"CK" announces he is cutting ties with a popular show — one he had appeared on without a fee — after it twisted his words into a quote saying "Even if Thailand has to lick Elon Musk's feet, it must agree" in exchange for investment. He declares that what hurts him most is being made to look like someone who sells out his country, when everyone who knows him knows how much he loves Thailand.
Following the circulation online of an image quoting CK Cheong, CEO and founder of Fastwork — a well-known freelance platform in Thailand — as saying: "Thailand should dare to break the rules, change the rules, and must be willing to give Elon Musk everything, even if it means licking his heels" (in exchange for investment and attracting world-class technology), with the quote attributed to CK Cheong from a conversation on a well-known show.
CK Cheong then posted a fiery response to the quoted image, writing:
"This message is for every media outlet that deliberately cut my words short, then turned them into a quote to make me look bad, to invite people to attack me, and to convert that misunderstanding into engagement for themselves. You are one of the reasons why people in this country receive incomplete information — because you choose your own short-term interests over the long-term benefit of the majority.
The media is the largest classroom in the country. If this classroom chooses to present only partial information for the sake of views, people will naturally receive only a partial understanding. And this is one of the reasons we still struggle to develop people who can compete with the world.
The comments attacking me can barely affect me, because I can barely read Thai. But what you are truly harming is not me — it is the readers, and ultimately this country itself, because you are passing on incomplete information simply to generate anger, misunderstanding, and engagement for yourselves.
If your goal were truly to produce quality media, to educate and genuinely change people's lives, you would not do this. But you do it, because you want engagement. You want reach. Even if it means the entire country receives distorted information.
That is not fulfilling the role of media for society. It is putting your own interests before the interests of the country. And to me, that is something deeply shameful."
He then shared the image of the quote and added: "I feel deeply saddened that the show I honored with my appearance chose to take my words and turn them into a quote, knowing full well that it could cause people to misunderstand my intentions toward this country and cause damage to me personally.
What makes it even more upsetting is that I joined this show without a fee, because I genuinely wanted to share my thoughts and provide something useful for the viewers. But in the end, the show chose to harm me in exchange for its own engagement.
To me, this is an extremely sad situation, and it has led me to decide to end my relationship with this show, effective today.
I will not be appearing on this show again. And the episode from last Sunday will be my final one with this show."
He also posted: "Whether they try to make others misunderstand me on some issue, or cut my words to make it seem like I gave incomplete information, or sometimes make my information appear incorrect — those things don't bother me that much.
But what saddens me the most is the attempt to make me look like someone who sells out his country, when we have worked together every week. They already know how much I love Thailand. They know full well that everything I have done all along has been driven by my desire to see this country improve.
I love Thailand deeply, and no one can make me love this country any less. So to be portrayed — by someone who knows me and has worked with me all along — in a way that is the complete opposite of who I truly am: this is the thing that hurts and saddens me the most."
