A Thai pop singer has apologized after defacing a stone marking the border between Thailand and Laos.
Reality TV star Jiravich “Hut” Pongpaijit had scrawled on the stone at hiking area Chee Dao Peak, Khaosod English reported, and a Pantip user took a photo of the defaced stone and posted it to the popular Thai forum over the weekend.
The singer, who shot to fame in 2012 in reality singing contest The Star, had written on the stone: “HUT Jiravich Pongpaijit was here before more pic my gallery @hutphotograph in ‘IG’ 12/02/2016 [sic]”
Jiravich also posted a picture on his Instagram of the hiking area, but without the vandalized stone, adding the caption: “My plan to promote Chee Dao Peak has been accomplished.”
However netizens quickly criticized the singer for vandalizing the stone, who at first reacted angrily, saying “You should ask the pioneers of Chee Dao and the village chief in that district why they allowed me to write on it.”
But after the village chief denied giving him permission to vandalize the stone, Jirvavich deleted his Instagram post boasting of “promoting” the area, and apologized.
“I wrote on it because I saw that someone else had already written on it, and I didn’t know it would be this big issue,” he said yesterday, Khaosod English reported.
“Today I am traveling to meet the village chief and his deputy to apologize for and erase what I have done.”
He explained he had “good intentions,” and that he had wanted to promote the area as a new tourist attraction in Chiang Rai.
Village officials said they would repaint the stone.
