Senator Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan said yesterday she sympathised with the Thai chef who berated and chased her from his restaurant in Iceland over her political views and was not taking legal action against him.
Gudjónsson: Clip goes viral
Speaking in parliament, the senator said the incident, widely reported on social and mainstream media, occurred when she and her friends went to a Japanese restaurant in Iceland last week.
As they were about to order, the Thai chef ran angrily up to them, holding a mobile phone in a way that suggested he was livestreaming, she said.
"I have experienced so many such incidents, hatred through not knowing each other. I only sympathise with him," Khunying Porntip said.
She had not expected the incident to get publicity, but the man posted the video himself.
She said the man had chased her out as if she were an animal. He shouted at her in both English and Thai in the presence of other customers.
She added she had then decided to leave the place right away. "If I had stayed longer, it could have become physical because he pointed at my face ... as if I were a pig or dog," Khunying Porntip said.
Porntip: Has 'sympathy'
"I was not shocked by the incident. I am 69 years old and have experienced many other such incidents. I did not take offence and will not file a lawsuit,'' she said.
The video went viral on social media over the weekend. In it, chef Ari Alexander Gudjónsson can be seen singling out Khunying Porntip and telling her to leave the premises immediately, in both Thai and English, in a highly public fashion while recording it on his phone.
Khunying Porntip abstained in the first round of voting for prime minister, in which Move Forward Party (MFP) leader Pita Limjaroenrat failed to secure enough support because most senators abstained or voted against him.
She also condemned MFP supporters who harassed senators who did not share their views.
Khunying Porntip said she had told the MFP on that occasion that she would vote for its prime ministerial candidate if it withdrew its plan to change Section 112 of the Criminal Code, which is the lese majeste law.
"We must help each other prevent aggression... If you are obsessed with politics, it will have an impact on everything," she said.