The assistant village chief in Sa Kaeo's Aryanyaprathet district whose birthdate was incorrectly registered as Feb 30 - a date that does not exist - has bowed to pressure after being rebuked by a cabinet minister and resigned.
Viroj Aksorndee, a senior deputy chief of Aranyaprathet district, revealed on Thursday that Sangwien Khuncharoen, 53, submitted to him a letter of resignation as assistant chief of village 3 of tambon Khlong Thapchan. The resignation was with immediate effect.
Mr Sangwien told Mr Viroj that he resigned voluntarily because he understood he had damaged the reputation of the Interior Ministry by complaining to the media that the erroneous date on his ID meant he could not even open a bank account.
He admitted it was his mistake not having corrected the birthdate on his home registration and identification card. He added that he did not want to do that initially because it was his parents who put it on record, not knowing that this would lead to this unfortunate situation.
Mr Viroj said that since Mr Sangwien had resigned, it was no longer necessary to set up a disciplinary committee to investigate him.
After his resignation, Mr Sangwien shutdown his mobile phone and his house was locked, apparently not wanting to be contacted for comment by reporters.
People in his village said Mr Sangwien resigned after being rebuked by his superiors, both in the provincial and district level, after the mistake made media headlines.
They said he was clearly stressed and they believed he resigned under pressure, not wanting to be investigated.
The villagers said Interior Minister Jarupong Ruangsuwan should not have rebuked him with harsh words because he is only an ordinary person with little understanding of the law, even though he was an assistant to the village headman.
Mr Jarupong on Wednesday strongly berated Mr Sangwian, accusing him of seeking publicity to help his bid for re-election.
Sa Kaeo governor Pakaratorn Thienchai said he had ordered Pitsanuwat Wattanakul, the Aranyaprathet district officer, to set up a fact-finding committee and correct the mistake.
Mr Pitsanuwat said that, based on the provisions of the law on domicile registration, the incorrect birthdate had been changed to Feb 1, 1960 and Mr Sangwien was satisfied with the correction.