"Ice" throws the question back at "Phawut" — better to ask him directly why his attitude toward TH-AI Passport has changed, saying she wants to hear the answer just as much, and wonders how he will respond. She lashes out at those in power for using internal influence to distort original intent, accusing them of talking about "value for money" because they cannot answer questions about "corruption." She reaffirms the People's Party's flag has not changed: kill the project and fold the 1.6-billion-baht budget.
On 24 July 2026, at Parliament, Ms. Rakchanok Srinok, a party-list MP of the People's Party, gave an interview regarding criticism of Mr. Phawut Phongwitthayphanu, also a party-list MP of the People's Party, over a perceived shift in his stance on the TH-AI Passport project — specifically whether there had been any discussion about why he had retreated to such a degree. Ms. Rakchanok said she did not think asking her would yield any answer, and that it would be better to go ask Phawut directly.
When pressed again on how she personally felt about Phawut pulling back to this extent — and whether some people's claims that a deal had been struck in exchange for dropping the Forex case were true — Ms. Rakchanok said no one could answer that question better than Phawut himself, and she advised members of the media to find him and ask him.
When asked whether this situation was affecting those working on the matter because people no longer believed them, Ms. Rakchanok said the issues needed to be separated. Members of the public who had tried the project and felt it could be improved, made better, made worth the money, and considered it a good and worthwhile project were free to criticize or support it. But as political actors in the People's Party, she said, they had discussed from the very beginning that their flag was to bring down any project tainted with irregularities, suspected corruption, or spec-locking. Therefore, their flag had never changed — this project must be killed and this budget must be folded. What they ultimately received might not reach the shores of their dreams, but they would push it as far as possible. They had already discussed clearly what their flag was. As for the shift in stance by the political side, the public could crystallize their thinking, follow the situation, and judge for themselves whether something was amiss. The public would be the ones to criticize and decide what had happened here.
"What those who hold influence — those who hold power over the national budget, over the rules and regulations governing state administration — can do is to use the power they have, use financial resources, both public funds and their own, and use their internal influence to distort the original intent and to divert society's attention away from the issues of corruption, graft, and spec-locking, and redirect the conversation toward value for money. They are capable of doing exactly that. Because if they were to discuss with us on the topic of corruption and spec-locking, they could not answer — and there is absolutely no way they could answer — why the TOR was written the way it was. Therefore, what the Minister of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DE), the Permanent Secretary, and everyone connected to this project want most is to talk about value for money, because ultimately they can modify this project until it appears worth the money — worth the 1.6 billion baht — which, in truth, is something that should have been done from the start without waiting for anyone to criticize it. But value for money did not exist from the beginning. The fact that we came to know about this project before the TOR was even finalized — and yet they would gloss over all of that and invite us to talk only about value for money — reflects exactly why this country has never been able to solve its corruption problem," Ms. Rakchanok said.
When asked whether Phawut's focus solely on value for money meant the two of them could still move forward together within the party, Ms. Rakchanok said she would like people to try asking Phawut, because she too wanted to hear what his answer would be.
