Chalong Riewrang, a former three-time MP for Nonthaburi, is back in the spotlight after he apparently shot dead a senior local official before phoning into a live YouTube broadcast to confess his crime
Chalong said he shot Thongchai Yenprasert, chief executive of the Nonthaburi Provincial Administrative Organisation (PAO), during a dispute over an unpaid debt of 11 million baht.
The daylight attack took place on August 10 outside Thongchai’s office in the Provincial Hall compound.
Chalong, 71, claimed he acted out of anger after Thongchai repeatedly refused to repay the debt. He also described the shooting as self-defence, stating that he opened fire only after Thongchai’s driver drew a gun.
However, security camera footage shows Chalong concealing a pistol behind his back as he follows Thongchai and his chauffeur from the PAO office building to their parked car. In the footage, Chalong briefly speaks to the passenger before pointing the gun at him, prompting the driver to flee the vehicle.
Thongchai’s family and colleagues have disputed Chalong’s claim that the PAO chief owed him money, saying Thongchai had never mentioned any debt.
Authorities allowed Chalong – a murder suspect – the unusual privilege of hosting a press conference at Rattanathibet police station, which is handling the case.
The sight of Chalong unhandcuffed and puffing on a cigarette as he coolly put his side of the story to the media sparked a public backlash.
Critics accused the police of showing unusual deference towards the influential suspect – though their only punishment was a 3,000 baht fine for permitting Chalong to smoke inside a government office. Chalong was fined 5,000 baht for smoking at the police station.
Chalong was charged with premeditated murder and detained after the Nonthaburi Provincial Court rejected his request for bail release. He has been remanded at Nonthaburi Prison, where he had worked as a prison guard before entering politics.
Media reports have described Chalong and Thongchai as long-time friends and political allies. They had known each other since Thongchai was a police officer and Chalong a junior politician.
Thongchai, then a police colonel, served as superintendent of Nonthaburi’s Pak Kret district police station until 2004, when he switched to local politics and was elected PAO chief. He was subsequently re-elected four times.
A former prison guard
Chalong was born on February 18, 1955, in Nonthaburi. He earned his bachelor’s degree in education from Suan Dusit University and a master’s in social development from the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA).
He began his career as a prison guard in his home province. Just a year into duty, the young officer encountered Sanan Kachornprasart, a renegade Army colonel imprisoned along with other leaders of a failed coup attempt in March 1977.
Sanan was eventually pardoned before becoming secretary general of the Democrat Party, where he built a reputation as a political dealmaker.
Chalong made his political debut in 1996 after being elected as an MP for Nonthaburi under the Prachakorn Thai Party banner.
After then-prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh resigned amid the 1997 financial crisis, Chalong joined a group of MPs who defected from the ruling coalition to support Democrat opposition leader Chuan Leekpai as the next PM.
An infamous ‘cobra’
The mass defection infuriated Prachakorn Thai leader Samak Sundaravej, who dubbed the defectors “cobras,” invoking the folktale of a snake that repays a kind farmer with a poisonous bite.
After Chuan formed a coalition government, Chalong was appointed as adviser to the interior minister, Sanan, the Democrat secretary-general who reportedly engineered the coalition deal.
Chalong was twice re-elected as a Nonthaburi MP – under the Shinawatra-allied Thai Rak Thai Party in 2005 and under its successor, Pheu Thai, in 2011. During the Thaksin government, he served as an adviser to Labour Minister Uraiwan Thienthong.
His three decades in politics have featured stints in nine parties. The most recent are Bhumjaithai, the current ruling party, and Palang Pracharath, the leading coalition partner in General Prayut Chan-o-cha’s second government.
In September 2019, Chalong was sentenced to a month in prison, suspended, and fined 4,000 baht for filing a false asset declaration. The ruling by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders came after Chalong confessed in a case brought by the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
Earlier that year, Chalong had lost his bid for re-election to Parliament under Palang Pracharath. Four years later, he failed again in the 2023 general election, this time as a Bhumjaithai candidate.
At the latest national vote in February, Chalong reportedly failed in the selection of Palang Pracharath’s MP candidate in Nonthaburi.
