When former PM Prayut Chan-o-cha was in office, he faced harsh criticism, including hate speech, from the Thai online community, mainly because he was a coup leader-turned-premier.
His actions as premier and as a person attracted negative comments and feedback, leading to people saying that he did everything wrong, even breathing!
Many Thai netizens produced video clips, asking when he would leave office and criticising him for trying to stay in power indefinitely.
An interesting phenomenon has recently emerged on Thai social networks, however. It is a song called “We Miss Loong Tu” (Prayuth’s nickname) which has gone viral.
It is a pop/dance song and the lyrics are “Loong Tu is the one who stands up for us and does a lot of work. He makes us smile and would sacrifice his life for the monarchy. We miss Loong Tu, aha, aha.
Not only that. Netizens have created their own videos, lip-syncing to the song and incorporating choreographed movements.
@apple28954 captioned her TikTok clip with, “I miss you, Loong Tu, very much. When you were in office, I criticised you a lot. I’m sorry.”
@tip-time48 featured four family members in the clip, including a teen, saying, “This family loves Loong Tu. Please take care and stay healthy.”
Some political observers say that the song has trended, partly because the incumbent government, which took over the office from Prayut in August last year, has been unable to address the country’s pressing issues.
The Pheu Thai party, which leads the governing coalition, focused on pushing the “digital wallet” scheme, its flagship campaign policy, while seemingly ignoring more critical issues.
Thai Sang Thai party leader Sudarat Keyuraphan recognises the public sentiment.
She gave an interview on a political television program, criticising the Srettha government for failing to respond to the people’s needs.
“I wonder if the current government’s administration is making people miss Loong Tu,” she mused.
Recently, Srettha was asked to comment on the increasing trend of people missing Prayut.
He admitted that Prayut had governed the country for a long time and had accomplished a lot.
Meanwhile, many still have no clue who the TikTok user ‘Celestial Sound,’ who produced the song “We Miss Loong Tu”, actually is
Many have written to Celestial Sound, asking them to reveal themselves and their motivation for releasing the song.
A pro-Pheu Thai anchor woman lashed out at the trend, saying artificial intelligence was used to create the song.
In an apparent response to the claim, Celestial Sound wrote: “We wrote the lyrics and used AI as a singer and to compose the music. We are not AI. We apologise for not being able to reveal ourselves. What we can say is that we have not taken sides with any political party or have any political affiliations. We are not paid; that is the end of it.”
Celestial Sound added, “A song about Por Yai Thaksin will come soon.”
by Marisa Chimprabha
