Not cut out for the job: Thai PM's stunt bemuses public
His humorous approach to the media did not go unnoticed by Thai social media users.
(AFP) - Thais were left bemused by the latest antics of Thai junta leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha after he told reporters to direct any serious questions to a cardboard cut-out of himself.
Talking to reporters outside Government House on Monday, Prayut turned the media s attention to the life-size likeness after an aide dutifully placed the cut-out in front of a microphone.
"Whoever wants to take a picture, ask political questions... about conflict... ask this guy," Prayut joked before saying "bye bye" and flashing sign language for I love you before swaggering away.
His humorous approach to the media did not go unnoticed by Thai social media users.
Many were left befuddled by Prayut s casual attitude to media scrutiny.
Others said it was in character for an authoritarian former general who has stamped out dissent since seizing power four years ago.
"If you don t have the ability to answer people s questions, how can you solve people s problems?" Phanuphong Thongfueang posted on Facebook.
Some were less charitable. Prayut "is an idiot" was a common refrain among many Facebook comments on the subject on Tuesday.
Another Facebook post by Pinyo San accused Prayut, who is also Thailand s prime minister, of showing "bad manners" while calling out Thailand s downtrodden media for being pliant before the kingdom s military ruler.
Since seizing power in a 2014 coup by deposing then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Prayut has developed a reputation for his rough treatment of the media.
On separate occasions, he has tossed a banana peel at a cameraman, threatened to smack someone with his podium and pulled a reporter by the ear.
Many Thais now believe he is remodelling himself as a fun-loving, likeable character -- instead of a grim-faced ex-general -- in time for elections slated for later this year.
Last week Prayut told reporters he was no longer an army man but a "politician" -- although he has been coy on whether he will seek to become the country s first civilian leader since Yingluck.
