Young Thais want to cancel K-pop star Sitala over her father's support of coups and royalists
The upcoming debut of a Thailand-born K-pop star is drawing controversy as young Thais denounce her late father's royalist activism.
Sitala Wongkrachang, daughter of late Thai actor Sarunyoo Wongkrachang, became the centre of a social media controversy this week after the announcement of her debut as a member of the South Korean girl group H1-KEY (pronounced high-key).
As of Friday, the hashtag #BANSITALA was trending on Thai Twitter, with young Thais denouncing her even before the January launch of her album on the Grandline Entertainment label.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
Thai internet users zeroed in on her father's involvement in the royalist movement that played a part in overthrowing two Thai elected prime ministers - Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra, in 2006 and 2014 respectively.
They highlighted that while Sitala's privilege had allowed her to pursue fame and riches, most young Thais her age had seen their opportunities dwindle in a country that has been hit by decades of political chaos and coups that were supported by her father.
On the official Facebook page of H1-KEY, a Facebook user Pat Trisuvan said:
"This is some joke. I don't know if you have run a background check but let me speak on behalf of the Thai people who are currently suffering from what her family has done.
"Her father supported the military regime, he was one of the core leaders of the anti-democracy protest back in 2014. That protest led the country into a coup and Thailand has fallen into a military regime since. And look at where she is - living in South Korea, graduating from a top university, getting a debut as a K-pop artist, while the children of Thailand are left to rot to death because of the actions of her family. Please think twice about her debut, this whole thing is plain disgusting."
Sarunyoo, who died in 2020 at the age of 59, was one of Thailand's most successful and best known actors. In 2001, he played a leading role in the film The Legend of Suriyothai, seen by some critics as royal propaganda, as the historical king from the Ayutthaya period who fought off the Burmese invaders.
Sarunyoo became politically active in the months leading to the 2006 coup that overthrew Thaksin, joining the People's Alliance for Democracy or the yellow shirts, who staged daily protests accusing Thaksin of corruption and disrespect towards the monarchy.
As public mood anger grew against Thaksin, the group increasingly placed the monarchy at the centre of their political agenda. Its leader, media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul, started wearing a yellow shirt, to symbolise the king, and a blue-coloured scarf that he said was given to him by Queen Sirikit.
Before the coup, the group called for King Bhumibol Adulyadej to replace Thaksin with his own nomination for prime minister. The palace never responded to the call. However, within hours of the military coup that removed Thaksin from power, the king granted an audience to the military leaders, leading to suspicions that the palace was backing the military's action.
In 2008, as Thaksin's brother-in-law Somchai Wongsawat became the prime minister, the People's Alliance for Democracy was back in action, blockading Suvarnabhumi airport. In 2017, the court ordered the yellow shirt leaders, including Sarunyoo, to pay a financial fine and interest to cover the damages of the blockade.
In late 2013, the pro-military royalist People's Democratic Reform Committee surfaced with a call to oust Yingluck who had won an election in 2011. Like the People's Democratic Reform Committee, they launched on a nationalist/royalist card with the heavy use of symbolism like Thai flags on their clothes.
Some internet users have claimed that Sitala joined the protests. The protest was seen as a precursor to the 2014 coup. A repetition of coups in Thailand in less than a decade was seen as the victory of the royalist camp and a recession of democracy and freedoms of Thais.
"You'll get to debut," one Twitter user referred to Sitala, "while others, who are about your age, have to be in jail because of what your parents did."
"People her age now are fighting for the democracy that her family took away. They have been imprisoned, shot, and worse, forced to go missing," said another Twitter user.
Some Thais have called on the label to remove Sitala from H1-KEY. The label has not responded so far.
Sitala reportedly graduated from Seoul's Ewha Womans University. Her debut will follow that of fellow Thais in K-pop including Lalisa "Lisa" Manobal of Blackpink, Kunpimook "BamBam" Bhuwakul of the boy band Got7, and Nichkhun of the boy band 2PM.
Thai K-pop fans are politically active, last year raising money in support of the pro-democracy protests led by university students in Thailand who have called for the reform of the monarchy and the end of military intervention in Thai politics.
Last month, Yonhap news agency reported that as K-pop became more marketable overseas, agencies were taking more notice of cultural sensitivities in other countries to avoid various unnecessary controversies involving their artists.
In a recent case, Giselle, a member of the girl group Aespa, had to post an apology on Twitter after footage emerged of her singing along to SZA's Love Galore. Overseas fans protested because the lyrics included a derogatory word for black people.
Ninety-six per cent of the 9.15 billion YouTube views Blackpink gained over the past year came from overseas.
Indonesia accounted for the most of those views with 758 million, followed by Thailand (736 million), India (679 million), the Philippines (638 million) and Mexico (514 million), according to Yonhap.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Copyright (c) 2021. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
