Pita Limjaroenrat

Pita Limjaroenrat (Thai: พิธา ลิ้มเจริญรัตน์, RTGS: Phitha Limcharoenrat, pronounced [pʰí(ʔ).tʰāː lím.tɕā.rɤ̄ːn.rát] ⓘ; born 5 September 1980), nicknamed Tim (Thai: ทิม), is a Thai businessman and politician. A member of the House of Representatives, he previously served as Leader of the Move Forward Party, the de facto successor to the dissolved Future Forward Party, from 2020 to 2023. He led Move Forward to become the largest party in the 2023 general election, winning 151 seats, but resigned as leader of the party in September 2023. He continued to be active in the party, and was reinstated as an MP in January 2024 after a brief suspension from parliamentary duties. After the Move Forward Party was dissolved in August 2024, Pita was banned from politics for 10 years, and he began a fellowship at Harvard University.

Pita Limjaroenrat pictured in 2023.

Quotes

2020

• It's not going to be about just two or three individuals anymore. For me, leadership is a constant struggle to manifest changes. No single person can make changes happen. Instead, our remaining 55 MPs will discuss, make agreements and work as a team to keep our momentum going. We are now a leaner organisation that can respond quickly. We will be able to begin afresh. The party is smaller, but of better quality and [will be able to] move faster in responding to required responsibilities. The ideology is the same, but the mechanisms and paths followed are different," he said, adding that each faction will have absolutely no influence on the other and that he will not be involved with the movement.
  • Pita tries to keep FFP ideology alive - Bangkok Post

2023

• When people ask me 'How do you feel that you have failed?' and I would respond back to them that I won, I formed, and I got blocked. I didn't fail.
  • Thailand's Pita hopes second time's a charm in PM vote - Reuters

• I’m not planning to be in Thai politics forever. I don’t want to be 70 or 80 and sleeping in the parliament and speaking nonsense about blockchain and AI! I want to be able to pass the baton to the next generation of leaders.
  • The Man Who Upended Thailand’s Politics - TIME

2024

Even if I don’t have the authority to lead, I felt like I still have the legitimacy to lead.

• Even if I don’t have the authority to lead, I felt like I still have the legitimacy to lead. It might be two, three years, depending on the government’s performance. Then I’ll come back and become the prime minister or candidate for the next election, because the goal or the endgame for me is to show the world that (an) alternative Thailand is possible, and to be the undisputed leader in the democratic force in the region.
  • Unfazed by political blows, Pita Limjaroenrat resolves to come back to lead ‘alternative Thailand’ - Associated Press

• I feel like it’s a vicious cycle. We keep going around in circles, and we never move forward...They can never take away our legacy...They can never take away our ideology.
  • Thai opposition leader Pita will ‘fight tooth and nail’ for party’s survival - The Strait Times

• The promotion of fundamental rights will be the guiding star of Thai foreign policy.
  • Thai opposition leader Pita will ‘fight tooth and nail’ for party’s survival - The Strait Times

• South Korea and Indonesia arguably proved that they could get out of military domination and prosper and thrive [as] strong democracies. Once you've reached that stage, it's hard for you to turn back. But it's not yet time for Thailand, and we just have to be patient and keep doing what we're doing.
  • A New Vision for Thailand: Interview with Pita Limjaroenrat, Member of the Thai House of Representatives and Former Leader of the Move Forward Party - Harvard International Review

• To be clear, I won the election...a lot of hopes and dreams of Thais all around the world...didn't translate into governance here in Thailand.
  • 'To be clear, I won the election': Thai opposition leader Pita Limjaroenrat speaks to FRANCE 24 - FRANCE 24

• It's not going to be about just two or three individuals anymore. For me, leadership is a constant struggle to manifest changes. No single person can make changes happen.
  • 'To be clear, I won the election': Thai opposition leader Pita Limjaroenrat speaks to FRANCE 24 - FRANCE 24

• In a constitutional monarchy, we want the King to be above politics, and we don't want any other political opponents to use lèse-majesté law to punish destroy political political opponents and push the youth away from the monarchy.
  • ‘My time will come’: Why Thai politician Pita Limjaroenrat won’t give up - DW News

The progressives, including myself, have to be much smarter and much stronger and also show the people that leadership is not just about fear. It can be about hope and it can be about working together with the people and it can be about empathy.

• The progressives, including myself, have to be much smarter and much stronger and also show the people that leadership is not just about fear. It can be about hope and it can be about working together with the people and it can be about empathy.
  • ‘If there are two tigers in one cave then what happens?’ - Melbourne Asia Review

• My favourite leader in the world who I look up to is Jacinda Ardern. I think she proved to the world during the COVID crisis and during the Christchurch massacre that you don’t have to be a ‘strongman’ with fear tactics and a militant background to resolve crises for the country.
  • ‘If there are two tigers in one cave then what happens?’ - Melbourne Asia Review

• The health of a democracy is not measured by how absolute or powerful the government is, but by how fair, active and robust the opposition is.
  • Speaking at the University of Melbourne in July 2024. Asia and Pacific Outlook Series - 2024 Southeast Asia Oration with Mr Pita Limjaroenrat - University of Melbourne

• We're seeing these fresh, supposedly new leaders coming in [in Southeast Asia]. Either you call that a succession plan or dynastic politics. Last name politics. A lot of countries are running [their] politics [like a] family business. You can probably think of a few countries apart from Thailand...you are probably thinking about Cambodia...The Philippines...Laos...[It's] not a problem, I mean if you think about Canada, if you think about Shinzō Abe in Japan, [George] Bush [in the United States]...But's it's not really doing well in any other parts of the world.
  • Speaking at the University of Melbourne in July 2024. Asia and Pacific Outlook Series - 2024 Southeast Asia Oration with Mr Pita Limjaroenrat - University of Melbourne

• If there's any partnership that [can] come close to a reality, it would be Australia and ASEAN. Because we are natural partners of choice. We're at the same strategic ecosystem...We rely on one superpower for security. We also rely on one superpower for prosperity.
  • Speaking at the University of Melbourne in July 2024. Asia and Pacific Outlook Series - 2024 Southeast Asia Oration with Mr Pita Limjaroenrat - University of Melbourne

• There was a poll asking younger people what ASEAN means to the people in Laos...Thailand...Singaporeans. The result of the research says less than 20% [beleive ASEAN meant anything to them]. They couldn't give a hoot about...ASEAN. Because we cannot get things done! We are not relevant. We are not credible...We get together for meetings and...that Five Point Consensus comes out, and nothing gets done.
  • Speaking at the University of Melbourne in July 2024. Asia and Pacific Outlook Series - 2024 Southeast Asia Oration with Mr Pita Limjaroenrat - University of Melbourne

• We must not allow the abuse of legal mechanisms or the manipulation of constitutional processes to silence the voices of the people or undermine the integrity of our elections.
  • Speaking at the University of Melbourne in July 2024. Prominent Thai leader speaks at Inaugural Southeast Asia Oration - University of Melbourne

• We still have to think of politics as a long game...And to win a long game, you need strategy and you need patience.
  • Column | Thailand takes another backward step by banning main opposition party - The Washington Post

• We confuse movement with progress. It’s like we’re stuck in a loop, thinking we’ve gone somewhere, but we’re not.
  • 'We're going nowhere' - Thai opposition figure says court interventions must stop - Reuters