Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Yingluck Shinawatra talks to reporters Apichart Weerawong/AP/Press Association Images

'We use the poor people' - Thailand's PM falls victim to Twitter hacker

The anonymous hacker posted a series of apparently damning messages from Yingluck Shinawatra’s official account.

A MOCKING HACKER took over the Twitter account of Thailand’s recently elected prime minister on Sunday, questioning her ability to defend the country if she cannot even secure her own tweets.

The unknown hacker ended a series of at least eight postings on the account of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra with a taunt: “If she can’t even protect her own Twitter account, how can she protect the country? Think about it.”

Most of the messages accused Yingluck’s government of incompetence and cronyism. Her Pheu Thai Party won a landslide election victory in July, but critics charge she is just a puppet of her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin was ousted by a military coup in 2006 after being accused of corruption, setting off bitter and sometimes violent conflicts between his opponents and supporters.

“This country is a business. We work for our allies, not for the Thai people. We work for those who support us, not those who differ with us,” said one tweet.

Another said: “Where are the opportunities for the poor? We use them, give them hope for votes so our own group can benefit.”

Thaksin became popular among Thailand’s rural and urban poor for his populist policies, including subsidised housing and virtually free health care. Yingluck has proposed similar policies, though critics charge the country cannot afford them.

Government spokeswoman Thitima Chaisaeng confirmed that Yingluck’s account – @PouYingluck – had been hacked.

“We have been informed by the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Ministry, and they are looking into who’s responsible for it. We don’t know who did it,” Thitima told the Associated Press.

In an apparently unrelated incident, unknown hackers last week defaced the website of the Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Read more: Thailand links tourist deaths to chemicals>

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gavin Power
    Favourite Gavin Power
    Report
    Mar 7th 2022, 8:38 PM

    Meanwhile in Ireland, we cant cut turf, and are encouraged to drive EVs, as the Russian army moves 160000 troops with diesel, and aviation fuel, and fires missile after missile as Ukraine burns releasing toxic fumes into the air

    101
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Vonvonic
    Favourite Vonvonic
    Report
    Mar 7th 2022, 8:45 PM

    @Gavin Power: Comments like yours make me realise that we almost certainly won’t solve the climate change problem. We don’t have it in us.

    40
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Quiet Goer
    Favourite Quiet Goer
    Report
    Mar 7th 2022, 9:03 PM

    Make sure you stock up on as much petrol as possible while its at €2+ per litre, the more you pay for it the more you’ll help cool the planet down. For extra planet-cooling effect leave the person behind the counter an extra tenner

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Johnes
    Favourite John Johnes
    Report
    Mar 7th 2022, 9:19 PM

    @Quiet Goer: the mote tax we pay – the less co2 is produced in China! Taxes also cure cancer and allows you to live to a 100 years

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Gorry
    Favourite Paul Gorry
    Report
    Mar 7th 2022, 9:58 PM

    @John Johnes: And if ye pay the higher rate of tax John, ye live even longer. Well said.

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ned
    Favourite Ned
    Report
    Mar 7th 2022, 10:38 PM

    More of the same bla bla bla
    The climate change stuff has to take a backseat in the face of the issues facing the world today

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joe_X
    Favourite Joe_X
    Report
    Mar 8th 2022, 12:00 AM

    @Ned: It is one of the bigger issues facing the world today, but not the one with the highest priority due to what is going on in eastern Europe. Another big problem with it is how our government are going the wrong way around in dealing with it, taxing what we do have, to force us to use systems that do not exist properly in the country, instead of getting the proper infrastructures in place for EVs and public transport fhrst, and then offering incentives to get people and businesses to use them. The funny thing is, concerning businesses at least, the infrastructures were there as where the bakery she worked in the late 60′s and early 70′s used electric vans and carts to deliver bread to the shops around Cork city. You can be sure they were not the only ones.

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joe_X
    Favourite Joe_X
    Report
    Mar 8th 2022, 12:04 AM

    @Ned: sorry got a but ahead of myself there. The bakery in Cork was a place my mother worked years ago and they used EVs to get the bread to the shops around the city in the mornings, and the ICE vans did the country side runs

    10
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds