File photo: Jakrapob Penkair / his Facebook page
Former MP and media personality Jakrapob Penkair, who has been in self-imposed exile since 2009, has declared on his Facebook page that he will return to Thailand tomorrow.
“On Thursday March 28th, 2024, at 7:35am, Jakrapob Penkair will return to serve Thailand,” he wrote.
He was a Thai foreign ministry official, before resigning due to conflicts with his superiors.
He began his political career by serving as a government spokesman in the Thaksin Shinawatra administration in 2003, later becoming a minister in the PM’s Office in the Samak Sundaravej cabinet.
He was charged with lèse majesté for a speech he gave at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Bangkok in August 2007, but the charge was dropped.
He was one of the core “red-shirt” leaders.
After the coup in 2006 and the “Songkran riots” in 2009, he went into hiding, claiming that his life was at risk.
