Published on December 16, 2005

“Have you gained weight recently?” “Is this press conference being held to show that, contrary to rumours, you’re not pregnant?”

“Do you still exercise and take part in rough sports like jet-skiing and basketball?”

“Why do you have to cry this hard at a press conference?”

“So, you really insist that you’re not pregnant?”

These are some of the nasty questions that Thai Rak Thai MP Nahathai Thewphaingarm humbly answered on Wednesday when she held a press conference to deny the rumour that she and a married fellow TRT member were expecting a child.

The press conference received overwhelming interest from the prurient press. It was well reported that Nahathai showed up in a brown suit and properly put her hands in front of her abdomen. After the explanation session came to an end, several female MPs of the party showed up to give her moral support. Some reportedly touched Nahathai’s abdomen, as if to prove that she wasn’t pregnant. Photographers at the press conference focused on taking shots of her abdomen.

To Thai Rak Thai-haters, the rumour that an MP from the ruling party was four months pregnant was too intriguing not to believe. They hastily concluded that this episode was further proof that the party was in a real downturn. After all, party leader Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has lost a lot of public trust, so a party MP being targeted must be further proof that the party is on the way out, they illogically opined. Too many Thai Rak Thai-haters are all too eager to believe any rumour that could possibly be construed as helpful to their cause, whenever one pops up. They hope so desperately that the party’s long-awaited collapse is at last imminent.

More neutral commentators said that it was a mistake for her to host a press conference. Some said she had overreacted to the allegation, which originated from an anti-TRT website. The allegation simply referred to a TRT member whose abbreviation is “A”. Nahathai is nicknamed “Aor”. Only one Thai newspaper mentioned the rumour in an article, but that was enough to spread it much further and lead to Nahathai’s decision to hold a press conference. After the press conference, news of the rumour was spread even further, though at least in the context of the victim of the rumour having had the chance to say her piece and set the record straight. The affair has drawn attention throughout the country.

“She should have stayed silent like many other girls who have been the targets of such allegations before,” one commentator said.

The truth of the rumour isn’t the point and isn’t relevant compared to the fact that Nahathai has been victimised by society.

TRT-haters are victimising her because they want to bring the party down. Less pathetic but still insensitive individuals who avow themselves as neutral on the matter are more than ready to gossip about the affair as well. It was particularly shocking to overhear one conversation.

One person said that during the next election campaign, when Aor was wooing voters, many residents in her constituency would remember the allegation and that some may even approach her to touch her abdomen at that time.

Overnight, such criticism aims to see her turned from a woman from a wealthy family who has ably earned a doctoral degree and has established solid political ground into a woman who could have surrendered herself to a senior party leader for fun or for career improvement.

Some insidiously suggested that because she cried at the press conference, this somehow signalled that the allegation might be true!

Others felt sorry for her and defended her, knowing that this kind of allegation unfortunately can be seen as totally ruining a woman’s life.

In Western countries, where the system of checks and balances works better and where leaders are expected to uphold moral standards, both in public and private, a politician who engages in behaviour deemed to be immoral can seriously hinder the future of his or her career.

But affairs like this should receive less attention from the public than cases involving corruption charges. There are many such cases allegedly involving key politicians going on right now.

Given that over half of the country’s population remains in poverty and that many people have boosted their wealth under suspicious circumstances, corruption cases are of much greater relevance to society.

Thais should try their best to make politicians adhere to higher ethics in their field of work. This is of much greater importance than what they do in their personal lives.

Achara Deboonme

The Nation

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