Dozy deputy: Prawit, once again, caught napping on the job in Parliament

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan has been caught at it again, snoozing on the job, during a Parliament meeting. It’s not the first time Prawit, affectionately known as “Uncle Pom,” has been caught nodding off at work. The 77 year old politician has always defended himself against the accusations saying he was only “resting his eyes,” just like Sleeping Beauty.

The picture, showing the back of Prawit slumped forward asleep, went viral across Thai social media platforms.

According to Sanook’s report, the picture was taken during the final two hours of the meeting where Padiphat Santiphada, a Member of Parliament (MP) from the Move Forward Party (MFP), was addressing the Deputy President of the Thailand Parliament.

The reactions from netizens varied. Some netizen expressed their worries about Prawit’s health and offered their good wishes, hoping that he would continue his work in the Parliament without any health complications.

Many netizens disagreed with all of the negative comments and defended Prawit saying that it was normal for an old person to take a nap, while others believed it was time for Prawit to step back and allow a new generation of politicians to take the lead.

Some comments contained a playful tone, teasing Prawit…

“He just picked up his pen that fell to the floor…”

“Let’s imagine if he falls asleep when being the PM.”

“Bro! Let’s take a rest and chill at home.”

“The 30th Prime Minister of Thailand!”

This is not the first time a picture capturing Prawit asleep has gone viral. Last year in September, a similar image gained widespread attention during a meeting with water and land use agencies in the southern province of Krabi.

In the previous incident, the Minister of Digital Economy and Society, Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, defended his leader that Prawit did not fall asleep and responded to the meeting all the time.

In the current parliament team, Prawit stands as the sole Party-list MP representing the Palang Pracharath Party, although the party has an additional 41 constituency MPs supporting their cause.

The purpose of the Parliament meeting today was for MPs to vote for the new president and deputy presidents. The position of Parliament President was awarded to the leader of the Prachachart Party, 79 year old Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, also known as Wan Nor.

The MFP’s Padiphat Santiphada and Pheu Thai Party’s Pichate Bhuamuangphan will take on deputy Parliament president positions.