Saedaeng’s funeral at Wat Sommanat, Bangkok 21-22 June 2010
This is how heroes are made; there must have been some 7-10,000 people (at least 3,000 jammed inside the extensive cremation compound of the wat itself), drawn together from three distinct groupings of red shirts sharing the same sense of remorse and loss – not only over a person who was an inspiring leader but also the massacres of civilians by the state and its military instrumentality which incurred 10 April and 19-20 May. Attendance at a funeral is also one of the few opportunities for red shirts to currently gather legally under the current emergency law imposed in Bangkok. Some 31 men ordained as novices for 24 hours the day before the funeral. I have never sensed such hurt and frustration directed at vertical levels upwards; as a critique of the whole amaat system which has, once again, gained control over the democratic process and discourse in Thailand rooted in 24 June 1932 and enacted downward at the grassroots.
Saedaeng’s daughter, Khun Khattiya “Dear”, who claimed to the media that she has some evidence about the murder, took charge of the funeral which was (to many seen as ironically) supported by the palace at the request of her family. But remember Saedaeng was a highly decorated soldier and war veteran in bygone times. As the palace honour guards arrived incredibly the crowd did not suppress their hidden feelings and jeered. These folk are no longer afraid and many said they have nothing to lose now. Nuttawut, with a serious fictitious charge still hanging over his head, was allowed out of Khlong Prem Prison briefly for paying respects as the crowd which screamed in delight at the unexpected visitor who was just as quickly whisked away.
The whole ceremony, which took place over two days, was considered as a means of closure on the pain felt by many folk in Thailand over the past few months but, as informants noted, it also opened new imaginings and it was considered a beginning in seeking justice, equity and the end of double standards in Thailand since 2006.
One informant, a former driver, explained that he was shot in the chest (shot deflected because of amulet), once in the arm and once in the leg from an M16 as he was helping a wounded person seek cover. Although it may never be confirmed, I was told that the person who shot Saedaeng was a former low ranking army officer and trained sniper who since leaving the army had his own security business and farm; other accounts told me he was shot from a white Nissan Urvan (as used by the army) parked across the road. The shot was fired at ground level. The army clearly arranged the murder as ordered by the government to silence Saedaeng once and for all as he knew only too well what was really going on. Informants also suggested the senior officer responsible was General Prayut seeking to ingratiate himself with Anupong and Abhisit and who in turn received the OK from elsewhere (?) while at the 11 Infantry Regiment in Bangkhen.
![Khun Khattiya ['Dear']](http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Khun-Khattiya-Dear.jpg "Khun Khattiya ['Dear']")
9 responses so far ↓
1 john francis lee // Jul 4, 2010 at 10:06 am
As the palace honour guards arrived incredibly the crowd… jeered.
That’s a detail I hadn’t seen anywhere else.
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2 LesAbbey // Jul 4, 2010 at 3:57 pm
So are we going to turn him into a legendary hero of pro-democracy now? How do we handle his past actions and written words then? Do we say that like Chamlong he had a Road to Damascus moment although far more recent, or were the trips to see Thaksin the real cause? How do we handle his last major statement that along with Arisman and under Thaksin’s orders he would be replacing the red shirt leadership if they compromised with the government’s road map? At this point we probably see the beginning of the military answer to the rally rather than a negotiated one. Also probably why some of the leaders left too.
Jim Taylor, I too am interested in who gave the order and carried out the assassination of Khattiya Sawasdipol. It reopens the wounds of previous governments’ extra-judicial killings killings again. So when you talk about informants, are these people with real knowledge or just rumour mongers. If they are the former why shouldn’t they go public with what they know now?
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3 Portman // Jul 4, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Seh Daeng’s past as a ruthless hunter and killer of impoverished Isaan peasants alleged to be communists or communist sympathisers seems to have been conveniently glossed over in this mawkish tribute worthy of a Murdoch tabloid. I look forward to seeing the evidence of the government order to murder him and the alleged countenance from on high.
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4 Jim Taylor // Jul 5, 2010 at 12:02 am
responding to Les and Portman I can only say how people around the country see him now; I cannot answer about his past deeds so it is best to ask the “impoversished Isaan peasants” that very question…However, my feeling is that whatever his involvement in the past (as indeed all military personnel during the anti-communist period, including “Mr Pure” Chamlong) he turned around realising his mistakes and in the last five years had the courage to say openly what was wrong in the military itself and its unquestioning “dumb” line of command. For this he was rewarded with being kicked out. We need to give people space to make changes for the better and not hold them ransom to the past as with Top Chef Samak (unless of course they don’t change, or change in a negative direction against the interests of the masses – like Chamlong). As I understand Saedaeng learned a lot in the past few years by listening to folk around the country, giving them a refuge during the chaos, and travelling to the countryside frequently or walking among the urban poor. As people told me everywhere I went: he aligned himself against the fallangist state and made every effort even at the risk of his own life to protect people during the demonstrations.
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5 LesAbbey // Jul 5, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Jim Taylor – 4
And the informants, real or imagined?
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6 FredKorat // Jul 5, 2010 at 2:13 pm
#4
“As I understand Saedaeng learned a lot in the past few years by listening to folk around the country, giving them a refuge during the chaos, and travelling to the countryside frequently or walking among the urban poor. As people told me everywhere I went: he aligned himself against the fallangist state and made every effort even at the risk of his own life to protect people during the demonstrations.”
But note this. He, like most Thai VIPs, was incapable of admitting his heavy complicity in that repression. Thus I conclude he was not a reformed character – just one who had developed some new deceptions to mask the fact that his fascism was still very much intact.
As he clearly was one of the gung-ho, gun-happy uniformed sadists of this country, the only way I believe he could redeem himself was by taking some responsibility for his past & recent irresponsibility and violence. That would also involve him learning to shut up and allow other more reasonable voices to be heard. We owe the motormouths of both sides of the Thai elite precisely nothing.
Who knows who killed the man. His dead body could clearly have been of some value to more than one succession faction. By glossing over his numerous crimes, we are condoning the continuing sleeziness of Thai politics. And as Thaksin will inevitably return as PM, we will be sending him the message that he should resume his despotic and kleptocratic ways. Thus we will get a Thaksin who has learned precisely nothing from his experiences. Seen in this light, the glorification of the unholy Sae Daeng is pure appeasement of the status quo.
This forum is incapable of tackling this country’s tendency to grayngjai its oppressors, but we shouldn’t be in any hurry to endorse unrepentent violence & repression either.
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7 wenthworth // Jul 5, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Isn’t the daughter a yellow shirt supporter?
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8 FredKorat // Jul 5, 2010 at 3:08 pm
#7 Well, she may have been once. And she does appear to be trying to keep some 0f her powder dry. One can despise the man and still hope that his daughter finds out who murdered her father and for what reason.
Its somewhat ironic that she gets all this accolade from people who were clearly intent on using the funeral for their own purposes, regardless of her previous sentiments. No one would ever thik about giving her the space to figure things out in her own time and in her own way.
In her circumstances, I would have made it very clear I did not want either faction at the funeral, or the royal sponsorship, and to hell with them all. And just invite the family, friends and locals. But as a frequent funeral-flyer, I have to say that no one here ever gives the greivers any space to have their own private thoughts. You may wish for a fairly private funeral and still have to watch it being hijacked by those who want to personally benefit from it. Thus one has to put up with such wonderful spectacles as people accusing each other of murder over the dead body of their victim.
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9 Jim Taylor // Jul 5, 2010 at 9:35 pm
wenthworth: this is a touchy question to elucidate at the best of times, and one that I dared not broach with her, but it is assumed that she has been heavily influenced by yellow shirts earlier on and now connected more to a new media directed bourgeois Bkk group named Palang Buak (“Plus Force”), which is a tool of the govt to psychologise people into a state of passivity; basically yellow shirts are behind this media directed campaign to encourage Thais to think positively to “revitalise the nation” (remember Sondhi L’s campaign?) They have what they call a “Positive network” – using twitter, facebook and stage events called “ignite Thailand” and use heavily directed poll techniques to garner opinion. When I asked “Dear” is she would take over the leadership of her father’s Khattiya Tham party she said she was still considering this.
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