Suwitcha Chaiyong
Feature writer for the Life section
Suwitcha Chaiyong is a feature writer for the Life section of the Bangkok Post.
A broken system
Last year, Mintra Chuawangkham, better known as Minton, a young female influencer with 3.5 million followers on TikTok and 1.92 million subscribers on YouTube, revealed in a video that she had been stalked and sexually harassed by a security guard for a year. The security guard also created a fake Facebook account pretending to be her. The fake account defamed the influencer by posting false information about their sexual relationship. He created a fake marriage licence and tried to deceive other people into believing that they were a couple. He also posted many creepy messages which expressed his sexual desire for her on social media.
Depths of despair
News from Nakhon Pathom in February about an eight-month-old baby, Nong Tor, who was kidnapped while his parents slept, drew the public's attention for weeks. By the end of February, the infant's 17-year-old mother, N*, confessed to police that while bathing Nong Tor she accidentally dropped him, causing him to have infantile spasms. The teenage mother did not know what to do. She later dumped the baby's body in the river. Despite an extensive search of the river by police, rescue officers and volunteers, the body of Nong Tor has not been found. N faces three charges -- causing death by negligence, concealing a corpse and reporting false information to authorities.
Nothing glorious about bullying
After Netflix K-drama The Glory, which was about school bullying, was launched at the end of 2022, it raised awareness about the problem and many Thai netizens often discussed it. In The Glory, the female protagonist was beaten and her body was burned in several places with a hair curler by a gang of teenagers. It was a shock to know that the case was inspired by a true event.
Theatre of the absurd
Last week, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and Tourism Authority Thailand announced that 8,745 people from Surin province succeeded in setting a new record of "the highest number of people folding fabric animals simultaneously" in the Guinness World Record. This event was part of the Elephant Festival, an annual event in Surin. Organised by the Surin provincial administration and TAT, the event of folding fabric into elephant dolls aimed to boost tourism since numbers had dropped due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Organisers also hoped the event would promote Surin fabric, which is a signature product of the province.
Bats are best for baseball not lunch
A couple of weeks ago, Dr Rungsrit Kanjanavanit, a cardiologist at the Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, expressed concern on Facebook about a man in Sukhothai who hunted bats for consumption and also for sale.
Danger lurks behind the screen
Recently, a Thai netizen shared a video from an American TikTok content creator named Jessica, who wanted to warn parents of the dangers in posting videos of their children on social media platforms.
Healing depression requires compassion
Last week, the hashtag #UrboyTJ appeared on Twitter after famous rapper Jirayut "Urboy TJ" Paloprakarn disappeared. Music fans and his friends were worried because he vanished after he posted on social media that he suffered from depression, was bipolar and was burnt out. In that post, Jirayut believed that nobody listened to him. It is possible he may have harmed himself because his post said: "I did something that I should not have done, but it was not successful." Fortunately, he returned safely and decided to receive treatment at a hospital.
What to do with misbehaving monks?
Sunday marked Visakha Bucha Day which is the commemoration of the birth, enlightenment and death of the Lord Buddha. Buddhism is the largest religion in Thailand, but we cannot deny that faith in Buddhism has declined due to the inappropriate behaviour and misconduct of some monks.
Help women help themselves
Last week, an ongoing exhibition "Ni Tas Sa Kee" or "Free Pads For All" was launched at The Pheu Thai Party's headquarters on New Phetchaburi Road. On view until March 31, "Free Pads For All", which distributes free sanitary pads to women, is a pilot project that Pheu Thai wants to push for the government to make policy.
Support Boy's Love and expand our soft power
Whenever Korean music, TV dramas and films become a global phenomenon, especially gaining popularity among American audiences, Thai people usually talk about Korean soft power strategies and what we should do to accomplish what they have done.
