The Thai Journalists Association (TJA) has condemned Premsak Piayura after the former national politician had forced a reporter to take off his clothes.
Dr Premsek, now the mayor of the Ban Phai municipality in Khon Kaen's Ban Phai district, was in the spotlight after pictures of him and a young girl with 400,000 baht in cash in front of them spread in social media in what looked like a Thai engagement ceremony. The news was on the front page of the Daily News on Tuesday.
According to the news story, the girl is a Mathayom 5 student, indicating she is only 16-17 years old.
After the story was published, Dr Premsak called an urgent news conference on Tuesday at his office. When five reporters based in Khon Kaen went inside a room to wait for the briefing to begin, the politician ordered four municipality officials to lock them inside, seized their equipment including cameras and mobile phones, berated them for running the story and asked who worked for the Daily News.
When Korsit Kongchom identified himself, Dr Premsak ordered the officials in the room to take off the reporter's clothes to his underwear. He then had his photos taken before allowing him to redress five minutes later, most likely in revenge for the front-page story in the Thai-language newspaper. Mr Korsit and other reporters were kept inside the room for about two hours before being allowed to leave.
Dr Premsak claimed he had not been engaged to the girl in the pictures and the ceremony, of which date was unclear, had been held only to help her family.
The office of Presak Piayura, where he locked up the reporters and forced one of them to take off his clothes. (Photo by Jakraphan Natanri)
The TJA came out later on Tuesday to protect the Daily News reporter, saying the act against Mr Korsit was unreasonable and a threat to the media.
The TJA "condemned Dr Premsak...for what happened," it said in a statement. It also urged his morality be probed and called for legal action against him.
Mr Korsit will file a complaint against the mayor at Ban Phai police station on Wednesday, the Daily News reported.
Dr Premsak has been under fire after what happened in his office. In national politics, Dr Premsak ran under the banner of the Chart Thai (later Chartthaipattana) Party.
The politician had been selected to receive an award from the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) on Aug 11 for helping the needy through a fund for people by his municipality.
But NLA vice-president Peerasak Porjit said the NLA would reconsider his eligibilty if an investigation found he had acted inappropriately.
Dr Premsak was a veteran politician in Khon Kaen, starting his national political career with the New Aspiration Party before moving to Thai Rak Thai. He later resigned from Thai Rak Thai to join Chart Thai and later Bhumjaithai.
He entered monkhood for a year in 2006. The 51-year-old was married to Orathai, a lecturer at Khon Kaen University.