Dear Christiane Amanpour
You are a highly respected journalist and you deserve accurate information to avoid being exploited by politicians who feed you disinformation that will make you sound naïve.
Your interview with Mr. Pita, an MP from Thailand who has faced allegations and failed in the nomination for prime minister of Thailand has produced misleading information about Thailand’s politics.
To answer some of your questions with facts – rather than a myth that western media tend to believe;
– Thailand’s general election elects members of parliament from each electorate. The results of the election identifies representatives of constituencies nationwide. They become members of parliament – not Prime Minister nor prime minister designate. What Mr. Pita can be at best is ‘prime minister self-assume’
– Prime minister is elected through a parliamentary process. Candidates need to win in the parliamentary voting with more than half of the total votes. Mr. Pita did not succeed in gathering enough support to vote in his favor. Shamelessly he spread words that the parliamentary system was not fair. What if he won the vote and became Thailand’s PM? Will he say the system is wonderful?
– Thailand’s appointed senate is made up of people from various backgrounds but the inclusion of the senate was approved by nationwide referendum conducted in 2016 with almost 17 million people in favor against 10 millions who disagreed.
– Mr. Pita is well aware of Thailand’s parliamentary system as he has sat through more than 200 sessions and debates since 2019.
– Ms. Amanpour, you are familiar with British parliament and the Crown-in-parliament and House of Lords. Are representatives in these houses elected or appointed?
– The allegations that Mr. Pita has to deal with is not at all a scam and can never, never, not even with the wildest imagination, be a scam. Pita has inherited the shares in ITV, the media company, from his father 17 years ago when his father passed away. Mr. Pita is legally and rightfully the owner of the shares and nobody else could have interfered with this ownership. The election law stipulates very clearly that MP candidates must not have any shares in media companies in order to prevent having an influence over their own media company.
– Mr. Thanathorn, Pita’s predecessor, was disqualified and penalized for exactly the same situation back in 2020. Obviously Mr. Pita intended to keep his shares in ITV knowing full well it is a violation of Thailand’s election law. In Thailand, we uphold honesty. Hopefully it is the same for the US and all countries. MPs who are dishonest should not be honored, should they?
– Media that disregard facts and publicize disinformation may be doing so to serve their own agenda or sponsors. But neither is admirable.
So we hope that world-class multiple award-winning journalists such as yourself would not fall victim to any misinformation or disinformation.
We don’t care who will become prime minister of Thailand. But we do care if foreign media take any information without a grain of salt and ignore facts that can easily be researched. That is journalistic professionalism.
from Voters of Thailand’s constitution.
