Warong joins ACT, vows to fight 'chung chart'

Warong joins ACT, vows to fight 'chung chart'

Former Democrat who exposed rice graft shifts target to anti-patriotism from policy corruption

"I can do more to suppress 'chung chart'," says new ACT member Warong Dechgitvigrom. (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)

Warong Dechgitvigrom, who resigned from the Democrat Party on Tuesday, has formally joined the Action Coalition for Thailand (ACT) headed by Suthep Thaugsuban.

Dr Warong will be responsible for setting up party branches all over the country and will not become the party leader as speculated by some media outlets earlier, according to Mr Suthep.

“We didn’t invite him to replace party leader MR Chatu Mongol Sonakul, who will remain our leader for a full four-year term. He will also remain the labour minister for the term of this government,” said the former Democrat heavyweight who led the street protests that paved the way for the military coup in 2014. 

The 58-year-old gynaecologist was warmly welcomed on Saturday by ACT members, including MR Chatu Mongol and Mr Suthep, after he paid 3,650 baht to become a life member of the party. A briefing was then held to announce the news and welcome him at the Two Pacific Place building on Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok.

“ACT needs more men. When we learned Dr Warong had resigned from the Democrat Party, we approached him,” said Mr Suthep, who said he still knew every move of Thailand’s oldest party because he used to be its secretary-general. “I can hear it even when it’s breathing,” he added jokingly.

Dr Warong said he resigned from the Democrat Party because of a sea change in the political landscape.

“In the past, we fought policy corruption in the Thaksin [Shinawatra] regime and the Yingluck regime and her rice-pledging programme. It was a battle between two large parties,” he said.

“But today, attempts have been made to instil dangerous beliefs in the new generation, which I’d like to call chung chart [anti-patriotism],” he added, in a veiled reference to the Future Forward Party.

The progressive party has often been branded chung chart ("hating the nation" is another interpretation) by conservatives for its pledges to change the existing political, economic and social structure through an agenda that stresses equality, decentralisation and modernisation. 

Dr Warong said he had approached House Speaker Chuan Leekpai, a former Democrat leader and premier, to discuss his concerns.

“I told him the Democrat Party had done very well but the country’s problems were so diverse. My style does not suit [the party’s administration]. I’m more fit for fighting the chung chart doctrine,” he said.

“When the ACT board voted to invite me to join it, I thought I could do more in suppressing this doctrine. Besides, Mr Suthep is a fighter. When the country is in crisis, Mr Suthep won’t stand down. I therefore think I’m most suitable for this party.”

The former Phitsanulok MP stressed that in fighting those who represent a threat to the nation, he would use brains, not force. 

He added that in joining ACT, he didn’t bargain for any position, nor did he have any conflicts with the Democrats. 

Dr Warong was best known for his role in exposing the flaws in the costly rice-pledging programme of the Yingluck Shinawatra government when the Democrat Party was in opposition.

Before entering politics, he served with the Public Health Ministry as the director of hospitals in Nong Khai and Phitsanulok provinces. 

He first joined the Thai Rak Thai Party founded by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra but resigned when the party changed its Phitsanulok MP candidates in 2004.

He then joined the Democrat Party and was elected as a Phitsanulok MP in 2005. He was re-elected in the 2007 and 2011 elections but lost to a Future Forward candidate in this year’s poll.

Dr Warong ran for the Democrat leadership last year and finished second behind incumbent Abhisit Vejjajiva. Mr Abhisit resigned after the party’s poor performance in the March 24 elections this year.

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