Thai protests: Witch Doctor uses satire to roast army generals, politicians

Protesters are waging a satirical war against the Thai army and its old guard allies and teacher turned satirist Attapon Buapat is among their sharpest weapons

Wit, code and creativity provide cover for taboo sentiments in a land where authorities have a history of crackdowns and patrol the internet for transgressions

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Attapon Buapat – also known as “the Witch Doctor” and “Kru Yai” – is a schoolteacher turned satirist. Photo: Handout

Published: 11:00am, 14 Oct 2020Updated: 9:36pm, 25 Nov 2020

In the skit that launched him to fame, the “Witch Doctor” pulls a plastic snake from a box, sends a cloud of white powder into the sky and swigs from a bottle of Red Bull – items immediately identifiable to the protest faithful as a roast of the generals, politicians and tycoons who run Thailand.

A satirical war is being waged by youth pro-democracy protesters challenging the Thai army and its old guard allies – and the 30-year-old “Witch Doctor” is among their sharpest weapons.

“All it takes is a small gesture, a thing taken out from a box. I don’t need to even explain it,” says Attapon Buapat – also known as Kru Yai – who will be back on stage this week as protesters again mass in Bangkok’s historic heart from October 14. “People immediately get the link between the symbol and an awful government.”

The plastic bag of powder, popped and dismissed in a white puff across the stage, is a reference to Thammanat Prompao, a deputy government minister who has clung on to his post despite widely circulated Australian court documents showing he was jailed over a heroin trafficking case in the 1990s – a conviction he denies.

Similarly a sip of the “immunity-giving” Red Bull – a reference to the heir to the energy drink billions who has avoided arrest over the hit-and-run killing of a policeman in 2012 – always gets the crowd howling.

Vorayuth Yoovidhya, whose grandfather co-founded energy drink company Red Bull, is accused of a deadly hit-and-run that killed a policeman. Photo: AP

“I love that joke … it’s cheeky and brave,” says audience member Narita, 25, during a performance at a university, of a gag taking on one of Thailand’s richest families in public.