After having sat on the sidelines for years, fugitive former prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s only son, Panthongtae “Oak”, has decided to formally join Pheu Thai party just as it continues to bleed from a mass defection which sees several of its former MPs joining the ranks of pro-Prayut Palang Pracharat.  

Panthongtae on Sunday posted on his Facebook a receipt of his Pheu Thai party’s membership with the background of Martin Luther King Jr and his famous quote: “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

He wrote that as Thaksin’s son he could not afford to flip-flop because there are only two options for him – to stay quiet and wait to be hunted down or “move forward with faith and ideology”.

He said his father, Thaksin, had been sentenced to imprisonment for approving his mother, Khunying Potjaman,  to bid for a land plot while he himself is facing charge of money laundering and other family members will face charges based on what he claimed to be false evidence and testimonies from some witnesses.

Referring to the continuing “internal bleeding” in Pheu Thai, Panthongtae said some have quit to save their future and their families, but others resigned out of vested interests.  He said he joined Pheu Thai like any other ordinary people and would travel across the country to meet the people to invite them to join the party.