Bangkok Crimes

Bangkok Post

Vendors at the Klong Toey fresh market have threatened to block Rama IV Road again if the city police chief fails to mediate their talks with the market’s new operator.

Bangkok police chief Pol Lt Gen Worapong Chiewpreecha had promised to help settle the conflict by acting as a go-between, the vendors say.

While they were waiting to negotiate with the operator Legal Professional Co yesterday, vendors threatened to block Rama IV Road once again if the police did not act as mediator.

More than 100 vendors faced off police and Legal Professional staff when the latter entered the market to start making renovations on Thursday.

The protest spilled out into Rama IV Road causing traffic chaos.

Thammanat Prompao, the company’s chairman, alleged that the market’s previous operator Sriratana Sitthichoke, also known as Jeh Toi, was backing the protest.

The vendors were told to oppose his company otherwise they would lose their stalls, Mr Thammanat said.

He claimed that after his company had won the contract from the Port Authority of Thailand to manage Klong Toey market, a former deputy Bangkok police chief who was close to Jeh Toi told Legal Professional that it would be beneficial for the company to withdraw from the market.

He said he turned down the offer because his company was committed to improving the market.

Legal Professional would withdraw all of the legal action it had taken against the vendors if they only stopped their protests, he said.

KC: This report, and similar coverage in Thailand’s English language press on the emergence of a new period of conflict at Khlong Toey market, betrays the long history and complexity of the relationship between the market, the adjacent slum and the powerful forces attempting to assert control over the land. It is essentially a story of David and Goliath, and Khlong Toey slum has survived against all the odds through generations of spirited and organised eviction resistance. The land which the slum and market occupy is owned by Goliath, the Port Authority of Thailand (PAT) and it has consistently and persistently been trying to develop the area for more lucrative purposes, threatening residents and traders with eviction. This conflict has waxed and waned for over thirty years. In 1993, the PAT planned to develop the Khlong Toey market site as a commercial complex and the neighbouring slum area as a container and parking zone. These plans would have involved the eviction and relocation of over 5,000 families from the core of the slum area. The plan also threatened the future of the market, but was repeatedly thwarted due to various factors such as the frequent change in governments and the mobilization of NGOs, social activists and lobby groups to the residents’ cause. It was, however, the onset of the Asian financial crisis which ultimately ended the PAT’s grand schemes for Khlong Toey.

So these current conflicts are nothing new, they are part of the ongoing struggle for control of Bangkok’s urban space and have their roots in history and the politics of locality. So far, David has been successful but not triumphant and the question remains: How long can David withstrain Goliath? Will the 70-100,000 residents (est.) of the slum, now part of an assertive ‘slum movement’ and the largest wet market in Bangkok, a Bangkok institution, prevail against the designs of the land owners, the fat cats, whose opulent lifestyles require the cheap labour of the communities they are attempting to subjugate and expel?

Further Reading:

Klong Toey

Absolutely Bangkok: Klong Toey Walk

HDF Mercy Centre

JSTOR article

Duang Prateep Foundation

What do readers think is the long-term future of Khlong Toey market and slum area?

Technorati Profile

Kung Fu and Kill Bill star David Carradine was found hung in a hotel room in Bangkok on Wednesday, Thai police said.

“Kung Fu” and “Kill Bill” star David Carradine was found hung himself in a closet in a hotel room in Bangkok on Wednesday, Thai police said.
Police believed he committed suicide.

Carradine, 72, was in Bangkok to shoot a movie and stayed at a Suite Room 352 of the Park Nai Lert Hotel on Wireless Road since June 2.

The film crew were aware of his absence when they went to dine out at a restaurant on Sathorn Road on June 3.

Carradine did not show up at the dinner and the team could not reach him. They assumed that he took a rest because of his age.

It was a hotel’s maid who opened his suite on Thursday at 10 am only to find Carradine in a closet. He was described as behind half naked.

Police investigation showed that he hung himself with a rope, the kind that is used with curtains.

Police said he was dead for not less than 12 hours and found no sign of fighting and assaults.

Aside from Quentin Tarantino’s twopart “Kill Bill” in 200304, Carradine was perhaps best known for his role as the fugitive half-Chinese Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s eastern-western TV drama “Kung Fu”. He also starred in Martin Scorsese’s “Boxcar Bertha” in 1972, portrayed folksinger Woody Guthrie in “Bound for Glory” in 1976, acted in Ingmar Bergman’s “The Serpent’s Egg” in  1977 and costarred with half brothers Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine in the 1980 western “The Long Riders”.

His father was the noted actor John Carradine.

In Thai cinemas, Carradine was recently seen as a martial arts guru in the Rob Schneider comedy “Big Stan” and as a perverted elderly Chinese mobster in “Crank: High Voltage” starring Jason Statham.

KC: No more details so far on this story and will update as the information becomes available.

05/06/2009 UPDATE:

KC: Just read this piece via AP. It appears the police are no longer citing suicide, David Carradine’s death was “accidental”. Carradine was found naked in his hotel room wardrobe with a rope tied around his neck and genitals. Police Lt. Gen. Worapong Chewprecha told reporters that Carradine was found with a rope “tied around his penis and another rope around his neck.” “The two ropes were tied together,” he said. “It is unclear whether he committed suicide or not or he died of suffocation or heart failure due to an orgasm.” If that police account is true it looks like Carradine was attempting autoerotic asphyxiation.

The Daily Telegraph has this obituary.

Thai Rath

เกิดเหตุรถไฟแล่นทับ 3 วัยรุ่นที่บ้างฉาง จ.ระยอง พขร.เผยเห็นทั้ง 3 ใช้ต้นกระถินปูพาดรองแล้วนอนเรียงกัน เบรกไม่ทันเลยทับเละ ตร.พบรอยสักยันต์ และห้อยจตุคามฯ สันนิษฐานลองของ

เมื่อ เวลา 04.30 น. วันนี้ (3 มิ.ย.)  พ.ต.ท.สมพงษ์ แสงเพ็ญอ่อน พนักงานสอบสวน สภ.บ้านฉาง จ.ระยอง ได้รับแจ้งจากนายเรวัต ปานศรี อายุ 51 ปี อยู่บ้านเลขที่ 60/91 แขวงบางซื่อ เขตบางซื่อ กทม. พนักงานขับรถไฟ ว่าได้ขับรถไฟทับร่างชาย 3 คนที่นอนขวางอยู่บนรางเสียชีวิตทั้ง 3 คน เหตุเกิดที่ซอยข้างรถไฟ ม.3 บ้านสระแก้ว ต.สำนักท้อน อ.บ้านฉาง จึงรุดไปตรวจสอบ

ในที่เกิดเหตุ เจ้าหน้าที่พบศพ 3 ศพเรียงห่างกันศพละ 4 เมตร เศษชิ้นส่วนอวัยวะกระจัดกระจาย โดยที่ส่วนใบหน้าถูกรถไฟทับจนเละ ขาดออกจากลำตัว อายุประมาณ 15-17 ปี พบรอยสักยันต์ตามลำตัวทั้ง 3 ราย และยังพบเครื่องรางจตุคามรามเทพ  แตกหักครึ่งหล่นอยู่ข้างศพรายหนึ่งด้วย

จากการสอบสวนนายเรวัต ได้ขับรถไฟ จำนวน 40 โบกี้จากแหลมฉบัง อ.ศรีราชา จ.ชลบุรี เพื่อมารับสินค้าที่นิคมอุตสาหกรรมมาบตาพุด อ.เมือง จ.ระยอง เมื่อมาถึงที่เกิดเหตุเห็นวัยรุ่นทั้ง 3 คน ใช้ต้นกระถินปูพาดบนรางรถไฟแล้วนอนเรียงกันทั้ง 3 คน ไม่สามารถเบรกรถได้ทัน จึงทับทั้ง 3 คนเสียชีวิต ก่อนแจ้งเจ้าหน้าที่ดังกล่าว เบื้องต้นสันนิษฐานว่าทั้ง 3 รายเป็นวัยรุ่นลองของรอยสักยันต์ และจตุคามรามเทพ  หรืออาจจะเป็นการฆาตกรรมอำพราง ซึ่งจะได้สอบสวนต่อไป

KC Summary: Bodies of three teenagers found on the railway tracks in Rayong province. They had used ‘dton gratin’ (Acacia plant) to lay across the tracks as support [a bed to lay on]. The police noted that the bodies were covered in talismanic tattoos and ‘jutakam’ amulets and assumed [the tattoos and amulets] were being tested [for their supposed magical powers].

The police were notified on the 3rd of June at 04.30 by the train driver. At the accident scene officials found 3 bodies and body parts scattered around the site, including mashed parts of a face that had been hit by the train and torn from the body (yes the report is that unnecessarily graphic). All three bodies were covered in the tattoos and officials also found a ‘Jutakam Ramathep’ amulet broken in half next to one of the bodies.

The train driver had seen three people laying on the tracks but was unable to break in time.

Before notifying the police the driver assumed the three people were teenagers testing the [magical powers] of talismanic tattoos and ‘jutakam ramathep’ or it was a murder cover-up which could be further investigated [by police].

KC-Please find all intermittent updates on the mystery container here. I will comment further when the contents of the ominous casket/s are eventually revealed.-

UPDATE: Bangkok Post, 2 June, 2009.

Bangkok Post

Container test finds no traces of toxic cargo

Investigators could start looking inside

Tests for radioactive substances in sea sponge samples taken from a cargo container found on the seabed off Chon Buri’s Sattahip district have returned negative results.

The results suggest it is probably safe to open the container to see if there are human skeletons inside as suspected.

The tests were implemented by the Justice Ministry team investigating the containers.

The sea sponge samples were tested by the Office of Atoms for Peace in response to concerns the container - and others in surrounding waters - might be filled with toxic substances that could cause serious damage if opened.

The tests found no radioactive substances, Thai News Agency quoted Central Institute of Forensic Science director Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan as saying.

The samples were taken from a container dropped into the sea off Juang island in tambon Samaesarn. Divers found it on May 15 after local fishermen reported to authorities they had discovered containers in the area and also human skulls.

Their discovery prompted families of those who disappeared during the 1992 Black May bloody street protests to call for the containers to be investigated to see if they contain human remains of the missing protesters.

Earlier tests of the sponge on the first container revealed it had been in the water about 20 years, or before the protests demanding the resignation of then prime minister Suchinda Kraprayoon.

The government decided not to open the container until it has enough information from experts to ensure the researchers’ safety.

The Pollution Control Department has opposed opening it under water as it fears hazardous chemicals inside could damage the marine environment.

Khunying Porntip said the team had found the container’s base was made of rotted wood, which made a safe salvage impractical.

The best option would be to insert a device equipped with a camera into the container to see what it was holding, she said.

Bangkok Post

Container could be opened in June

Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS) director Porntip Rojanasunan said she will send a report on the process of unlocking the 3m x 6m cargo container on the seabed off Chon Buri’s Sattahip district to Justice Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga on Monday.

Human remains were reportedly found along the container, and many victims of the Black May 1992 were rumoured to be inside it.

Dr Porntip said the task was not easy since the container was buried deep in the seabed, and it would require many divers and tools which would be provided by the Royal Thai Navy.

She said private companies also offered to provide underwater cameras and other gears for this operation.

“It can be carried out in June if everything goes according to plan,” the CIFS chief said.

Officials were also checking whether human skulls and other objects can pass through the hole found in the container, she said.

Bangkok Post

Dept fights to stop opening of container

Toxic contamination of environment feared

The Pollution Control Department is opposing attempts to open at sea a mysterious container many believe contains the skeletons of victims of the 1992 Black May uprising.

The department is worried the container could contain toxic chemicals which could cause serious damage to the surrounding environment.

The authorities will decide today what to do with the container.

Department chief Supat Wangwongwatana yesterday insisted the container should be hauled from the sea and inspected on land.

If the container does contain toxic waste or dangerous chemicals, legal action would be taken against the wrongdoers under the Basel Convention, which prohibits the transboundary discharge of toxic waste, he said.

The department’s files show there have been six cases of toxic waste dumped on Thai territory since 2001, mostly from Britain, the Netherlands and Japan. Most of the waste comprised tyres, batteries and electronic goods. All had been returned to the country of origin.

The container was located on Friday off Juang island in the Samaesarn area of Sattahip district, Chon Buri. Local fishermen say there are up to seven containers lying in nearby waters.

Central Institute of Forensic Science director Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan, who is in charge of the investigating team, said officials would make a final decision today on whether to go ahead with an investigation into the suspicious container and its cargo.

She said the container would not be salvaged because of the high cost. Other means were being looked at to remove public doubts about what is inside.

“The Justice Ministry will work with the Customs Department and other agencies concerned to find the best solution,” she said.

Marine experts say the coral found near the container on Friday was about 20 years old.

This would appear to bring into question the speculation that dead victims of the 1992 Black May crackdown on protesters opposing the unelected prime ministership of Gen Suchinda Kraprayoon were stored inside the containers. It added weight to the theory that the container was dumped into the sea by a ship.

Before the container was discovered, fishermen claimed to have found skulls and other human bones in the area.

Marine expert Thorn Thamrongnawasawat, an adviser to the investigating team, said it was important to clear up the public’s doubts.

“Our main purpose is to find out what is inside,” Mr Thorn said.

“We have a lot of equipment and technology so we can use it to get the answer. If it is chemical waste, another challenge for the country is how to prevent this kind of problem. How can we save our marine territory from illegal waste discharge?”

He suggested a hole be drilled in the side of the container small enough to prevent any chemical discharge but big enough for a computer-guided cameras to be passed into the container to take photos.

Port Authority of Thailand director-general Sunida Skulratana aid the agency was checking whether the container was among those with chemical waste that were denied entry into Thailand over the past 20 to 30 years.

The May Heroes Relatives Group has lobbied the government to open the container to find out what is inside.

Group leader Adul Khieoboriboon yesterday led 20 members to army headquarters to ask army chief Anupong Paojinda to find the people who disappeared during the Black May uprising.

The bloodshed took place when demonstrators took to the streets in Bangkok to oppose Gen Suchinda and his government.

Gen Suchinda also wants the government to examine the container to end rumours of skeletons of demonstrators killed during the military crackdown being hidden inside.

KC: The Bangkok Post has reported some crime figures on its front page today (source: Metropolitan Police Bureau). The selected figures are from January 1 to April 30, 2008 and 2009 but offer some insight into crime levels in the capital. The stats are included beneath this report in a graphic box headed ‘Bangkok Dangerous.’ Next to the heading is a silhouette image of a person holding a knife dripping with red blood (if anyone can find an online version of this image please let me know and I will add it to the post). The image and heading are very tabloid.

Here are the figures for 2008 and 2009 respectively:

• Serious and aggravated offences: 299/316
• Physical and sexual assaults: 1,917/1,691
• Property Crimes: 5,816/5,644
• Vices: 28,749/29,138
• Petty crime and others: 4,920/5,034

Immediately obvious is the amount of vice crime in Bangkok (drug trafficking, prostitution and gambling) with an increase between 2008 and 2009, but no surprise there. Physical and sexual assaults and serious aggravated offences are high, despite Bangkok’s reputation as comparatively safe metropolis. Please see my earlier post on crime statistics which I included to challenge the popular misconception that Thailand is a safe country compared with many other ASEAN states.

For detailed comparative crime statistics see www.nationmaster.com

Bangkok Post Editorial

The court decision on the Tak Bai incident shows that security forces truly need to reconsider their actions in the troubled area of the South. The wide attention given to the inquest proves that the southern violence is the nation’s most pressing security problem.

The hearings at the Songkhla Provincial Court revealed serious shortcomings in how successive governments, police and army have approached the issues in the four southernmost provinces. The follow-up to the inquest shows that officials still do not “get it” about the deep South and the Thais who live there. KC: [and Malays/Thai-Malays etc? The imposition of central Thai culture and language in the deep South has been a major factor contributing to unrest].

The two-judge panel at Songkhla considered the actions of security forces at the district town of Tak Bai on Oct 25, 2004. There is no serious dispute about the main events of that tragic day. Police and the army used tear gas, batons and then live ammunition to put down an anti-government demonstration in the Narathiwat province town. Officers on the scene, backed by their superiors at various headquarters, insist deadly force was never employed.

Military officers trussed up 1,292 male protesters and loaded hundreds in the back of army trucks for transport to Ingkayuthaborihaan Army Camp in Pattani province. During the long trip, because they were packed so tightly into the trucks, and because they could not move due to their wrist shackles, at least 78 young men suffocated to death. Another seven died, allegedly by beatings and drownings by security forces, although no charges have been filed.

Some of the victims were not even involved in the protest. All had not eaten and were weaker than usual because they were observing the Ramadan fast. To put it another way, all were Muslim. The Thaksin government, and all subsequent governments, have refused to bring charges, or to make any political or security official accountable for the deaths of 85 unarmed, young Thai men. In 2007, the Surayud Chulanont government, under military rule, apologised for the deaths, dropped legal charges against 56 surviving protesters, and gave compensation that amounted to an average of 500,000 baht to each bereaved family.

Last Friday’s inquest ruled that security officials were carrying out their duty, and could not be blamed. One of the main points considered by the panel was an emergency law in effect at the time, which protected state officials from any civil, criminal or disciplinary liabilities while carrying out their official duties. KC: As noted by Bangkok Pundit the Tak Bai incident occurred before the 2005 Emergency Decree was in place]. Similar emergency laws protect police, army and other security officers today.

But such laws and martial declarations are out of tune with democracy and public expectation. The government or security forces cannot credibly absolve themselves to avoid responsibility. Certainly, people in the South do not intend to live with such a sweeping pre-judgement. Survivors and relatives of the Tak Bai violence likely will file criminal lawsuits, as they have the right to do so in a democratic society, and seek accountability.

The government constantly tries to soothe the public by saying the unrest in the South will soon end. Public reaction seems to give the lie to that.

The region has many problems, and peace is elusive. But southerners continuously perceive a lack of justice by officials in Bangkok, and their local appointees. The recent decision by the government to end all martial law and emergency rule except in the deep South is a case in point. The Democrats promised to examine policy in the South. A rethink of emergency rule should be the first item on that agenda.

KC: This court decision has certainly been shocking and we can expect crminal lawsuits to be filed by the victims families. The Tak Bai demonstration and deaths is an issue that will continue to damage Thailand’s international image and will ensure that lack of accountability remains a key barrier to democratic development, justice and credibilty in Thailand. Moreover, Tak Bai is repeatedly cited as key catalyst of the upsuge in violence in the deep South in 2004. The court decision can only serve to contribute to the inherent sense of unfairness felt by southern citizens and may ultimately fan the flames of further violence in the region.