THE DRAMA over last weekend’s Big Mountain music festival in Nakhon Ratchasima province has not ended with there being viral tweets and retweets to save the organizer who now faces charges after defying the provincial governor and not scrapping Sunday evening’s event, Amarin TV reported today (Dec. 14).
Mr. Wichian Chantaranothai, Nakhon Ratchasima’s governor, had ordered the closure of the Ocean Khao Yai golf course from 2 p.m. Sunday to 2 p.m. today under Section 52 of the Communicable Diseases Act with violators facing one year imprisonment and/or fine of 100,000 baht.
He took this step after fears arose over Covid-19 spreading to go by the previous evening’s event which was highly-congested with those attending it not wearing face masks.
The governor today ordered police to prosecute the organizer, Mr. Yuttana Boonom, or Pa Tet, with this triggering a big social media drive to save him and it is now among the day’s top Twitter trends.
The hashtag #saveป๋าเต็ด (#savepatet) and comments on this legal action have been retweeted 50,000 times. Some netizens pointed out that this concert was ordered shut while others were allowed to continue.
Others said that if the Sunday event had been cancelled then participants would have been entitled to refund with this causing a big loss for the organizer.
Pa Tet himself posted a picture of a wristband from the Big Mountain festival with the caption , “”Music take us everywhere.” This drew overwhelming support from netizens.
At the same time some musicians, such as “Paup Potato,” wrote comments to encourage Pa Tet.
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Top: An picture of Big Mountain music festival organizer Pa Tet superimposed over an image of the festival last weekend. Thai headline says, “#savepatet”. Photo: Amarin TV
