Toon Bodyslam is my 2017 Person of the Year

Pick up a Thai newspaper at random over the past few weeks and its front page would have read something like this: Police asked to arrest lustful millionaire for trying to buy female reporter as mistress; Stressed mum stabs her two kids; Chinese smuggler caught with rhino horns; 11 anti-Yingluck protesters jailed; Suphan Buri auntie’s Bt6m winning lottery ticket stolen; and Court accepts murder charges against Lt-Col Banyin. 
That was the December 14 edition of Thai Rath. 
The front page contained one more headline, though. It read: “Kamphaeng Phet welcomes Toon in orderly manner”. The next day, Thai Rath’s typically depressing front page carried another Toon development: “Thai Paralympians join rock star”. 
What was a rare exception has become a pattern in Thai dailies for the past few weeks. Toon Bodyslam’s run is unique in being the only positive story to run daily on front pages ever since he started his charity run from southernmost Thailand on November 1. For an industry that lives by the maxim “if it bleeds it leads”, the treatment of Toon’s charity run is nothing less than extraordinary.
We can criticise the mainstream media all we like, but their products only reflect how we the public perceive and approach the world. In other words, negativity sells because there are willing buyers. That’s why the front pages always feature problems, troublesome ways to solve them that instead create a new set of problems, and shrieking critics slamming what they think will never work.
Along came Toon. He saw the problem, but instead of blaming someone else, asked himself what he could do to help. As one of Thailand’s top rock stars, he knew his potential to raise funds for needy hospitals was better than most, and he utilised his fame nobly. Or you could say he exploited his own popularity in a smart way.
It’s never easy for any news publication or outlet to select their Person of the Year. Which is why the trend lately is to announce a “symbolic” choice in the form of a collective entity. It’s a safe choice, since the idea of a “Person of the Year” is someone (or thing) who has had great impact on our way of life or thinking.
Nominating Toon bucks that trend yet undoubtedly wins the “impact” argument. He also allows news organisations to drop symbolism for once and return to the original concept of “person” of the year. The shy and grateful rock star has been declared just that by several publications now, and deservedly so. 
“Toon fever” is a big test of his character, but vanity will have to face off with Toon’s humility, which is well documented and so far seems to be holding sway. If he meant what he said – when he complained the current frenzy was making him feel awkward, that he was not doing it for admiration, that he was just a regular guy running for a few days and was receiving recognition due instead to doctors and nurses who had to run all their lives helping sick or dying people – then he does have real immunity against arrogance and egotism.
The trick is to keep inspiring people while resisting any impulse to “lead” them, which would bring politics into the picture. And we all know what politics can do to pure hearts that mean well. The next steps could be tougher for Toon than the torturous path from Betong to Mae Sai he has already covered. He intended to raise Bt700 million, but the figure has already exceeded Bt1.1 billion. The windfall is righteous, but it’s also a glimpse of what lies in store, possibly an ominous one.
Toon will have to stay true to the humble spirit of his charity campaign. If he means what he has said in countless interviews – that it’s a one-step-for-each-person collective push – he will do just fine. As long as it’s one step at a time and not a big leap, the rock star is on a safe, honourable journey.
For trying to help ease a major problem in an unpolitical way, for using his popularity shrewdly and morally, for reaffirming the noble powers of athleticism and for inspiring virtually everyone in the process, Arthiwara Kongmalai (Toon Bodyslam) is my Person of the Year for 2017.