BANGKOK — The new journey of the Thai progressive party in the new name, People’s Party, has started on August 9, 2024, with the new leader at the age only 37. Natthaphong Ruangpanyawut said he will is ready to push himself forward, with his unmatched asset being hard work, to lead the party to election victory.
Nicknamed ‘Teng’, Natthapong was born on May 18, 1987, into a business family, similar to Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the leader of the Future Forward Party, and Pita Limjaroenrat, the leader of the Move Forward Party.
Both Thanathorn and Pita have been banned from politics for 10 years after their respective parties were ordered to dissolve by the Constitutional Court.
Natthaphong is the fourth son of Mr. Suchart Ruangpanyawut, Managing Director of Chananthorn Development Group Co., Ltd. (a real estate development business) and Chairman of Ruangpanya Housing Co., Ltd.
He graduated from Taweethapisek School for his secondary education and earned a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from Chulalongkorn University. Before entering politics, he was an executive at absolute.co.th, a cloud solution provider.
Natthaphong began his political career by being elected as a Member of Parliament for Bangkok’s 28th constituency, representing the former Future Forward Party in the 2019 general election. Later, in the 2023 election, he ran as a party-list MP candidate for the former Move Forward Party and held the position of Deputy Secretary-General for Data System and Digital Development in the former Move Forward Party.”
Natthaphong had previously spoken about his political path and his dreams in an interview with “Prachachat Business”
Technology to Change Thailand
“I have always wanted to contribute to society since I was young. I thought about going into politics and became a member of the Future Forward Party. At that time, the party lacked a district representative, so I ran in Bang Khae district and won with 170 votes.
The Future Forward Party has shown that ordinary people, even if they are not yet successful, can still contribute to society by using their knowledge and experience.
In my work from Future Forward to Move Forward, I played a role in overseeing various information technology issues. A clear example is developing the donation system during elections, where we raised 20 million baht. I also worked as a budget committee member.”
When asked what he would do if he were in government, Natthaphong said: “Open government is important and can be implemented immediately. Although there has been a lot of discussion about it, not much has really been opened up yet.
From a system developer’s point of view, I dream that the government would set up a central portal that connects software developers from the private sector directly to the government and enables them to provide services in all areas.”
In terms of data economy, he used smart city data as an example, saying that local government organizations are currently only about 15 percent efficient in collecting taxes for billboards. He said he once spoke with a vendor who had a car that resembled a Google Street View vehicle. It drove around and scanned billboards to analyze whether taxes were being fully collected. He said that this was just one example. There are many other things that Thai vendors can do for local authorities.
He added that there are more than 7,000 local governments and the size is enough for Thai operators to grow. What is missing is a clear direction. He said that the government provides special subsidies for local governments amounting to tens of billions of baht.
Therefore, he wants to create a digital catalog from which local governments can choose what kind of digital services they want, such as CCTV cameras like Governor Chatchart’s, PM 2.5 sensors, or AI for tax collection. He believes that in this way, we can transform local governments in Thailand, and the central government would get the data for further analysis.
“It’s about changing the way people work. It may take up to 10 years for technology to change Thailand, but the first thing I would do legally is to abolish the Anti-Fake News Center and amend the Computer Crimes Act. The intention of the law is to protect computer systems, but it has been used to control content, which the government should not be doing.”
Assets Declaration of 402 Million Baht
On July 5, 2023, Natthaphong submitted his asset declaration to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) after leaving the position of MP on 20 March 2023.
Natthaphong, together with his wife, Mrs. Natthaporn Chan-in, declared assets totaling 402.5 million baht. Nattapong’s assets amounted to 397.3 million baht, most of which consisted of investments worth 82.2 million baht, including 65 million baht in ordinary shares of Chanuntorn Development Co, Ltd. and 15.6 million baht in ordinary shares of Ruangpanya Housing Co, Ltd. He also owned four plots of land worth 108 million baht.
These included a plot of land in Bang Chueak Nang Subdistrict, Taling Chan District, Bangkok, worth 80 million baht, and four buildings worth 200 million baht, including a two-storey house in Bang Chueak Nang worth 12 million baht and a building under construction in Bang Chueak Nang worth 160 million baht.
He also owned two two-story houses in Bang Sue District worth 28 million baht. Additionally, he reported owning two watches: a Rolex valued at 150,000 baht and a Tag Heuer valued at 80,000 baht, and had debts totaling 10.1 million baht. Meanwhile, Ms. Natthaporn had assets totaling 5.1 million baht.
Nattapong reported an annual income of 2.8 million baht, which came from his net salary, and annual expenses of 1.1 million baht, including 600,000 baht for personal daily expenses and 501,000 baht for house mortgage payments.
Target Election Victory in 2027
After being chosen to be the leader of People’s Party on August 9, Nattapong said he is ready to push himself forward, with his unmatched asset being hard work, to lead the party to election victory in 2027 with the goal of winning enough seats to form a single-party government.
“We aim to create a seamless transition from the dissolved party to the People’s Party. We need to recruit 100,000 members and raise 10 million baht within one month. We remain open and are discussing within the party whether the party structure design, as mentioned earlier, should have a larger proportion of executive committee members or not. We can continue these discussions within the party. We may reach a conclusion by the end of next month when we have another general meeting.”
The People’s Party received over 10 million baht in political donations, and over 19,000 people have registered as members. This occurred in less than 10 hours on the first day since it emerged from the ashes of the now-disbanded Move Forward Party.
The new party leader also confirmed that the People’s Party will propose a draft amendment to Article 112, noting that the court’s ruling did not prohibit amendments. He emphasized that the party will not be careless and will proceed carefully, studying all legal aspects.
‘This is not a matter of self-censorship. We propose based on principles. We are not aiming to erode or undermine any institution. According to the current constitution, we must adhere to the Constitutional Court’s ruling,’ said Nattapong.
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