{"id":143702,"date":"2025-09-09T09:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T09:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/143702\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T09:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T09:08:08","slug":"bangkok-post-tv-host-kam-phaka-faces-backlash-after-targeting-mps-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/143702\/","title":{"rendered":"Bangkok Post – TV host Kam Phaka faces backlash after targeting MP\u2019s depression"},"content":{"rendered":"

PUBLISHED : 9 Sep 2025 at 12:03<\/p>\n

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\"Lakkana<\/p>\n

Lakkana \u201cKam Phaka\u201d Punwichai (left) and Sirilapas \u201cMew\u201d Kongtrakarn. (Photo: \u0e2a\u0e34\u0e23\u0e34\u0e25\u0e20\u0e31\u0e2a \u0e01\u0e2d\u0e07\u0e15\u0e23\u0e30\u0e01\u0e32\u0e23) <\/p>\n

An online backlash has followed comments by television host Lakkana \u201cKam Phaka\u201d Punwichai directed at Sirilapas \u201cMew\u201d Kongtrakarn, a People\u2019s Party MP, during a livestream on the day of the prime ministerial vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kam Phaka reacted to Mew\u2019s support for Anutin Charnvirakul with language widely criticised as offensive, including references to her suffering from depression. \u201cI hope you sink into depression and cry in Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mew, who is receiving treatment for the condition, noted that depression has been recognised as a national health priority and should not be trivialised. She described Kam Phaka\u2019s remarks as inappropriate and called for greater awareness and respect in addressing mental health issues.<\/p>\n

Mental health experts warned that jokes about depression could worsen symptoms or trigger relapses, noting that many patients face years of treatment without a full cure.<\/p>\n

The Journalists\u2019 Association later issued a statement saying Kam Phaka\u2019s words did not align with professional ethics and could be seen as discriminatory. Voice TV confirmed she would step back temporarily from her programme Kui Klai Khao.<\/p>\n

The TV host subsequently acknowledged making the comments and said she accepted public criticism as part of being in the spotlight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t make excuses. This is who I am. I admit that I mock many people, and that brings criticism. It is fair enough,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

During the same broadcast, she was also heard using language towards fellow People\u2019s Party MP Tunyawaj Kamolwongwat that drew accusations of transphobia.<\/p>\n

Mew has previously received praise from mental health advocacy groups for opposing government cuts to the 2024 budget for mental health and addiction services, which were reduced by 69.4% despite rising patient numbers and an average of 14 suicides per day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PUBLISHED : 9 Sep 2025 at 12:03 \u00a0 Small \u00a0 Medium \u00a0 Large Lakkana \u201cKam Phaka\u201d Punwichai (left)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[89320,2754,97,89318,10815,259,260,89321,89317,111,89319,2024],"class_list":{"0":"post-143702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-anutin","9":"tag-depression","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-lakkana-punwichai","12":"tag-media","13":"tag-mental-health","14":"tag-mentalhealth","15":"tag-peoples-party","16":"tag-pm-vote","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-sirilapas-kongtrakarn","19":"tag-thailand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}