Nitipong and his biggest supporter, wife Rungrudee.

Nitipong 'Dee' Honark may be a lyricist by profession, but he's really a people's person at heart

Song-writer and vice president of GMM Grammy Nitipong "Dee" Honark surprised many people when he contested the senatorial election earlier this year, but he says his interest in politics is perfectly normal.

"Politics is like a novel written by a bad writer," he says. "The plot does not make any sense and has no climax."

Nitipong, 48, wanted to be a senator to take a closer look at members of the prestigious councils, besides other senatorial duties.

"I am like a ringside observer. I watch what politicians do and don't take sides. I will consider case by case who are the good guys and who are the bad," he said.

When he found a newspaper article about the selection of appointed senators, he thought he could meet the qualifications. After he mentioned the idea to his wife Rungrudee, she became his greatest supporter.

She studied the law, because candidates for senator in the appointed category were not allowed to campaign. However, when Nitipong later decided to run in the senate elections, the real campaign began.

"If not me, who would have helped him campaign? I also had some knowledge of public relations," she says. "We didn't plan to spend too much on the campaign as we wanted to save our money for our child's education."

Instead of masses of posters, Nitipong printed a million cards and handed them out himself at crowded spots to middle-class people in Bangkok, including the market behind the THAI Airways headquarters and Lalai Sap Market, where shopkeepers are very interested in politics.

Winning support

With feedback from the public was generally positive, Nitipong became more confident of interacting with people.

"As an artist, people respect my privacy to some extent and don't greet me when we meet in public places, but when I became a politician running in a campaign, I felt I'd become a people's man," he says.

Rungrudee says they hoped for 100,000 to 150,000 votes. But, he lost to Rosana Tositrakul.

"When I got over 200,000 votes, I looked at my reflection in the mirror and asked myself if a man like me could really get that many votes," Nitipong says.

"Being a well-known artist has both benefits and disadvantages. Fame can draw recognition, but some people do not trust an artist to do legislative work, just because he is an artist. The job shouldn't be limited to law graduates. We have loads of such people in Parliament now."

However, he says it is too soon to decide whether to run in the next election. He will have to see how matters stand nearer the time.

xtra

Top vote winners

>> The following are the results of the March 2, 2008 senatorial elections for Bangkok:

>> Rosana Tositrakul (elected) with 743,397 votes.

>> Nitipong Honark 221,067 votes.

>> Anusorn Thamjai 195,714 votes.