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Published on November 10, 2007

Samak asked PPP beat reporters in the newsroom at his party headquarters on Thursday why The Nation had blown up the report.

As the PPP chief was trying to mend fences with reporters, a television channel ran footage of Samak asking the Siam Rath reporter, "Did you have sinful sex last night?" when he faced questions about the roles of banned Thai Rak Thai members Newin Chidchob and Sudarat Keyuraphan.

Reacting to reporters who asked if the incident would affect the party's chances of winning the election, Samak angrily shot back: "It is the abject nature of television. We will see if voters do not vote for the party because of me."

When a reporter persisted in asking if he did not care how the voters felt about his aggressive nature, Samak answered, "No, this is me. I am not artificial. My mouth speaks my mind. What about the press, are they the father of the country?''

The reporters argued that they had the right to pose the question because the party received grants from the Election Commission, which is tax payers' money. "But I also have the right to use my way of exchanging blows to end the conversation,'' Samak said. "My party also understands what happened. The reporters harassed me, so I taught them a lesson,'' he added.

When asked whether he would use the same tactic if he was posed the same question, Samak answered, "Absolutely, there is no clause in the Constitution that forbids me.''

Chirmsak Pinthong, a former senator and drafter of the 2007 Constitution, criticised Samak's choice of words as "impolite and inappropriate", saying he could not believe Samak would use such words with a reporter.

"As the party leader, he should control his emotions,'' Chirmsak said.

Samak's party was found to be trailing its major rival, the Democrat Party, in a survey of Bangkok voters conducted on Thursday.

The poll by Ramkhamhaeng University found that the Democrats are far more popular than the PPP among Bangkok residents, with some 52 per cent of respondents saying it was their favourite party. Only 13.5 per cent favoured PPP, with Chart Thai getting top rating from 4 per cent, Matchima Thipataya 1.8 per cent, and Puea Pandin and Ruam Jai Thai Chart Pattana 0.8 per cent each.

Some 20 per cent did not favour any party and 7 per cent gave no comment.

Ninety-one per cent of the 1,464 respondents said they knew the election would be held on December 23.

Asked if they knew the ballot number of their favourite party, 50 per cent said yes, 34 per cent said no, and 12.7 per cent said they did not like any party so they did not care.

More than half the respondents said they did not believe the number ballot allotted to each party would affect their performance in the election.

Less than 20 per cent believed either numbers 1 or 9 would bring luck to the parties to which they were allotted, while only 2.7 per cent believed the number 13 was a bad omen to the party it represented. The respondents said politician's deeds would have more impact than the numbers on their chances of winning the election.

 The Nation