'E Chor! E Chor!' Pants suit sets House alight, breast pics alert

That's too fashionable for us

Chor in her suit

Outspoken Future Forward Party spokeswoman and list MP Pannika "Chor" Wanich is full of compliments for netizens’ cheeky imitation versions of a now-famous suit she wore to parliament early this month, which helped trigger a personal spat with two women politicians who thought it out of keeping with mourning wear.

However, she insists the hi-so fashion suit was an appropriate show of mourning, and also strikes a blow for the right of women, no less than men, to wear a combination of black and white in the House.

The suit is in no small part responsible for Chor’s recent prominence on social media, spurred by a derogatory Twitter hashtag, "E Chor", coined by four-time MP Palang Pracharath MP Parina Kraikup. In the days following the suit’s debut in the House, one net idol took a white suit and spray-painted it in shades of black to achieve the same unusual look, spurring compliments from Chor for its authenticity.

As a signifier of her rapid rise to political fame, and willingness to buck convention, the daring outfit also fed into a police probe Chor is now facing over graduation photographs since unearthed by her critics in which she allegedly shows disrespect to the monarchy.

Chor has risen quickly to prominence since Future Forward tapped her to be its spokeswoman last year. The former Voice TV presenter and first-time list MP did not let her lack of political experience hold her back.

For the parliamentary session on June 5 to elect a new PM, Chor donned her hi-so pants suit from the Poem label. Its white to black shade progression upset politicians in favour of more traditional mourning garb. Politicians wore mourning attire to mark the passing of Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda.

While her critics say the suit looked out of place, Chor said she did not see why a different standard should apply to men and women. Parliament officials she consulted pointed to PM’s Office guidelines which said men should wear a white shirt, black tie and black suit, 

while women should wear all-black, which she thought was a double standard.

However, she claims when she proposed wearing a black and white combination, the official raised no objection.

Earlier, striking another blow for women’s rights in the House, Chor rose to her feet to ask that two rivals for the post of deputy speaker, Yaowaluck Wongpraparat from her party, and Suchart Tancharoen from Palang Pracharath, be given a chance to set out their visions to establish their credentials. Pitching Ms Yaowaluck, she said the last time the House had a woman serving as deputy was 14 years ago.

This sparked a sea of party-line objections from women in the House, who claimed there was no precedent for such a move, forcing temporary speaker Chai Chidchob to suspend proceedings when they showed signs of getting heated.

The challenge to convention was enough to upset the PPRP’s Parina Kraikup, who in the days to come was to emerge as Chor’s chief critic. In a May 28 Facebook live rant lasting four and a half minutes, she said FFP fans had criticised her on social media after she accused the party of being more talk than substance. 

Parina

She said they did little to help Thais at the constituency level, relying on a “cyber warrior” social media unit to boost their profile.

She also asked Chor to join her in a FB live session so she could teach her a few things about proper conduct in the House, noting acting speaker Mr Chai had corrected her several times in a week.

Chor responded, saying the age when “seniors” in the House should lecture their juniors and was over. “We are all MPs representing the people with the status of equals and that’s it. We cant go around thinking some MPs have more respect than others; we have to respect the public who elected us by ensuring we can all work together,” she said.

Ms Parina later coined for her the derogatory name “E Chor”, which she claims stems from local parlance in Ratchaburi, referring to people who refuse to be bound by the rules. 

“E Chor doesn’t play by the rules. You have to look at what she gets up to in the House. There were many in the chamber in the first week, but by week two, just one E Chor was left. I will let the public work out who she is,” she sniffed.

The line of attack later broadened to include the suit, after senator Khunying Pornthip Rojanasunand posted an image of it and asked if it was appropriate mourning wear. 

When Chor referred sarcastically to her party members dyeing their hair black (the Khunying wears a trademark purple and green combination, which critics said was also at odds with a mourning look), the Khunying, who insists her hair colour was a separate matter, asked if Chor was trying to send a message to the public.

Khunying Pornthip

Chor said she was mystified by the criticism, as when she met Khunying over lunch she mentioned nothing about it.

Later, Ms Parina, a former Miss Congeniality, agreed it was a beautiful suit but insisted she would look better in it because unlike Chor she has a neck long enough to wear it. “But not to worry, I wouldn’t wear such an outfit to parliament anyway — because I'm not E Chor!”

Public attention quickly focused on the suit, which goes by the rather grand name of “Charon’ Black & White Ombre Double Breasted Le Smoking Jacket”, which set back Chor by more than 20,000 baht but which in the hands of eager imitators could be had for much less. 

Chor posed for her fans, model-like, to show off the suit. Eager to replicate it, net celebrity “Muay So Hot” donned a knock-up version (white suit, add black spray paint, 79 baht). “She has the total look down pat, right down to the hair do, makeup, earrings, shoes,” Chor enthused. Cheap knock-offs have since hit the market, upsetting the label.

Back to more serious matters, Chor said she noticed 20 women in the House that day wearing a combination of mourning colours other than all-black and asked why she was being singled out.

After the offending monarchy pictures from Chor’s graduation emerged, Ms Parina coined a new name for her, “E Chor Nak Phandin”, which she said meant Chor was no longer wanted in Thailand. 

Noting a #Savepannika hashtag had also emerged, Ms Parina asked if it was “real” or just another social media fabrication by FFP’s busy media unit. Ms Parina denied she was on a personal vendetta, and asked how she and Chor could be enemies when they had yet to meet.

Finally, Chor marked the fuss over her hashtag with a cheeky appearance on the nightly GMM 25 tell-all Chae show, hosted by DJ and TV host Kachapa “Mod Dum” Tancharoen, son of Suchart, who stood in the deputy speaker’s race which drew Chor’s interest in parliament.

Chor criticised the convention where women MPs must be the first to cross-object to comments by their same-sex rivals in the House, and through his son asked Mr Suchart to look into it. 

“Under the convention, a man can’t object because it looks as if the male is harassing the female. It’s an outdated concept where men have to take special care of women as it assumes they are not equal,” the feisty newcomer MP said, saying she would welcome objections from either sex. She asked Mod Dum to pass on word to his Dad.

She admitted party boss Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit had called her in for a chat after her outspoken debut in the House. However, the FPPP has also called in Ms Parina, according to party MP Watanya Wongopasi, affectionately known as “Madam Dear”.

 “I don’t know the details, but it is a personal matter and people shouldn’t lump it in with politics,” she said, referring to the battle between Chor and Ms Parina. “It shouldn't reflect on other women in the party or suggest they can’t get along in the House,” she said hopefully.

Clinic imposter strife

Two "pretty" model presenters are taking legal action after pictures of their breasts ended up on the internet after innocent dealings with cosmetic surgery clinics went wrong.

Lawyer Ratchapol Sirisakhon took the women, aged 21, above and right, who did not disclose their names, to the Crime Suppression Division last week after they were contacted by men online purporting to come from cosmetic surgery clinics and asking for images of their breasts.

The women obliged, one because she thought she had won a competition for discounted breast enhancement surgery, and the other because she wanted corrective action taken after recent breast surgery went wrong. Both thought they were dealing with clinics with which they had made contact, but were wrong.

They discovered later the requests were fake, and that their breast shots had since been posted online. The shots belonging to the young woman who had surgery even show her surgery scars, but that didn't stop the imposter.

Mr Ratchapol said while the clinics were separate, the women had contacted them from the same website. They were contacted in turn by impersonators on FB and Line asking for the images. 

He warned women against sending images of their breasts online, urging them to visit the clinics instead. A young man who said his image was stolen for the profile of the FB imposter has also complained.