Thammasat University political science professor, Chaiwat Satha-Anand, is the latest Thai university employee making a name for himself on the internet, and not in a good way.
Instead, Chaiwat is being gossiped about by Thais for flying into a rage after Nok Air staff informed him he would have to stow his walking stick in an overhead compartment.
Chaiwat Satha-Anand was apparently on a Nok Air flight with his walking stick when staff told him it was impossible to store it in the pouch in the back of the seat in front of him. He was told it was against the airline’s policy as it could be used as a weapon.
Staff, however, offered to safely store the walking stick in an overhead compartment, from where he could retrieve it at the end of the flight.
This, however, wasn’t good enough for Chaiwat who reportedly became angry, even accusing the airline of discriminating against him because he was Muslim.
Not content to let it go at this, however, Chaiwat had to go one step further and write a long letter about Nok Air, which was published on the Prasong.com website. Needless to say, most Thais I’ve spoken to think he is wrong.
Chaiwat Satha-Anand, unfortunately, isn’t the only Thai university employee to make the news for behaving badly recently.
Thai university law tutor, Kasian Kamolchaiwanich, made national news when a video of him was posted on YouTube. The video showed him viciously punching and kicking a young woman because the woman refused to reverse her van down a small soi so Kasian could get by.
What made this incident even more ridiculous and made Kasian Kamolchaiwanich look foolish was, while it took the woman several minutes to reverse the few hundred yards she needed to allow Kasian to get by, Kasian himself could have reversed one meter and let the woman through.
You have to wonder then, why are some Thai universities hiring people that don’t seem to be able to behave properly in public places? Or have these people always felt they are so ‘privileged’ the rules don’t apply to them?
All I can say is Thammasat University probably isn’t particularly thrilled that its name is now in the public eye due to a political science professor and his anger at having to follow the rules.
By the way, the video below is of Thai law tutor Kasian Kamolchaiwanich kicking and hitting a woman over a right-of-way issue. That level of anger over something so minor is difficult to understand.
Update: The incident involving Thai law tutor Kasian Kamolchaiwanich was quietly closed a week later, as he quietly apologized to the woman involved and paid a 1,000 baht fine.