Starving Leena tries hand at martial arts

In a gushing current of foul words prompted by the closure of her satellite TV channel, Leena tucked into “Ai Prayuth” – not the nicest term of address. “Have you gone out of your mind, closing my station?” she demanded in a tone that one couldn’t mistake for shouting. “Are you nuts? You’re not even supposed to be the army chief – you didn’t even know what to do and what not to do!” she banged away. 

Leena is what they politely call “outspoken”. She’s launched verbal assaults on numerous prominent figures in the past, especially celebrities, and invariably comes under attack in audience backlashes. There was plenty of applause for this video clip, though, as it quickly racked up 280,000 views and spread across the social media. While many onlookers took it as pure entertainment, given her reputation, others praised her for having such chutzpah. Folks were moved by her personal lament  – she said on the clip she had no money and was suffering. 

“I haven’t eaten yet today, you know that, Ai Prayuth?” she shouted some more. She dared the military to dispatch soldiers to her TV station. “Send them over so I can ask them to go buy me some food! I am here alone, running around because my assistant is sick!” Back to the general: “You suspended Voice TV – that’s okay since it belongs to Thaksin’s son [meaning Oak Shinawatra], and the likes of BlueSky and Asia Update deserve it because they’re just biting each other non-stop, but now my station?”

The final volley was “Koo ja pai ha mueng, Ai Prayuth!” That basically means, “I’ll go and see you, damn Prayuth!” And Leena did, too, marching over to Soldiers ’r’ Us headquarters on Tuesday and demanding to see the general. It took a little while for the soldiers at the gate to convince her to give up all hope of seeing him, especially with her taunting them, “Come and arrest me! I’m not afraid!”

Well, the mainstream media are a little shy about covering such incidents at the moment, but ASTV Manager managed a brief illustrated report online. The ever-amused Twitter crowd tossed some jokes around, many agreeing that, if anyone could conquer General Prayuth, it must be Leena Jang. 

The Army chief must try and remember, though, that he isn’t the first person to get the Leena treatment. All he needs to do is have his aides search for her name on YouTube, and there she is railing against the Shinawatras (brother and sister), Suthep Thaugsuban, Kachapa “Moddam” Tancharoen, Arjan Yingsak Chonglertjessadawong, Sudarat “Tukky” Butrprom, Somchai “Kohtee” Onlamai – well, the list goes on. Basically she goes after any rising star, not necessarily just political types who upset her. Maybe she just wants publicity. Maybe she’s just a natural-born troublemaker. But give credit where it’s due: Leena was the first to go berserk about the martial madness.