During his first mobile cabinet meeting in the South this week, our prime minister's hot temper turned a trip that initially aimed to woo support from southerners into a government PR nightmare.
Instead of lending an ear to locals who were trying to tell him about their plight, Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha fumed at them.
Unfortunately, the two-day trip to Songkhla and Pattani simply demonstrated to the public just how angry and inaccessible a man the prime minister is.
Anchalee Kongrut writes about the environment in the Life section, Bangkok Post.
On Monday, he directed a furious tirade at a 34-year-old man, Paranyu Charoen, a Pattani fisherman, who had come to bring up his concerns about the government's new fishing regulation with the premier in person.
When he spoke to Gen Prayut this resulted in the premier yelling back on a microphone: "Do not raise your voice to me. I talked to you nicely. You need to talk to me nicely too. But do not put pressure on me."
This scene of the PM losing his temper was captured on a video clip which went viral on social media. and it was the only the start of a series of PR disasters generated during this mobile cabinet trip.
It has come at a bad time for the government which is already embattled by negative news, most recently the mysterious death of a military cadet.
Like many people, I searched for the popular video clip on the internet trying to find the scene where Mr Paranya allegedly "raised his voice" at our moody premier. I just wanted to get a sense of what actually triggered our prime minister to lose his cool along with his sense of decorum.
From what I saw of the clip, and I believe just about the whole country would think the same, there was the almost inaudible voice of an ordinary man trying to make himself heard by the prime minister. The only loud voice is that of Gen Prayut who had the advantage of a microphone to amplify his shouted response.
Mr Paranya was one of thousands of southerners who tried to meet Gen Prayut during his mobile cabinet trip. More than 500 people from Songkhla's Thepha district wanted to tell the prime minister about the potential negative impact of the country's biggest coal-fired power plant to be built in their community. Hundreds of residents of Satun province also wanted to plead with the premier not to go ahead with the Pak Bara deep-sea port which they say will spoil the province's marine ecology and tourism potential.
But it seems as if the first mobile cabinet meeting in the South was not the right occasion for these troublesome people to try to talk to our temperament PM. Instead it was time for the cabinet to approve 14 mega-infrastructure projects worth 500 billion baht for the region's "development" and "economic benefit".
So, perhaps the government was expecting these people to use one of the so-called Damrongtham centres it has created as its normal channel for accepting complaints from the public.
But it was too late for some locals who suddenly realised they should not try to approach the PM in person. On Tuesday, opponents of the coal-fired power plant clashed with police officers as they marched to meet Gen Prayut. Sixteen were arrested. Only one could afford bail right away while the rest stayed behind bars overnight before being granted bail.
"Protesters were attacking police. They also carried weapons," Gen Prayut said, attempting to defend the arrests.
I believe the government's response was wrong. Of course, these protesters might have broken certain laws such as the ban on public gatherings. But their complaints are understandable. How can they possibly get the government's attention if they oppose development projects that have the full backing of the state?
The arrest of the protesters was an overreaction by the regime. It was not the right approach for a government which has just announced that human rights are a national agenda matter.
While the government's reaction was out of proportion, Gen Prayut's response was even more worrisome.
At this point, I have started to wonder whether our premier is a man capable of listening at all? Or are his ears only open to like-minded voices who will not sing a different tune? Is he really able to listen to different views and understand what people truly need?
The video clip of his outburst at the man from Pattani speaks volumes. You can talk to the premier, of course. But you must keep your voice down and be nice to him. You should never ever put pressure on him, no matter how serious and urgent your problem is.
Now that's not really the way to win hearts and minds, is it?
