BANGKOK: A petition calling for the resignation of Thailand’s deputy prime minister attracted thousands of signatures on Monday, heaping pressure on the junta’s second-in-command to step aside amid a scandal over a luxury watch and undeclared assets.
The scandal has revealed growing signs of disgruntlement among the Thai public, and added to uncertainty over whether the junta will call an election later this year that is supposed to move the Southeast Asian nation back toward democracy. The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) placed Prawit Wongsuwan, 72, a former army chief who is also defence minister, under investigation after his appearance in a photograph of the cabinet wearing a diamond ring and a luxury watch in December sparked an avalanche of cricticism on social media.
Thai netizens have since identified 25 expensive luxury watches that the former general has worn but not declared to the anti-graft body. Prawit has said that he borrowed the timepieces from friends, but would resign if that was the public’s wish.
According to Thailand’s anti-corruption act, all political office holders must fully disclose all of their assets.On Monday, a Change.org petition calling for Prawit’s resignation had more than 61,200 signatures. The minister was attending a defence conference in Singapore on Monday, and a spokesman said he was in “good health”, without specifically addressing the watch issue.
“I would like to confirm that General Prawit Wongsuwan, deputy prime minister and defence minister ...is in good health and is ready to dedicate himself to looking after the country’s security,” Defence Ministry spokesman Kongcheep Tantrawanich, told reporters. The scandal is a sore point for the junta, whose promise to rid Thailand’s politics of corruption was central to its premise for staging a 2014 coup.
