It is with great sadness that this column announces the death this week in Thailand of Khun Pracha Thipatai.  Coming so soon after that of Nelson Mandela in South Africa, it is natural and informative to draw comparisons between the two lives.

Born in 1932 to a family of well-to-do commoners (he was conceived in France while his parents were students there), Khun Pracha led a tumultuous life.  A serious attack when he was barely more than one year old almost led to an untimely death.  He survived that episode, but suffered a number of similar attacks throughout his life.

Like Mandela, Khun Pracha spent many years as a prisoner under military detention and even during those periods when he was nominally at liberty, his actions were often constrained by undemocratic laws, authoritarian repression and a widespread ignorance about his goals and motives.

Khun Pracha, however, persevered with his mission and in time his basic principles were generally accepted in Thai society, though it is clear that many who claimed to support him were merely paying lip service and were in fact working to marginalize, disparage and even suppress him. 

Whereas Mandela grew in stature and influence after his release from detention, ultimately acquiring the authority to effect major positive changes in South Africa, Khun Pracha never managed to break down the distrust of the Thai elite and his influence slowly waned over the years.  By the time of his death, it is thought that extremely few Thais had any clear understanding of what Khun Pracha stood for, even though many loudly used his name to further their own goals.

Khun Pracha leaves behind therefore a weakened movement.  His long-time friend and ally, Khun Kan Lueaktang, remains active though it is not clear how his activities will retain any meaning if Khun Pracha is no longer with us.  Another colleague of long standing, Khun Yut Titham, is, however, seriously ill with multiple infections of bigotry and prejudice.  There are fears that he will shortly follow Khun Pracha into oblivion.

Many have argued that any progress by Khun Pracha and Khun Kan was impeded by being too closely associated with commercial interests, which severely compromised their ultimate goals.  Closer study, however, shows that these accusations have been grossly exaggerated (partly in a deliberate attempt to undermine their work) and that efforts by moneyed interests to corrupt their work were increasingly ineffectual.

Where Mandela was eventually able to rid South Africa of the scourge of apartheid, Khun Pracha in his later years was saddened to see social divisions increase in Thai society, to the point where serious moves are currently underway to disenfranchise large sections of the Thai population.  Ironically, every group working to install a form of government with similarities to the apartheid system insists on calling itself democratic and invoking the name, if not the values of Khun Pracha.

Khun Pracha always put great faith in the power of education to disseminate his ideals, believing that a better educated society would naturally become more progressive and open-minded.  Sadly, it now seems that his confidence in the educational system was misplaced. 

Many of the better-educated members of Thai society regard their good fortune in being able to access the best schools and universities as a reason to express their scorn and contempt for less privileged groups.  In fact, some of the strongest moves to eradicate Khun Pracha’s legacy have come from the leaders of the country’s universities, showing clearly a paradox in Thai society where higher learning seems unconnected to any sense of basic social justice.

While arrangements for Mandela’s funeral involved the entire nation and many foreign dignitaries, it seems that Khun Pracha will be cremated with a minimum of fanfare.  Requests to hold funeral ceremonies in his honour were rejected by many temples as ‘unsuitable’.  So Khun Pracha’s remains will therefore be burnt on the municipal waste dump at Onnuj.  Relatives and friends are invited to meet at the site of the ceremony but are warned to expect public scorn and surveillance by the security forces.

About author:  Bangkokians with long memories may remember his irreverent column in The Nation in the 1980's. During his period of enforced silence since then, he was variously reported as participating in a 999-day meditation retreat in a hill-top monastery in Mae Hong Son (he gave up after 998 days), as the Special Rapporteur for Satire of the UN High Commission for Human Rights, and as understudy for the male lead in the long-running ‘Pussies -not the Musical' at the Neasden International Palladium (formerly Park Lane Empire).