Bangkok (AFP)
A 40-year-old tycoon who has become the darling of Thai millennials thanks to his sharp social media messaging on Wednesday decried efforts to “kick out his legs”, as his upstart pro-democracy party soars in profile ahead of next month’s election.
Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the scion of a billionaire auto-parts maker, is the charismatic frontman of Future Forward, a new party targeting the urban youth vote with a staunchly anti-junta platform.
He has disrupted the Thai political scene, offering a fresh option to the long-standing binary political choice between a royalist, military-aligned bloc or the populist parties of billionaire ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Thanathorn has drawn an adoring social media following, mainly among young, first-time voters, who appear enamoured as much by his good looks as his policies, dubbing him “Daddy” in a reference to a soap opera character.
But legal troubles have come in lock-step with popularity.
On Wednesday he appeared at the prosecutor’s office over a case brought by the junta under Thailand’s hardline Computer Crimes Act.
He and two…
