Gambler king offers advice
Net idol and former celebrity boxer Apirak "Sia Po" Arnon has put in a pitch to legalise online gambling after a House working party offered him the role of "adviser" as it ponders law changes.
Apirak 'Sia Po' Arnon
Sia Po testified on Thursday before a working group of the House select committee on law, justice and human rights, which is mulling changes to the gambling law.
"The government invited me to talk on online gambling...how we should fix the law so we get money coming into the country," he told his followers later on Facebook.
"They asked me to accept a post of adviser. I don't want to mess with politics. I want to protect my honesty, unlike some of these younger net idol types who spit in your face, and want influence in the country for their own personal benefit," he said, without elaborating.
Arun Sawasdee, Songkhla MP from the Palang Pracharath Party, who sits on the panel, said MPs wanted to know if online gambling could be controlled better.
Members invited Sia Po, who faces charges of money laundering and enticing Thais to gamble online, and is well known for his ties to casinos across the border, to speak to MPs, because of his "knowledge" in this area.
They also invited another city identity with a colourful past, former deputy superintendent of the Special Branch Police Santhana Prayoonrat, to testify. Santhana, booted from the force for his links to fraud, was arrested on extortion charges involving Don Muang New Market near Don Mueang airport in late 2018.
Netizens, unhappy MPs had offered Sia Po the post of adviser, said the net idol was still in trouble with the law and should not be given such an honour.
They dug up embarrassing episodes from his past, including one where he rode down a street on his motorbike wearing nothing but pink underwear, for which he was given a suspended jail term.
The net idol, however, told critics he turned down the working party's offer. He also delivered a mixed message on online gambling, urging the government to legalise it so it could benefit from the huge revenues involved.
Website operators should pay tax or the government take ownership of online gambling outlets, he said. He also urged the creation of a Ministry of Gambling to oversee the industry.
On the other hand, he said all forms of online gambling were designed to cheat. "We don't know who the other person is, and can't run checks either. I have been to the police four times in the past but they failed to take my complaints any further.
"The area of the law which must be reformed concerns net idols who promote online gambling and assure everyone they will win for sure. In my FB live broadcasts, I would say gambling is no good, and that youngsters should not follow my example as they were unlikely to end up wealthy like me," he said.
Swinging teens lament
A young woman is vowing legal action against those who released a clip of a group of youngsters in Ubon Ratchathani having sex in a public toilet.
A clip of a group of youngsters in Ubon Ratchathani having sex in a public toilet.
The woman, identified as Fon, 21, admitted she was in a clip of local teens having sex. However, she maintained she did not know the youngster who filmed the encounter by climbing up the cubicle wall, and would not explain how the incident came about.
Ubon Ratchathani police questioned Fon and a couple of secondary students last week about the clip. They say those involved in leaking and sharing it face charges of introducing lewd content to the internet.
Release of the 47-second clip on social media last week set police off in search of the teens involved and the location, which they pinned down to a block of toilets amid a strip of eateries popular with teens near the Big C on Chayangkun Road in Muang district.
On Monday, as suspicions settled over the entertainment strip as the probable source, the Manager/ASTV newspaper said all but two or three of the 10 outlets had closed for the night. The owners, it said, were worried police would point the finger of blame at them for letting their teen customers misbehave.
However, Muang district police superintendent Pol Col Phattarapol Porthi-a later said these outlets were unikely to be involved, as regular customers would notice if teens were having sex in their toilets.
The provincial governor sent out social workers to find the teens to lecture them on safe sex, amid reports those caught in the clip were engaged in group sex and swapped partners.
While media outlets blurred out the clip, the Nation TV said it identified three boys and two girls aged 15 to 20.
It added colourfully that the toilets are located in a strip of Korean bar-b-que-style and Isan eateries which also serves as a local training ground for gangs. The TV report cited a recent incident in which teens argued, duelled with firearms, and damaged 10 vehicles. Police probing the clip later set up hourly patrols at the toilets in case the kids returned.
Media reports said the youngsters were split into two couples, and another group of three, and may have occupied more than one cubicle. When the youngster climbs up the wall to film the occupants, a young man dressed in red gives him a big smile. "They were completely uninterested in the world," Thai Rath TV sniffed.
Fon, who complained to police about the clip as publicity started to build, said she went for a meal at an Isan sukiyaki joint early this month and invited a young man she met to have sex in the toilet. Some reports described him as her "boyfriend" or said it was him who invited her.
Vowing to sue, she said the release of the clip had damaged her reputation. Netizens who left comments on her Facebook asked why she was getting upset now when she saw fit to have sex in public. The case continues.
Delivery guys on parade
A prankster is calling a food delivery service in Phuket asking it to deliver large quantities of food and beverages and refusing to turn up to receive the goods.
A local woman opened her door last week to find nine young delivery guys from foodpanda each bearing eight cups of iced coffee waiting. A prankster, without her knowledge, had ordered the goods on her behalf and sent them to her house to deliver them.
Tian Nattapornpan, owner of the Facebook page Ntpp Tian, said delivery guys from the firm turned up at her home three times that day, bearing a total of 100 iced coffees, waffles and noodles.
The prankster had pinned her home as the delivery spot. The delivery guys, anxious to find someone to pay for the goods, found the man's ID but he did not respond to calls or texts. They were forced to give out the unwanted goods to locals.
A similar bogus order was sent to a young man in Phuket, foodpanda told the media. Once again, the intended recipient knew nothing about the purchase.
They delivered iced tea and crushed ice in three trips but in the absence of a buyer had to give out the goods to locals. The prankster changed his number and ID several times during the day to ensure he could not be found.
Food panda delivery riders wait to deliver iced coffee outside Tian Nattapornpan's home.
Meanwhile, Tian, who joked she and her family were walking around with half-closed eyes owing to all the free coffee they had consumed, joined foodpanda in complaining to police.
She also left a message for the culprit, urging him not to cause bother for others with his "strange games".
"I feel sorry for the food delivery guys as everyone has to make a living these days," she said.
On the internet, netizen Phuwadit Taechadumrongnon wondered if the culprit was punishing foodpanda for having declared it would suspend advertising with Nation TV in a political dispute over the media group's supposed stance towards the student protesters demanding reforms.
Another, Pond Pechrak, said foodpanda should require members to confirm their Thai ID details, so if they try such pranks they can be caught.
