Veera and The Leader

There was some news that red shirt leader Veera or Veerakarn Musigapong was at The Leader’s reform shindig yesterday. PPT did a little bit of tracking on this story to understand the relationship, especially after the Bangkok Post reported that Veerakarn “thought Gen Prayuth [Chan-ocha] deserved to be prime minister.”

In fact, as the Post reports, this seems to have been an ironic statement: “As the one who staged the coup and head of the NCPO [the junta], Gen Prayuth should become prime minister…”.

At The Nation it is reported that Veerakan “did not seem to enjoy Prayuth’s joke about the legal cases faced by him.” Perhaps because Prayuth joked that Veera’s cases be left “up to the courts to decide…”. Of course, there’s little chance that Veera’s cases will receive a fair hearing as the courts are in the pockets of the junta and royalists.

Also at The Nation Veerakarn made this point when “stressed there was a need for judicial reform as a response to the public accusing it of double standards.”

He later “said he attended the event following the military’s invitation although he was not so eager to come.” In fact, when “asked whether he voluntarily came to the meeting,” his answer was an emphatic “No.”