Move Forward Party’s leader and prime ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat emerges as the sole representative from Thailand to make it to Time magazine’s “TIME100 Next” list in 2023.
On Wednesday, the US-based magazine unveiled this year’s list of up-and-coming leaders from across the globe, individuals who are carving the way to the future and sculpting the next wave of leadership, an initiative that has been conducted yearly since 2019.
The publication categorizes this distinguished list into five segments: Artists, Phenoms, Innovators, Advocates, and Leaders, proudly featuring Pita in the esteemed ‘Leaders’ group.
“The only thing more stunning than Pita’s election victory was the radical agenda he ran on to achieve it”, stated Time’s Charlie Campbell.
“The Harvard graduate’s upstart Move Forward Party secured 38% of votes in Thailand’s May 14 ballot by promising to bridle the nation’s armed forces and revered royal palace, scrap its controversial royal defamation law, and end military conscription”.
“But the byzantine nature of Thai democracy means Pita’s path to power has been blocked by an unelected Senate and a flurry of legal challenges,” he penned.
Campbell cited a segment from one of Pita’s interviews where he mentioned that his political enlightenment initiated in New Zealand, the place he attended school during his youthful years.
“I’m proud of what we have achieved,” Pita says. “And we can do a lot more to provide checks and balances in parliament and speak on behalf of the people”.
Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the head of the now-defunct Future Forward Party, the predecessor of Move Forward, had also been featured in the Leaders section in 2019.
Additional individuals from Thailand who were acknowledged in that year’s list include Lalisa Manobal, a member of the K-pop group Blackpink, and Kotchakorn Voraakhom, the architect behind the well-received Chulalongkorn University Centenary Park.
