Social media agog at politicians behaving badly

Pheu Thai MP Prasit Chaisrisa lived up to his reputation for controversial behaviour by displaying his shoes during the debate on Wednesday. Prasit took off his shoes and put them on a table, saying he feared Democrat MPs would harm Pheu Thai MP Worachai Hema. As he was sitting near Worachai, he took off his shoes so he could spring to his aid if needed, Prasit said.
Last year reporters covering Parliament gave Prasit the alias “Dark Star” for his “violent, aggressive and crude behaviour” during House meetings. Prasit was heavily criticised for verbally harassing female MP Rangsima Rodrasami in a censure debate during the last House of Representatives session.
Wednesday’s shoe-removing incident became a popular topic of discussion on social media, particularly among the “citizen detectives” in Pantip.com’s chat rooms.
Member 786759 on www.pantip.com posted a video clip of Prasit showing his shoes, titled “Voice from Surin Province to Prasit”. He also showed an image captured from his Facebook page, on which people censured Prasit over the clip.
“If Prasit is an example of the behaviour of people from Surin, I’m steering clear of them,” said one.
“Surin people don’t want Prasit,” said another. “I hate you, and your behaviour is destroying the good image of Surin,” said a third.
The SaiTrongPhakSanam page on Facebook also posted pictures of Prasit and his shoes. The pictures garnered more than 2,000 likes, 500 shares and more than 500 comments.
The Ja Prasit Rak Prachatipatai page posted comments from some Prasit supporters, but most of them said Prasit should tone down his behaviour. “Please tone it down in Parliament,” advised Zatan Red.
“Ja Prasit should apologise to people before this turns into a big story,” said Pokkytoday Red.
On Twitter, @zeza136 posted: “I think it isn’t appropriate and Prasit should be a responsible man.”
@MoohpeeX posted: “One should be responsible for what he does, and Democrat MP too”
@ohmmiena posted: “Prasit isn’t destroying [only] himself, but he’s destroying his party and his province too.”
But the complaints were not reserved for the ruling party. Some were aimed at the Democrats, such as this post from @iamnatties: “[I] regret that Prasit took off his shoes but didn’t throw them.”
@ratthawet said: “I am not defending Prasit, but I condemn the Democrat MPs who booed during the meeting, including Democrat MP Boonyod Sooktinthai, whose behaviour included shouting and striking a table with documents.”
Government MPs also posted clips showing Democrat MPs in a bad light. Pheu Thai MP Phonpoom Vipattipumi-prates posted a clip showing Boonyod slamming documents around and shouting.
This video clip got 114 likes, 979 shares and 53 comments, including, “It’s the same old game,” from Win Puston, and “Manners show one’s nature,” from Kriengsak Krichawan.