Everyone loves ‘Daddy’: forget Thaksin, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit is the Thai junta’s new billionaire rival
- The law is after him, the ladies call him “daddy”, and he’s running in Thailand’s elections promising a welfare state.
- Meet millennial darling, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit
Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit is one uncharacteristic plutocrat.
The law is after him, the ladies call him “daddy”, and he’s running in Thailand’s impending elections promising a welfare state.
As the March 24 polls draw nearer, the 40-year-old scion of Thailand’s biggest auto-parts manufacturer is emerging as a darling among millennials – many of whom are disenchanted with long-standing strife between the “red shirts” and “yellow shirts” that have dominated the kingdom’s politics.
And with some seven million young people – equal to the population of Hong Kong – set to vote for the first time, the growing support for Thanathorn could mean his upstart Future Forward Party may be a power broker in the aftermath of the polls. The surest hints of that came this week.
As prosecutors stepped up investigations over two alleged transgressions by Thanathorn, the billionaire’s unfazed supporters thronged to a rally in the capital Bangkok to show their support. He was treated like a rock star, particularly by his adoring female fans. Hundreds mobbed him with the hope of snagging a selfie, and they cried with delight as he waded through a sea of outstretched hands: “Fah Rak Por!”
The phrase, meaning “Fah Loves Daddy!” is from a popular Thai soap opera in which a working class woman, Fah, has an older “sugar daddy”. Thanathorn has embraced the oddball catchphrase, replying on Twitter to one fan that “Daddy loves Fah too!”.
