Meet Bangkok's next governor
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Will Suharit "Toe" Siamwala - the DJ, record producer, songwriter and managing director of stationery firm DHA Siamwalla who's also known as the Electronic Wizard - soon be a politician as well?
Toe turned to Twitter, of all places, to share “a top secret”.
“I have decided to see if I’m qualified to run for Bangkok governor,” @suharit announced yesterday, not secretly at all, he should be warned.
MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra, the governor of our great metropolis, is due to step down with the completion of his term in January.
Every political party wants control of the post but none is ready yet to name a candidate, so politically independent Toe might as well get his foot in the door now.
“I’m a Thai-Indian, age 25, and I believe my bizarre fashion sense has nothing to do with my ability,” he declared, evidently referring to his intellectual ability to hold office.
So vote for me, he urged his 38,000-plus followers. “I won’t let you down.”
Toe says he wants to run because people his age should be a force for change for the better. No specific policies yet, but he says there are good people in the city bureaucracy and he wants to support them.
Okay, but what’s this about a “bizarre fashion sense”? Well, Toe has wild photos of himself posted on Facebook (the fishnet stockings over his head spring to mind), which he says he will not delete so that people can see what he’s really like. “If they think I’m not qualified, I will understand.”
Count on a more “colourful” race if he gets on the ticket. And count on Bangkok getting a whole lot more global attention is he becomes governor.
And you thought Lina Jang and Pleum Devakula were odd candidates.
