the job just to try and get my respect & attention. I want to respect the mechanic's skills and be sure s/he is sensibly paid for the skills and experience s/he has gone out of her/his way to acquire. That's what's wrong with TRT and all the other parties here. Combined with the fact that you ending up getting the services of those dinosaur kingmakers Sanan, Sanoh and Chawaolit; even if you supposedly voted for a change.

An Endless Nang Nam Now of disappointment!

[The Enforcer!]

Lot of sympathy with you Hat-Yai Junc.

In UK I was an elected councillor in a ward my colleague and I won from another party. Mid-term there was a by-election and we had a party celebrity thust on us (who later married the party Leader!) - result: she won but did absolutely nothing in the ward leaving me to do all the real work!!

The Enforcer!

[jpatokal]

At the 2Bangkok get-together, there was some talk about a model-like candidate for party #1. Putting two and two together, this can only refer to Chart Thai's Janista Liewchalermwong, aka Bam, who indeed was (and is?) a model before her political career. Some googled linkage:

http://www.thailandstar.com/Janista/Janista9.htm
http://www.thailandstar.com/Janista/Janista17.htm
http://www.thailandstar.com/Janista/Janista.htm

Still haven't seen any of her election posters though...? Her constituency is Don Muang.