News went viral last week about a hotel in Chiang Mai, River Art Hotel, whose owner’s entire family had contracted Covid-19.
The hotel owner himself, nicknamed Tii, was the only person who did not test positive.
Furious, he took to social media to lambast netizens for compounding the problem created by the government, telling CityNews in a phone call, “I am one of so many businesses which have been hard hit. I have had to do everything in my power to survive. After the first lockdown my business dropped by 60%. Today, I have had to reduce my room rates to 1,000 baht per night. And even then, I have zero customers.”
“This is the failure of the government,” he continued, “All around the country you see lines of people who are trying to get tested, risking their lives in long queues. And to date only a few people, mainly the privileged, have received the vaccination. So many people have died simply because this government has refused to give us access to the vaccine. Yes, my family all contracted Covid-19. The issue is that my family lives in Bangkok. Yet social media has put my hotel name everywhere saying that our hotel’s family all have Covid. Our hotel is in Chiang Mai, this has nothing to do with the hotel. This is just another nail in my business.”
“I have come out to say this because we live in a democracy and we all have the right to an opinion and a voice. Shouting at the government does not mean I don’t love my country, but it is to bring the issue to the fore. I urge all Thai people to shout so the government can hear you because it seems that only way to get them to listen to us is to use our collective voices. If you are afraid, fine, don’t say anything, but if not, then join us in saying that we have had enough. If we don’t, how many more Thai people are going to die before the government listens? It is time that businesses and those with voices stand up and protect our people. There is no need to fear the government anymore because there is no compromise to be had.”
His posts have gone viral and are generating much support.