Mini driver highlights big class divide

Mini driver highlights big class divide

A video clip apparently showed Akanat 'Nott' Ariyaritwikul (inset) forcing a motorcycle taxi driver to apologise to his car. (Post Today)
A video clip apparently showed Akanat 'Nott' Ariyaritwikul (inset) forcing a motorcycle taxi driver to apologise to his car. (Post Today)

The Mini man has class, yes?

His antics -- assaulting a motorcycle driver who bumped into his two-million-baht Mini Cooper Countryman and forcing him to prostrate to the trendy car -- have not only launched a thousand parodies but also thrust class consciousness back into the Thai psyche at full throttle.

Some people may laugh at the incident, which admittedly is rather ludicrous. Others, however, may want to cry at how it offers a snapshot of how wicked and materialistic our society has become.

TV talk show host Akanat "Nott" Ariyaritwikul became the talk of the town overnight after a video clip showing him reacting angrily to the motorcyclist while punching him in the face several times went viral with more than four million views as of Monday.

Atiya Achakulwisut is Contributing Editor, Bangkok Post.

Akanat accused the motorcyclist of hitting the tail light of his car and fleeing the scene. The "highlight" of the footage, however, was at its very end when the talk show host told the seemingly meek motorcycle driver to kraab rot ku, or kneel and wai to his car.

The incident reportedly occurred last Friday in Yannawa district and the parties settled the matter on the same day with neither side lodging a complaint, according to police.

As soon as the video clip hit the net on Sunday, however, the aggressive Mini driver found himself becoming a public punchbag. Truck-loads of condemnation poured out from tens of thousands of people who criticised the talk show host not just for resorting to violence over an accident that could have been settled amicably but also for demeaning the motorcyclist.

Posts mocking the incident followed and they are scathing. The Facebook account of Mini Cooper Thailand uploaded a photo of a similar-looking yellow car with a message that said: "We are no sacred object. Do not kraab us." An image showing a car adorned with Buddha's image all over it has also been circulated with suggestions that such a vehicle would be worth paying respect to more than the angry man's Mini Cooper.

Net users even christened the slippers seen being worn by the talk show host in the video clip as Kraab Ku shoes.

Joking aside, the minor celebrity's crass act, which seems to suggest he valued the rear end of his car more than human dignity, must have struck a chord among people.

The one-minute video clip seems to have condensed and put on full display the class-based resentment and discontent that many Thais have nurtured.

There was the stylish-looking, small but expensive, sedan widely viewed as a status symbol among the young, rich and successful versus a common-looking motorcycle generally regarded as a vehicle of choice for the proletariat.

There was the celebrity who appeared relatively well-dressed (despite the slippers) versus a "commoner" in blue jeans.

There was the inherent sense of entitlement, and righteousness, the Mini driver held over the motorcyclist.

There was also the demeaning treatment toward the motorcyclist who was assumed to have hailed from a lower strata than Akanat and which seems to fit the narrative of exploitation by the elite that lies at the heart of the decade-long political conflict.

The physical attack would have riled anyone who watched the video clip but it was the demeaning act of forcing a man to pay respect to a car that made viewers' blood boil.

In one minute, the Mini driver not only paraded his sense of privilege and assaulted the motorcyclist but also suggested the man was worth less than his car, which is tantamount to stomping on his soul.

As condemnation mounts against the TV presenter, who has reportedly apologised and asked that his family be spared from bullying, people might want to take stock of the incident and consider whether this case has provoked such widespread outrage because it was so blatant and caught on camera.

We may be blaming the arrogant driver but aren't many of us secretly worshipping the Mercedes, Porsche or Lamborghini cars and the people who drive them too? Of course, we don't do the ridiculous thing of prostrating ourselves before the coveted vehicles physically, but do we have a feeling of submission toward these status symbols?

Maybe the Mini Cooper driver's only fault is in his voicing what other luxury car drivers and those who recognise the problem of inequality in the country have kept unspoken. In so doing, the Mini driver accidentally hit raw nerves and unleashed a not-so-mini stream of resentment from people across the country.

Atiya Achakulwisut

Columnist for the Bangkok Post

Atiya Achakulwisut is a columnist for the Bangkok Post.

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