This week, actor Pongpat Wachirabanjong will be summonsed to hear his lese majeste charges and if he fails to show up after two summonses have been issued, police will seek an arrest warrant. On Thursday, the police are also planning to invite witnesses, lawyers and Thai-language experts to listen to the actor's acceptance speech at this year's Nataraj Awards as part of the investigation.
However, singer Phumpat Wongyachavalit filed a lese majeste complaint against the actor on June 23, accusing him of using inappropriate words. Matter-of-factly, Phumpat may have been moved by Pongpat's ending that those without the same feeling should move out of the Kingdom.
Pongpat indeed deserves support. Back then, when politically motivated people were at different polars, harsh words flowed across the nation. They were echoed loudly in social networks by millions of users.
According to Media Monitors, the grouping of academics, during March 12 and May 30, Facebook members were split into 1,308 political groups. The biggest category, containing 423 or 32.4 per cent, opposed the red-shirt demonstrators. The biggest subset, with 556,339 members, highlighted its political muscle to collect over 1 million votes against the proposed House dissolution.
Of all, 15 per cent were red-supporting subsets, while those promoting peaceful solutions accounted for only 3 per cent.
Academic Tham Chuasathapanasiri said during that period these cyber citizens exchanged harsh words. The most popular call was for the yellow shirts' monarchy stance, followed by the reds' "people-killing soldiers", "double-standard government" and press freedom, and peaceful solutions.
This followed the earlier finding that Thai newspaper headlines during the recent political turmoil of April 8-14 were strong and assailing, mainly disapproving of the demonstrations by Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship (DAAD) supporters.
Back then, we knew there were reds and those at the opposite end. The neutral were forced to take sides. When you were overwhelmed by the harsh rhetoric, you could be emotionally driven and blurt anything out in anger, as Pongpat did.
It is also necessary to remind ourselves that Pongpat has been a veteran actor. When on stage, he could have pictured himself as a character in the soap opera featuring the end of the Ayutthaya era. Traitors or those who did not fight for the empire should leave.
He could have a strong political will. But he could also have been influenced by the media and the spectacularly active cyber world of the time.
What's my view on this? I see why most Thais are still hooked to those same old soap opera plots. Filled with cat-fights, principal characters with luxury lifestyles, face slapping, and unreal innocence of the female characters, the soap operas still contain some entertaining elements.
I also see why many people support the DAAD, despite the deaths of nearly 100 people, for which nobody has been held accountable. Everyone must be under the influence of something - or somebody.