Netizens Defend Miss Grand Thailand As She Faces Haters

Miss Grand Thailand faces backlash

“Nam” Pacharaporn Chantarapadit, a 22-year-old beauty queen from Ranong province, was crowned on Sunday night as Miss Grand Thailand this year after delivering a pro-democracy answer in the final’s round question.

Controversial final answer

Image credit: The Standard

When asked about the ongoing protest of Thai youth against the government, Miss Chantarapadit confidently answered in her native tongue, “In all honesty, I stand with the protesters because we have a right to voice our opinion.”

She then continued in English, “If you’re [the government] calling this country Thailand, then we need a real democracy. And moreover, We need you [the government] to get out of the country. Thank you!”

Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha’s speech being televised after the success of the 2014 coup d’etat.
Image credit: Wikipedia

The current government is under PM Prayut Chan-o-cha. He first entered Thailand’s political landscape as the Royal Thai Army general officer who conducted the coup against the civilian government in 2014 and stepped in as the new leader.

His actions towards “democratising” himself in the 2019 general election were heavily criticised by the public. Despite the victory, many allegations were made against him such as replacing the ballots and delaying the counting.

The rain of hate speech

While many young people were rejoiced by Miss Chantarapadit’s answer, the pro-government group was far from happy and took their criticism to the internet.

However, rather than discussing the beauty queen’s answer, many critiques chose to attack her appearance – her skin colour to be precise. Many resorted to vile hate speech, using pejorative terms like “darky” and “tranny” to insult her.