Akanat Promphan: Minister’s dirty industry crackdown sparks backlash and ‘bounty’

Industry Minister Akanat Promphan recently dropped a bombshell by declaring that a 300-million-baht bounty had been offered for his removal following his crackdown on illegal industrial practices.

Without naming names, the 39-year-old said those impacted by his decisions were pooling money to oust him as industry minister.

“I’m just doing my job and have no fear of losing my post. I will prove my worth through my performance. I believe people will support me because I’m doing good things,” Akanat recently told the press.

Making waves

The minister has reportedly ramped up enforcement against illegal industrial practices, spearheading a crackdown that has ruffled feathers among businesses and politicians alike.

In mid-January, the Industry Ministry ordered the immediate closure of an Udon Thani sugar mill found to have purchased more charred sugarcane than permitted.

Under the ministry’s quota system, sugar mills’ purchase of burnt sugar is limited to 25% of their production capacity.

Many sugarcane farmers opt for burning as the cheapest method of harvest, but the smoke produced is a major source of Thailand’s worsening PM2.5 smog crisis.

Last week, the industry minister also ordered three factories in Chachoengsao province to suspend operations after they were caught processing electronic waste illegally and violating industrial safety rules.

Uneasy alliance

Akanat, secretary-general of the coalition’s United Thai Nation Party, came under fire for his crackdown during a House of Representatives meeting on January 23.

Theerachai Saenkaew, an Udon Thani MP for the ruling Pheu Thai Party, blasted him for “arbitrarily” shutting down the sugar mill. Theerachai leads the association of sugarcane farmers in the upper Northeast.

He said Akanat’s actions had ruined the harvests of many sugarcane farmers, estimating the damage at 1.4 billion baht.

Akanat defended the “difficult” closure decision, saying it was part of government efforts to tackle PM2.5, which exceeded safe levels across much of the country in January.

“After assuming my duties as industry minister, I have not sat idle in my office. I go out on inspection visits to deal with problems of industrial waste and low-quality imports. I have ordered factory closures and taken legal action,” he said.

Striking a defiant tone, he said threats would not deter him from doing his job.

“A bounty of 200-300 million baht may have been gathered to remove me as minister, but I’m not scared because I’m doing my job in protecting the public interest.”

The attack by Theerachai coincided with rumours that the ruling party is poised to expel Akanat’s United Thai Nation, the third-largest coalition partner, from government. The two parties formed an uneasy alliance after the 2023 general election in the Pheu Thai-led coalition government of Srettha Thavisin.

Fulfilling childhood dreams

Born on January 12, 1986, Akanat is the second son of former deputy industry minister Pornthep Techapaibul and Srisakul Promphan. His parents had three children – two sons and a daughter – before splitting up. His mother later married veteran politician and ex-Democrat Party secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban.

Akanat attended high school in Surrey, England before earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering, economics and management from the University of Oxford.

Aspiring to a political career since childhood, Akanat joined the Democrat Party – an obvious choice given that his father, stepfather and uncle were all senior Democrat politicians. His mother is the sister of former agriculture minister and party veteran Niphon Promphan.

He entered Parliament at just 25, becoming the youngest MP elected in the 2011 general election. Two years later, he joined Suthep and other Democrat MPs in leading protests against the amnesty bill sponsored by Yingluck Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai-led government.

The bill, which would have pardoned politically motivated crimes including power abuse and even murder, was shot down by the Senate.

Akanat and the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) he co-led considered the amnesty a ploy to whitewash Yingluck’s brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, who had been sentenced to jail in absentia for corruption during his time as prime minister. Thaksin is widely considered to be Pheu Thai’s patriarch.

The PDRC-led protests culminated in the 2014 military coup, which ousted Yingluck.

Akanat left the Democrat Party in March 2022, joining the new United Thai Nation Party later the same year. He was elected as the new party’s secretary-general shortly afterwards.

The three-year-old party is led by Deputy PM and Energy Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga, a fellow former Democrat.

As United Thai Nation’s secretary general, Akanat could lay claim to a ministerial post when his party joined Srettha’s government in September 2023.

However, his Cabinet hopes were derailed by an ongoing legal case. As a PDRC leader, he faced serious charges including treason, terrorism and sedition for his role in the protests.

He was eventually acquitted on appeal, along with second-tier PDRC leaders, allowing him to join the government of Paetongtarn Shinawatra.

Though his legal problems were over, he drew intense criticism for becoming part of the “evil” regime he had once condemned as a PDRC chief.