Chuwit ready to fight Santhana in the ring as conflict threatens to get out of hand
A conflict between two firebrands who have become the Thai media’s darlings — Chuwit Kamolvisit and Santhana Prayoonrat — is threatening to take an ugly turn as Chuwit on Thursday challenged the latter to a fight in the ring.
In response to an offer by a boxing promoter to organise a special fight between him and Santhana, Chuwit said on Thursday that he was ready for such an encounter if notified in advance.
“I’ll just push him lightly and he will fall down. If he can stand longer than one minute, I will kowtow before him,” Chuwit said.
He also offered a cash reward of 100,000 baht to anyone who comes forward to him with a piece of evidence, including a video clip, that could implicate Santhana for his alleged wrongdoing.
Chuwit admitted that he could be criticised for resorting to violence. “My response is that sometimes violence fits someone,” he said.
Chuwit and Santhana had confronted publicly at least twice over the recent days. They were involved in a war of words before a large group of reporters and cameramen — first outside Chuwit’s Davis Hotel and again at Bangkok’s Thong Lo Police Station.
Santhana filed a police complaint claiming drug abuse at an entertainment venue inside Chuwit’s hotel. Chuwit said Santhana was coming after him because he had exposed illegal activities involving a Chinese syndicate.
Chuwit has often made headlines with claims of knowledge about underground business in Thailand. He recently claimed that unnamed powerful Thai figures were involved with questionable Chinese businesses.
A former MP and the leader of a political party, Chuwit once owned a number of massage parlours in Bangkok before entering politics.
In January 2016, he was sentenced to two years in prison for knocking down bars and shops on a Bangkok night strip in 2003. He was freed in December of that year under a royal pardon.
Santhana had served in the Royal Thai Police’s Special Branch before his dismissal from the police force in 2002 for obstructing a police raid on an illegal gambling den in Bangkok. He recently came out in defence of some Chinese businessmen linked to Bangkok entertainment venues catering mainly to Chinese nationals. Illicit drugs and illegal gambling were found during a recent police raid on such a venue.
