Chuwit - All bark, no bite?

"I am a stranger in my own country, that is what I want to say to you.

"So begins Chuwit Kamolvisit, who is no stranger to controversy. Following a month in which he was successfully inaugurated as an MP, expelled from the House during its first sitting, and emerged at the centre of a "never saw it" expose of police tolerance of gambling dens, Chuwit has quickly established himself as one of the more colourful politicians around.

"49 days, would you believe it?" he asked a packed audience at the FCCT, who came to hear his latest take on Thai politics, sharing his incredulity at Yingluck Shinawatra's meteoric rise to power. But it's more Chuwit's meteoric rise to stardom that's got tongues wagging in the Thai media. The question people want answered now is: Is he more bark than bite?

His bark is legendary, and at the FCCT he certainly didn't disappoint. "I want to kick [former premier] Thaksin [Shinawatra] out," he said, gesticulating defiantly at the audience. "The red shirts, they are a machine of Thaksin, which he can switch on and off whenever he wants." Various stories of run-ins with the police follow, before he shares his most recent putsch, the Casino Files. Most will have heard of his Casino expose to the press, but his subsequent dealings with the police bear a mention.

"So I go to the police station and I ask them, 'What about the gambling den in Chockchai 4?' They say, 'What gambling den? You have evidence? You have video to prove it?' Mmmm, no, I don't," Chuwit continues, with the thinnest of smiles crossing his face. "Well, there is no den there, we can tell you for sure." Then, with his smile broadening, he produces a thumb drive. The audience erupts in laughter at his game of bluff and double-bluff, which has left his police adversaries looking decidedly flat-footed and, well, plain stupid.

Then, in a lively encounter with red-shirt spokesperson Sean Boonpracong, who objected to Chuwit's portrayal of the red-shirt movement as comprising paid lackeys of Thaksin, Chuwit retorted that his wife was similarly reluctant to accept such elementary truths. Indeed, he continued to more guffaws, she went to bed wearing red underwear every night. Chuwit two, adversaries nil.

But what of Chuwit the person? Many political observers will say that Thailand has enough colourful politicians. What it lacks is conviction politicians: Politicians who will stand for something rather than against it. And while Chuwit tantalised us with the possibility that he might, finally be the one, ultimately he failed to convince that he was anything other than a prize fighter or nak leng who, while superb at winning his one-on-ones, is not the leader (yet at least) able to rise to "people's champion" status.

For example, when asked repeatedly what his vision was, the best he could muster was "a boat with many rooms, nice girl and cigar". But he dodged the question on a political vision of any sort. When asked by another journalist when his mission could be considered complete, his answer ("after two or three years") might as well have been "after two or three rounds" with no concept of what exactly he intended to do to take the champion's belt.

He gamely aimed a few jabs at some unwitting suspects. The price rigging of the poultry industry by big business came in for a special mention, as did the corruption and money-orientation of politicians in general and the patronage system in particular. This was Chuwit at his best, arms and elbows pumping and the anecdotes flying out like a flurry of Mike Tyson upper cuts. In answering questions there was no attempt to deal with the real issue in the style of Abhisit, nor was there an attempt to hammer out the rhetoric in the style of a Jatuporn or Chalerm. Instead, we have the down-to-earth, shopkeeper next door with his stories and expressions that somehow connect us with this political battler whose heart, as he keeps reminding us, is on his left side.

He finished to another round of applause, not unlike that which rings out in Rajdamnoen or Lumpini after a bout. Whether he will discover his vision, however, and become the pack leader that Thailand so desperately needs, or continue with more bark than real bite, remains to be seen.

But whichever course he chooses, we're sure that the media and his fans will love him just the same.