Could Johnny the Cat be a subversive? It looks like it. Here he is announcing his own coup in Ranong Province in southern Thailand.
It takes a certain amount of panache to lay down the martial law if you are only a few inches high.
But where there’s a will there’s a way and this moggy has become something of a Facebook phenomenom in Thailand.
Actually of course his owner Kriangkrai Suetrong gives a hand with the dressing up. He likes to parody Thailand.
While Thailand reels from international condemnation of the current military coup Kriangkrai like to have a joke at the expense of the military.
As for Johnny, well if you think he does not have the hardware to enforce his own curfew then there’s his tank here, which, well he appears to go shopping in.
But it seems the Thai army, whose military intelligence has eyes, ears and paws everywhere, considered him a security risk and ordered a raid on his home.
According to the newspaper Khao Sod (internet motto ‘Thailand just a click away’) : “Mr. Kriangkai said the soldiers searched every nook and cranny of his home for “illegal materials.”
“When nothing suspicious was found, the soldiers asked him to sign a document confirming that the search had taken place”, Mr. Kriangkai said.
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| I’m innocent! |
“Personally, I don’t agree with martial law,” said Mr. Kriangkai.
“It has been in place in Ranong for eight years now, however the military has not exercised their power in full until now.”
“Martial law was declared in Ranong and other “Deep South” provinces in 2006 due to attacks by Islamist separatists on security forces and civilians”, said the newspaper.
Johnny remained undetected during the raid by dressing up disguised as a member of the Pattani Liberation Army with his own ransom demand.
Pol.Maj.Gen. Yutthana Thongpan, a police commander at Mueang Ranong Police Station, said that the military and police search of Mr. Kriangkai’s residence was not an effort to intimidate him.
According to Pol.Maj.Gen. Yutthana, security forces are currently conducting sweeping searches across the area to look for illegal weapon caches.
“Mr. Kriangkai’s house was merely one on the list,” Pol.Maj.Gen. Yutthana said, adding that no property was damaged during the search.“[Mr. Kriangkai] fully cooperated with the officers,” Pol.Maj.Gen. Yutthana said.
“Mr. Kriangkai’s house was merely one on the list,” Pol.Maj.Gen. Yutthana said, adding that no property was damaged during the search.
