Prayut red-faced at ‘senior moment’ in parliament

By Khanittha Thepphajorn

The Nation

 

 

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha suffered an embarrassing loss of memory on Friday as he addressed parliament on the second day of a special two-day session to scrutinise his new government’s policies.

 

The re-elected premier was in the middle of a lengthy speech about Thailand’s foreign trade, especially the exports of rice, the Kingdom’s biggest crop. 

 

Suddenly, he realized he had forgotten the type of rice Thailand exported to Africa and hastily asked officials via microphone for help, before ending his speech abruptly, resulting in laughter erupting in the conference room.

 

Prayut had spent much of his speech at the TOT auditorium in Bangkok addressing the major issues that would exercise his Cabinet, including corruption in state agencies, the price of rubber, the current drought and farmers’ resulting debts. 

 

He also touched on Thailand’s overseas investments and cooperation with other countries, the energy sector, global trade and the economic problems that have led to businesses selling less products.

 

Agriculture and Co-operatives Minister Chalermchai Sri-on then told colleagues he had instructed his staff to report back on steps they were taking to manage water consumption amid the drought.

 

He said he had told them his No 1 priority was the optimal use of water both by consumers and farmers in the short term. He had also asked officials to inspect the damage to drought-hit rice fields and provide affected farmers with due compensation. 

 

Water tanks were already being sent to drought-hit areas, he said, while rain-making activities were being performed every day whenever the weather allowed. 

 

Chalermchai said long-term solutions included reviving projects to boost water levels in dams. 

 

He closed by assuring parliament that his ministerial staff had a strong team spirit, were highly motivated to overcome the problems caused by the drought and were willing to listen to constructive suggestions and ideas from wherever they came.

 

Prime Minister’s Office Minister Tewan Liptapanlop said the government had set aside a Bt350 million budget for the National Consumer Council to tackle consumers’ problems arising from buying products online.

 

These included paying for the goods but not receiving them, receiving goods that didn’t match what they had ordered and receiving items that were sub-standard. This budget was being provided on top of actions already at the disposal of the Office of the Consumer Protection Board.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30373731

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-07-26

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Just think..... This man???? thinks he is a fit person to run the country.

6 minutes ago, webfact said:

The re-elected premier

??????    He wasn't elected ...anyway can we please see his red face.

Order...Order...Order...

"The re-elected premier"  How can he, pray tell, be 're-elected' when he was never elected in the first place?

46 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Just think..... This man???? thinks he is a fit person to run the country.

It doesn't matter if he's fit or not, he's in charge like it or not

 

There are incompetent governments all around the world, who are not 'fit to lead'. Sometimes it makes me think humans are biologically swayed to always vote the dumbest person in the room

 

Or in this case, a team have successfully taken control and everyone's too lazy to bother

And without doubt many more red faces to come but mainly apoplectic!

well at least he didn't dose off like someone else who probably shouldn't be there anyway.

1 hour ago, webfact said:

while rain-making activities were being performed every day whenever the weather allowed. 

 

We can all have 'senior moments'.

 

So concentrate on what's important: What are his plans for leading Thailand in to the late twentieth century?

3 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

We can all have 'senior moments'.

 

So concentrate on what's important: What are his plans for leading Thailand in to the late twentieth century?

Looks like you just had a senior moment, we are in the twenty first century.

Have been for the last 19 years.

Anyone can have them, I have had many even when I was not a senior.

Re bought re elected same thing really considering the location ????

An off topic post and the reply has been removed. 

21 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Looks like you just had a senior moment, we are in the twenty first century.

Have been for the last 19 years.

I rather thought that was my point!

I am wondering why people in the room laugh about him.

I am not an expert on Thailand, but isnt that illegal and similar to strong criticism of the government?

My missus tells me they are all sharing that moment on farcebook and having a good laugh as well. I would say biggest loss of face for a Thai PM ever. 

42 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Looks like you just had a senior moment, we are in the twenty first century.

Have been for the last 19 years.

Most of the civilised world is in the 21 st century Colin.

 

However TiT under Prayuth he is correct.

 

The next great leap forwards backwards will be to advance to the 1950s.

2 hours ago, MRToMRT said:

Anyone can have them, I have had many even when I was not a senior.

Yeah? What country are you Prime Minister of?

25 minutes ago, Roy Baht said:

Yeah? What country are you Prime Minister of?

I believe I am better and more suited to be a PM/Pres' than Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and quite a few others as well. Vote for me and I will give you your desires.

Must have been that xtra spicy somtum....

13 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

My missus tells me they are all sharing that moment on farcebook and having a good laugh as well. I would say biggest loss of face for a Thai PM ever. 

How does it compare to sneaking out of the country to avoid going to jail?

17 hours ago, Thailand said:

And without doubt many more red faces to come

Like this ?

 

18 hours ago, webfact said:

Suddenly, he realized he had forgotten the type of rice Thailand exported to Africa and hastily asked officials via microphone for help

"kao hom submarine"

16 hours ago, cerox said:

isnt that illegal and similar to strong criticism of the government?

Not by MP's during session of parliament.

16 hours ago, mfd101 said:

We can all have 'senior moments'.

 

So concentrate on what's important: What are his plans for leading Thailand in to the late twentieth century?

 

Agree

19 hours ago, webfact said:

Suddenly, he realized he had forgotten the type of rice Thailand exported to Africa

Prayut was supposed to read verbatim (that's word-for-word) from his official written 34-page policy statement issued to parliament prior to his presentation. But several times he was criticized for interjecting political commentary.

His attempted mention of type of rice exported to Africa (a continent and not a nation) may have been such an instance. Or it was an oversight in the official statement and he decided to verbally "correct" his policy statement.

 

Regarding Thailand rice exports to African nations, that's been ongoing before Prayut's military coup.

In fact India and China have been Thailand's main rice export competitors in Africa. And several key African nations such as Ghana and Nigeria have - ironically similar to Prayut's economic philosophy of national sufficiency - dramatically increased domestic rice production through foreign investments to reduce their reliance on expensive imported rice. So I'm not sure how any mention by Prayut on or off the record of Thailand rice exports to Africa has any significance to parliament.

 

He will be getting the shakes next

regards worgeordie

On his Friday night matinee he always maintained he was a General not a Politician so give him a break

Prayuth and the Thai army, are the worst things to happen to Thailand in recent history. Neither serve any useful function for society, and both are insuring that the nation is moving backwards, at a staggering pace. He is incompetent beyond one's ability to comprehend.