Chronik Thailands

กาลานุกรมสยามประเทศไทย

von

Alois Payer

Chronik 1997 / B. E. 2540

1. undatiert

Zitierweise / cite as:

Payer, Alois <1944 - >: Chronik Thailands = กาลานุกรมสยามประเทศไทย. -- Chronik 1997 / B. E. 2540. -- 1. undatiert. -- Fassung vom 2017-03-20. -- URL: http://www.payer.de/thailandchronik/chronik1997a.htm

Erstmals publiziert: 2012-10-25

Überarbeitungen: 2017-03-20  [Ergänzungen] ; 2016-12-28  [Ergänzungen] ; 2016-11-14  [Ergänzungen] ; 2016-05-13  [Ergänzungen] ; 2016-03-21  [Ergänzungen] ; 2016-03-01  [Ergänzungen] ; 2016-02-10 [Ergänzungen] ; 2016-01-19 [Ergänzungen] ; 2015-05-25 [Ergänzungen] ; 2015-04-14 [Ergänzungen] ; 2015-03-31 [Ergänzungen] ; 2014-11-21 [Ergänzungen] ; 2014-09-29 [Ergänzungen] ; 2014-09-23 [Ergänzungen] ; 2014-09-15 [Ergänzungen] ; 2014-04-09 [Ergänzungen] ; 2014-02-19 [Ergänzungen] ; 2013-11-18 [Ergänzungen] ; 2013-10-30 [Ergänzungen] ; 2013-10-05 [Ergänzungen] ; 2013-09-26 [Ergänzungen] ; 2013-05-02 [Ergänzungen] ; 2013-04-26 [Teilung des Jahrgangs] ; 22013-04-21 [Ergänzungen] ; 013-04-08 [Ergänzungen] ; 2013-03-19 [Ergänzungen] ; 2013-03-09 [Ergänzungen] ; 2013-01-26 [Ergänzungen]

©opyright: Dieser Text steht der Allgemeinheit zur Verfügung. Eine Verwertung in Publikationen, die über übliche Zitate hinausgeht, bedarf der ausdrücklichen Genehmigung des Herausgebers.

Dieser Text ist Teil der Abteilung Thailand von Tüpfli's Global Village Library

ช้างตายทั้งตัวเอาใบบัวปิดไม่มิด

 

 

Gewidmet meiner lieben Frau

Margarete Payer

die seit unserem ersten Besuch in Thailand 1974 mit mir die Liebe zu den und die Sorge um die Bewohner Thailands teilt.

 

Vorsicht bei den Statistikdiagrammen!

Bei thailändischen Statistiken muss man mit allen Fehlerquellen rechnen, die in folgendem Werk beschrieben sind:

Morgenstern, Oskar <1902 - 1977>: On the accuracy of economic observations. -- 2. ed. -- Princeton : Princeton Univ. Press, 1963. -- 322 S. ; 20 cm.

Die Statistikdiagramme geben also meistens eher qualitative als korrekte quantitative Beziehungen wieder.

 

2540 / 1997 undatiert

Statistisches:

Methamphetamin-Süchtige: 257.000
Heroin-Süchtige: 214.000

1960 - 2011

Import von Militärwaffen


Abb.: Import von Militärwaffen 1960 - 2011 (in Mio. US$)
[Datenquelle: http://www.indexmundi.com/facts/thailand/arms-imports. -- Zugriff am 2014-04-09]

1994 - 1997

Massendemonstrationen


Abb.: Anzahl der Massendemonstrationen 1994 - 1997
[Datenquelle: Kasian Tejapira (เกษียร เตชะพีระ, 1957 - ). -- In: Towards good society : civil society actors, the state, and the business class in Southeast Asia - facilitators of or impediments to a strong, democratic, and fair society? : documentation of a workshop of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, held October 26 - 27, 2004, in Berlin / ed. by the Heinrich Böll Foundation. -- Berlin : Heinrich Böll Foundation, 2005. -- 251 S. ; 21 cm. -- ISBN 3-927760-49-8. -- S. 143]
 

1997ff.

Geburtsprovinzen der wichtigsten Luk-Thung-Stars (เพลงลูกทุ่ง) seit 1997


Abb.: CD-Hülle: Sunari Ratchasima (สุนารี ราชสีมา)
[Fair use]


Abb.: CD-Hülle: Kot Jakrapan (ก๊อท จักรพันธ์ / จักรพรรณ์)
[Fair use]


Abb.: CD-Hülle: Takadaen Chonlada (ตั๊กแตน ชลดา)
[Fair use]

 
Abb.: CD-Hülle: Phi Sadoet (พี สะเดิด)
[Fair use]


Abb.: CD-Hülle: Mangpor Chonticha (แมงปอ ชลธิชา)
[Fair use]


Abb.: CD-Hülle: Mike Phiramphon (ไมค์ ภิรมย์พร)
[Fair use]


Abb.: CD-Hülle: Fon Thanasunthon (ฝน ธนสุนทร)
[Fair use]


Abb.: CD-Hülle: Yingli Sichumphon (หญิงลี ศรีจุมพล)
[Fair use]


Abb.: CD-Hülle: Tai Orathai (ต่าย อรทัย)
[Fair use]


Abb.: CD-Hülle: Phai Phongsathon ( ไผ่ พงศธร)
[Fair use]


Abb.: CD-Hülle: Monkhaen Kaenkhun (มนต์แคน แก่นคูน / ມົນແຄນ ແກ່ນຄູນ)
[Fair use]


Abb.: CD-Hülle: Monsit Khamsoi (มนต์สิทธิ์ คำสร้อย)
[Fair use]


Abb.: CD-Hülle: ยิ่งยง ยอดบัวงาม)
[Fair use]

[Datenquelle: Mitchell, James Leonhard: Luk Thung : the culture and politics of Thailand's most popular music. -- Chiang Mai : Silkworm, 2015. --208 S. : Ill ; 21 cm. -- ISBN 978-616-215-106-4. -- S. 42 ]


Abb.: Lage der genannten Provinzen
[Bildquelle: CIA. -- Public domain]

1997ff.

Geburtsprovinzen wichtiger Molam-Crossover-Stars (หมอลำ) seit 1997


Abb.: CD-Hülle: Jintara Phunlap (จินตหรา พูนลาภ)
[Fair use]


Abb.: CD-Hülle: Phonsak Songsaeng (พรศักดิ์ ส่องแสง)
[Fair use]


Abb.: CD-Hülle: Noknoi Uraiphon (นกน้อย อุไรพร)
[Fair use]


Abb.: CD-Hülle: Siriphon Amphaiphong (ศิริพร อำไพพงษ์)
[Fair use]

[Datenquelle: Mitchell, James Leonhard: Luk Thung : the culture and politics of Thailand's most popular music. -- Chiang Mai : Silkworm, 2015. --208 S. : Ill ; 21 cm. -- ISBN 978-616-215-106-4. -- S. 42 ]


Abb.: Lage der genannten Provinzen
[Bildquelle: CIA. -- Public domain]

1997

Englisch wird Pflichtfach ab der 1. Grundschulklasse (ประถม ๑)

1997

Die Leitung der Rajbhat-Institute (สถาบันราชภัฏ, Lehrerbildungsanstalten) beschließt, dass Personen mit abweichendem Sexualverhalten (also Homosexuelle) nicht aufgenommen werden können, da sie als Lehrer ungeeignet sind. Gegen diesen Beschluss kämpfen die Lesbengruppe Anjaree Thailand (อัญจารี) und andere NGOs.

1997

Warunee Fongkaew (วารุณี ฟองแก้ว) über die Einstellung von Mädchen und jungen Frauen zu ihrem Körper


Abb.: Einbandtitel eines Buchs von Warunee Fongkaew (วารุณี ฟองแก้ว), 2011

"Research also indicates that Thai women often are perceived as sexually passive, even by themselves.10 For example, Warunee Fongkaew [วารุณี ฟองแก้ว] (1997) gives extensive examples of negative attitudes held by Thai girls and young women toward their own bodies- and their own sexuality. Fongkaew recorded that young girls were taught from an early age not to display their bodies or be seen naked, whereas young boys were allowed to play naked and to display their genitals for several more years. Girls were taught by parents and teachers not to think about sex until they were married. The girls were ignorant about sex and felt shame toward their own bodies, including shame about the development of their breasts. For example, Fongkaew quoted a teenage girl as saying: "Women have things which are more shameful than anything men have. I think the most shameful thing that women have is female genitalia, and followed by breasts ... I don’t know why women’s things are more shameful than men’s. But I know that this is true" (p. 597). Fongkaew concluded: "Cultural norms based on gender inequality in sexual relations that expect women to be inexperienced and naive in sexual matters, and to see themselves as passive receptacles of men’s sexual passions, are widely held in this pre-urban Northern Thai society" (p. 582)"

[Quelle: Sinnott, Megan J.: Toms and dees : transgender identity and female same-sex relationships in Thailand. -- Honolulu : University of Hawaii Pr., 2004. -- 261 S. : Ill. ; 24 cm. -- ISBN 0824828526. -- Zugl. Diss., Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2002. -- S. 117]

Über das Sexualverhalten von Männern

"For example, [Warunee] Fongkaew [วารุณี ฟองแก้ว] (1997) interviewed middle-aged women about their sexual experiences. One woman said:

"Most men are selfish. They just please themselves. They just get on top of the women while making love and do it until they are finished. They do not think about their wives’ pleasure or if their wives reach orgasm. Sometimes she just let him get it done because she was fed up with it" (p. 584)."

[Zitiert in: Sinnott, Megan J.: Toms and dees : transgender identity and female same-sex relationships in Thailand. -- Honolulu : University of Hawaii Pr., 2004. -- 261 S. : Ill. ; 24 cm. -- ISBN 0824828526. -- Zugl. Diss., Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2002. -- S. 146.]

1997/1998

Kosten einer Abtreibung in einer (illegalen) Abtreibungsklinik:

1997

Laut Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) gibt es in Thailand folgende Arten von Amphetamine-type-stimulants (ATS), in Thailand alle Ya Ba [ยาบ้า] genannt:

  • "Amphetamin (alpha-Methylphenethylamin), auch Phenylisopropylamin oder Amfetamin genannt, ist eine vollsynthetisch hergestellte Substanz aus der Stoffgruppe der Amphetamine. Sie findet derzeit in der Pharmazie als Arzneistoff zur Behandlung der Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit-/Hyperaktivitätsstörung (ADHS) sowie Narkolepsie Verwendung. Amphetamin wirkt stark stimulierend bzw. aufputschend, wie alle Amphetamine und die meisten Stimulanzien appetitzügelnd und euphorisierend und ist insbesondere in der Drogenszene unter Bezeichnungen wie Speed oder Pep(p) weit verbreitet.

    Amphetamin ist die Stammverbindung der Substanzklasse Amphetamine, der etliche weitere psychotrope Substanzen angehören, unter anderem Methamphetamin und das in der Natur vorkommende Ephedrin. Es ist ein Stimulans und indirektes Sympathomimetikum, d. h., es regt die sympathischen Teile des vegetativen Nervensystems an.

    Da Amphetamin in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland aufgrund seiner Aufführung in der Anlage III im Betäubungsmittelgesetz ein verkehrsfähiges und verschreibungsfähiges Betäubungsmittel darstellt, wird der Handel und Besitz ohne Erlaubnis strafrechtlich verfolgt."

[Quelle https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphetamin: Zugriff am 2016-02-29]

  • "Ephedrin ist ein Phenylethylamin-Alkaloid, welches als Hauptalkaloid in Pflanzen der Gattung Ephedra (z. B. Ephedra sinica, chinesisches Meerträubel – auch als „Mahuang“, 麻黃 bekannt) vorkommt.[9][10] In isolierter oder synthetisch hergestellter Form wird Ephedrin – wie auch sein Diastereomer Pseudoephedrin – aufgrund seiner sympathomimetischen Wirkung gegen die Symptome bei Asthma bronchiale sowie zum Abschwellen der Nasenschleimhäute bei Schnupfen eingesetzt. Das Nutzen/Risiko-Verhältnis gilt dabei jedoch als ungünstig. Ephedrin wird außerdem bei Hypotonie („Kreislaufschwäche“) sowie als Mittel zweiter Wahl bei Narkolepsie (Schlafkrankheit) verwendet."

[Quelle: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephedrin. -- Zugriff am 206-02-29]

  • "Fenproporex (Perphoxene) is a stimulant drug of the phenethylamine and amphetamine chemical classes which was developed in the 1960s. It is used as an appetite suppressant for the treatment of obesity."

[Quelle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenproporex. -- Zugriff am 2016-02-29]

  • "Methamphetamin (N-methyl-alpha-Methylphenethylamin), auch Metamfetamin oder N-Methylamphetamin (früher auch Pervitin) genannt, ist eine synthetisch hergestellte Substanz aus der Stoffgruppe der Phenylethylamine. Sie wird in der Pharmazie als Arzneistoff verwendet und ist Bestandteil nicht-halluzinogener euphorisierender Drogen (umgangssprachlich Crystal Meth, Meth oder Crystal).

    Methamphetamin gehört zur Substanzklasse der Amphetamine, der etliche weitere psychotrope Substanzen angehören, unter anderem Amphetamin und das in der Natur vorkommende Ephedrin. Es ist ein Stimulans und indirektes Sympathomimetikum, d. h. es regt die sympathischen Teile des vegetativen Nervensystems an.

    Der Verkehr mit Methamphetamin (z.B. Herstellen, Besitzen oder Handeln) ohne Erlaubnis ist in Deutschland und den meisten europäischen Ländern strafbar."

[Quelle: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methamphetamin. -- Zugriff am 2016-02-29]

1997

Das Thai Farmers Research Centre führt eine Befragung an 66 höheren Schulen Bangkoks durch. Befragt werden

Von den Befragten gaben an, dass sie wissen, dass eine signifikante Anzahl von Schülern schon Ya Ba [ยาบ้า] versucht haben:

1997

Inbetriebnahme des 12.000 km langen Meeres-Kabelsystems APCN (Asia-Pacific Cable Network). Es verbindet Thailand, Malaysia, Singapur, Indonesien, Hong Kong, Philippinen, Taiwan, Korea und Japan.

1997

Das Board of Investment erlässt neue Richtlinien zur Industrieförderung. Ziel ist eine Dezentralisierung weg von Bangkok. Dazu wird das Land in drei Zonen eingeteilt, für die verschiedene Fördermaßnahmen (Steuerprivilegien, Beseitigung von Investitionshemmnissen usw.) gelten:

Zone 1: Bangkok, Nakhon Pathom, Nonthaburi, Pathoum Thani, Samut Prakan, and Samut Sakhon

Zone 2: Ang Thong, Ayutthaya, Chachoengsao, Chon Buri, Kanchanaburi, Nakorn Nayok, Ratchaburi, Samut Songkhram, Saraburi, Supanburi, Phuket and Rayong.

Zone 3: die restlichen 59 Provinzen mit niederem Einkommen und unterentwickelter Infrastuktur. Sie sind Investment Promotion Zones.


Abb.: BOI-Zonen 1 (rot) und 2 (blau); alle übrigen Provinzen sind Zone 3
[Bildvorlage: CIA. -- Public domain]

1960 - 2010

Wechselkurse Baht pro US-$


Abb.: Wechselkurse Baht pro US-$, 1960 - 2010
[Datenquelle: World Bank. -- Zugriff am 2011-12-12]

1997

Die zwölf Familien und Firmengruppen mit den höchsten Einnahmen:


Abb.: Die zwölf Familien und Firmengruppen mit den höchsten Einnahmen 1997 (in Milliarden Baht)
[Datenquelle: Thai capital (2008), S. 39]

1997 - 2000

Die Firma Sai Samphan erhält staatliche Aufträge im Straßenbau in der Provinz Suphan Buri (สุพรรณบุรี) über 601 Mio. Baht. Die Firma gehört einem Verwandten von Jamsai (แจ่มใส ศิลปอาชา, 1934 - ), der Frau von Banharn Silpa-archa (บรรหาร ศิลปอาชา, 1932 - ).

1990 - 1998

Förderung von thailändischem Erdöl und Erdgas:


Abb.: Förderung von Erdöl und Erdgas aus thailändischen Feldern, 1990 - 1998
[Datenquelle: Thailand in figures (2000), S. 284f.]
1 Barrel ~ 159 Liter
1 MMcf = 28000 m3


Abb.: Bau einer Bohrinsel im Golf von Thailand, 2007
[Bildquelle: McDermott-Photos. -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/66500704@N04/6216706048/. -- Zugriff am 2012-02-10. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, keine kommerzielle Nutzung, keine Bearbeitung)] 


Abb.: Erdgas-Trennanlage, Map Ta Phut (มาบตาพุด), Provinz Rayong (ระยอง), 2005
[Bildquelle: Love Krittaya / Wikimedia. -- Public domain]


Abb.: Lage von Map Ta Phut (มาบตาพุด)
[Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]

1997

Mit den Beständen des Tribal Research Institute wird in Chiang Mai (เชียงใหม่) das Hill Tribe Museum (พิพิธภัณฑ์ชาวเขา) eröffnet.


Abb.: Hmong (ม้ง) beim Essen, Hill Tribe Museum (พิพิธภัณฑ์ชาวเขา), Chiang Mai (เชียงใหม่), 2007
[Bildquelle: Mikhail Esteves. -- https://www.flickr.com/photos/jackol/1849657125/. -- Zugriff am 2015-04-14. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, keine kommerzielel Nutzung)]

1997

Eröffnung der Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot (แม่สอด) über den Moei River (แม่น้ำเมย).


Abb.: Lage der Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge
[Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]


Abb.: Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, 2005
[Bildquelle: Lerdsuwa / Wikiepdia. -- Gnu FDLicense]

1993 - 2005

UNHCR-Flüchtlinge (meist aus Myanmar) in Thailand:


Abb.: UNCHR-Flüchtlinge (meist aus Myanmar) in Thailand
[Datenquelle: UNHCR]

1997

Errichtung des Flüchtlingslager für Karen (ကရင်လူမျိုး; กะเหรี่ยง)  in Noh Poe, Amphoe Umphang (อุ้มผาง), Provinz Tak (ตาก).


Abb.: Lage von Noh Poe
[Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]


Abb.: Lage des Karen (Kayin) State (ကရင်ပြည်နယ်)
[Bildquelle: CIA. -- Public domain]

"Noh Poe or Nu Po (Karen; Small Lake) is a refugee camp of approximately 14,000 people in the Amphoe Umphang (อุ้มผาง) district of Tak (ตาก) Province in Thailand. Located near the Thai border with the Karen State (ကရင်ပြည်နယ်) in Burma, it was set up in 1997 to accommodate Karen refugees fleeing fighting between the Burmese and the Karen National Union (KNU,  ကရင် အမျိုးသား အစည်းအရုံး) forces.[1][2] There is a school located in Noh Poe which is significantly cheaper than comparable schools in Burma, and many Karen students go there to complete their education as a result. Refugees cannot leave the camp without the permission of the local Thai government, and chain fences surround the camp to keep people from leaving.[1]

In 2009, a major battle occurred just across the Burmese border in Kawkareik (ကော့ကရိတ်), between the KNU and the combined forces of the Burmese and Democratic Karen Buddhist (တိုးတက်သော ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ ကရင်အမျိုးသား တပ်ဖွဲ့; DKBA) armies. People in Noh Poe were prepared to flee if the DKBA forces attacked, but no fighting occurred there.[2]"

[Quelle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noh_Poe. -- Zugriff am 2012-10-09]

ca. 1997

Es erscheinen die Songs

พิกุล ขวัญเมือง [Phikun Khwanmuang]: แฟนตายอยู่สิงคโปร์ ["Mein Freund ist in Singapur (durch Hinrichtung) gestorben"]

พิกุล ขวัญเมือง [Phikun Khwanmuang]: “Klap Isan - กลับอีสาน -  thoet ai” ["Kommt heim in den Isaan, meine Brüder"].

พิกุล ขวัญเมือง [Phikun Khwanmuang]: ไปเมืองนอกให้ซื่อสัตย์ ["Bleib mir im Ausland treu"].

1997

Es erscheinen die Songs

ซูซู [Zu Zu]: คนซิ่งอีสาน ["Rasend schnelle Leute des Isaan"]

ซูซู [Zu Zu]:  กลับไปสงกรานต์บ้านนา ["Heimkehr, um Songkran im Reisbauerndorf zu feiern"]

Beide Songs im Album ไข่มดแดง ["Eier der roten Ameisen"]

Künstlerlink auf Spotify:
URI: spotify:artist:1xzYmd4FF2tBVcxWuDFIH7
URL: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1xzYmd4FF2tBVcxWuDFIH7


Abb.: Zu Zu [ซูซู], 2008
[Bildquelle: th.Wikipedia. -- GNU FDLicense]


Abb.: CD-Hülle
[Fair use]

1997

Es erscheint der Song:

อาภาพร นครสวรรค์ [Aphaphon Nakhonsawan]: เลิกแล้วค่ะ [Ich habe aufgegeben]. -- Es ist der "soundtrack of the Thai experience of the Asian Economic Crisis" [Mitchell, James Leonhard: Luk Thung : the culture and politics of Thailand's most popular music. -- Chiang Mai : Silkworm, 2015. --208 S. : Ill ; 21 cm. -- ISBN 978-616-215-106-4. -- S. 190]

Künstlerlink auf Spotify:
URI: spotify:artist:2gFoJCiiRRFm81zelPZR8d
URL: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2gFoJCiiRRFm81zelPZR8d


Abb.: Inserat
[Fair use]

1997

Markteinführung des Toyota Soluna, einer gemeinschaftlichen Entwicklung von thailändischen und japanischern Designern. Der Soluna wird in Thailand produziert für den einheimischen markt und den Export nach Singapur und Brunei.


Abb.: Toyota Soluna, Chiang Mai (เชียงใหม่)
[Bildquelle: Love Krittaya / Wikipedia. -- Public domain]

1997

Prof. Dr. Srisakdi Charmonman gründet am Assumption Business Administration College (heute Assumption University) von ABAC Poll (เอแบคโพล). ABAC Poll wird sich zum führenden Meinungsforschungsinstitut Thailands entwickeln.


Abb.: ®Logo

"What We Serve :
  • ABAC Real-time Poll
  • Satisfaction Surveys
  • Surveys on Happiness at workplace
  • Qualitative research methods (e.g., focus group discussion, observation) :
  • Mystery Shopper :
  • Real-time TV rating estimate :
  • Marketing research (e.g., consumer attitude and behavior, consumer satisfaction, test marketing, and retail audit) :
  • Social research (e.g., public health, education, economy, population, political, electoral, and organizational studies, entertainment, and sports) :
  • Evaluation research :
  • Participatory Action Research :
  • Deliberative Poll / Survey :
  • Panel / Longitudinal Study :
  • Modelling and analytical research
  • Highly specialized surveys (monitoring the quality of Thai youth, the surveys of consumers, Bangkok area study, monitoring household economy, election, and exit polls)
  • Other services (e.g., formally training the next generation of pollsters and survey methodologists, research clinic, survey seminal organization, consultation of clients about survey methodologies, constructing questionnaires, collecting, processing, and analyzing data)"
[Quelle: http://www.abacpoll.au.edu/new_innovation/what_we_serve.html. -- Zugriff am 2014-02-19]

1997

Auf BBTV Channel 7 werden die 14 Folgen des Lakorn (ละคร - Soap Opera) Pob Pee Fah (ปอบผีฟ้า) gesendet.


Abb.: Screenshot
[Bildquelle: Wikipedia. -- Fair use]

"Pob Pee Fah (Thai: ปอบผีฟ้า) is a Thai ghost story, made as a TV series (known as a lakorn, the Thai equivalent of a soap opera). Set partly in the 19th century, it shares some plot details with an earlier series, Jao Nang (เจ้านาง), which aired in 1990, and on which some observers believe it was based.

Pob Pee Fah was considered by many to be one of the scariest of Thai lakorns, and actress Woranut Wongsawan (วรนุช วงษ์สวรรค์, 1980 - ), appearing in her first lakorn, claimed in a later interview that a real Pee Fah (a type of Thai ghost) appeared during the shooting of one of the scenes.

The legend

The story is based on an old Thai legend of a type of ghost or spirit known as a Pee Fah (Thai: ผีฟ้า), or Pee Pob (Thai: ผีปอบ).

The Pee Fah needs to possess a host in order to live, and only leaves the host's body when the host is asleep. Before the host dies, the Pee Fah must find a new host in which it can reside, and that is achieved by inducing the new victim to consume saliva from the old host. These ghosts are powerful and fearful, and if one succeeds in entering someone, it will possess them for life, feeding on the intestines and blood of human victims.

A Pee Fah can be banished from its host by the performance of a special dance, in which the exorcist moves in whirlpool-like motions. The ghost is drawn out by the whirling effects, and so leaves the host's body.

The original version of the legend tells of a Prince who was a practitioner of magic, and who discovered an incantation that enabled him to enter and possess the bodies of living victims. On one occasion when the prince said the magic words to enter the body of an animal, his servant overheard him, and used the words to enter the vacated body of the Prince.

The Prince, having discovered his servant's action, entered the body of a bird and flew to his wife to seek help. Between them they destroyed the body of the servant. Next, the prince (in the bird's body) challenged the servant (in the prince's body) to enter the body of an animal. When the servant foolishly entered and took control of the animal's body, the real Prince re-entered his own body, leaving the spirit of the servant with no body of his own to return to.

From that day on, the spirit of the servant was condemned to seeking a succession of new hosts.[1]

 Plot Summary

Pob Pee Fah tells the tale of a princess, how she is originally possessed by a spirit or ghost known as a Pee Fah, or Pee Pob, and how the ghost subsequently takes possession of her descendants, one generation at a time.

 First Generation

In the 19th century, in the northeast of Thailand, Princess Nang Fah leaves her palace with two of her royal servants, to go and live in a rural village. At the time, the area is being haunted by a fearful spirit, the Pee Fah, which, according to legend, possesses its hosts and, using their bodies, feasts on the intestines and blood of its human victims.

The princess was, in fact, the granddaughter of an exorcist who had previously combated the spirit, and she had been practicing the traditional exorcism dance for years as she grew up.

The dance was beautiful, but using it for an exorcism is a dangerous undertaking, and as Nang Fah makes her attempt, the Pee Fah is able to enter her body after she inadvertently takes in some of its saliva, which it has deposited on a nearby green leaf. The spirit has successfully continued its revenge against the princess's family of exorcists.

Possessed, she has become Pee Nang Fah (the ghost Nang Fah), and a new generation of Pee Fah is released to continue its bloody nightly hunts.

 Second Generation

Nang Fah marries a brave man and they have a daughter. But her husband discovers her secret when he catches her about to kill their own daughter for food. He offers to take her place instead, and the daughter is saved. As time passes and as Nang Fah ages, she transfers some of her saliva to her daughter and her daughter is possessed by the Pee Fah, becoming the next Pee Nang Fah.

She becomes the most evil manifestation of them all, by day having the appearance of a normal woman. But when hunting with Nang Fah's royal servant at night, she changes into a beautiful princess with a green face, and pursues travelers who pass during the night. Before she kills them, she dances the whirlpool dance to appear even more dreadful.

 The Last Generation?

The daughter of Nang Fah marries a handsome man and they in turn have a daughter of their own. She is named "Kaew", and is destined to become the next Pee Nang Fah in turn.

When Kaew's father unexpectedly dies from an illness, a young doctor who visits the village hears stories of local people who have mysteriously died or disappeared. He investigates, and discovers that the killer is Kaew's mother, possessed by the Pee Fah. Kaew refuses to believe him when told, being firmly convinced that her mother is just an ordinary old lady.

What will happen to Kaew? Will she stop her mother and end the Pee Nang Fah line, or will she become the next to take up the terrible role?

 The Pob Pee Fah Song and Dance

In the opening sequence, the series star Woranut Wongsawan sings and performs a version of the exorcism dance, mixing it with northeastern Thai traditional dancing. Having to dance its subtle movements while wearing traditional dress, Woranut needed to practice for several months before shooting started.

  Pee Fah appearances in Thailand

In 2007, following the mysterious deaths of four villagers in the Sam Chai district (สามชัย) of the northeastern Thai province of Kalasin (กาฬสินธุ์), 1,000 residents, fearing the cause to be evil spirits, raised 35,000 baht to pay for the exorcism of a Pee Fah, believed to be possessing two of the female villagers.[1]"

 [Quelle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pob_Pee_Fah. -- Zugriff am 2012-03-06]

1997

Zweite bei der Miss-Thailand-Wahl wird die Thai-Irin Worarat Suwannarat (วรรัตน์ สุวรรณรัตน์, geborene Emma Masterson, 1977 - ).


Abb.: Worarat Suwannarat (วรรัตน์ สุวรรณรัตน์), 2010
[Bildquelle: Pageantaddict / Wikipedia. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]

1997

Fertigstellung des Elephant Building (ตึกช้าง) in Bangkok.


Abb.: Lage des Elephant Building (ตึกช้าง)
[Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]


Abb.: Elephant Building (ตึกช้าง), Bangkok, 2006
[Bildquelle: Eke Miedaner. -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/eam/113665800/. -- Zugriff am 2012-04-08. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, keine kommerzielle Nutzung)]

"The Elephant Building or Chang Building (Thai: ตึกช้าง) is a high-rise building located on Paholyothin Road (ถนนพหลโยธิน) & Ratchadaphisek Road (ถนนรัชดาภิเษก) in Bangkok, Thailand. It lies in the North Bangkok Business District and Chatuchak district (จตุจักร). The building is one of the most famous buildings in Bangkok because it has the characteristics of an elephant. The building has 32 floors and is 102 metres (335ft.) high, it was completed in 1997."

[Quelle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_Building. -- Zugriff am 2012-04-08]

1997

Thanpuying M.L. Manitatana Bunnag (ท่านผู้หญิง มณีรัตน์ บุนนาค, 1923–2000) stiftet den Dhamma Society Fund.


Abb.: "A special candle-light Circumambulation to celebrate the newly printed two sets of Tipitaka, published by Dhamma Society Fund on the 96th Birthday Anniversary of His Holiness the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand, the founding patron of the World Tipitaka.", Bangkok, 2009
[Bildquelle: World Tipitaka Foundation by Dhamma Society. -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/dhammasociety/4138417512/. -- Zugriff am 2012-10-09. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, keine kommerzielle Nutzung, share alike)]

"Dhamma Society Fund formally known as The M.L. Maniratana Bunnag Dhamma Society Fund under the Patronage His Holiness Somdet Phra Ñāṇasaṃvara (สมเด็จพระญาณสังวร, 1913 - ) the Supreme Patriarch (พระสังฆราช)  of Thailand, Dhamma Society Fund is a charitable organisation in the Buddhist Theravāda Tradition, founded in 1997 by Thanpuying M.L. Manitatana Bunnag (ท่านผู้หญิง มณีรัตน์ บุนนาค, 1923–2000), Lady-in-Waiting to Her Majesty Queen Sirikit (1950–2000) and the Dhamma Society First Chairperson (1998–2000).[1] Since 1999 the Dhamma Society Fund has undertaken the publication of the Tipiṭaka (พระไตรปิฎก) in Latin script, the World Edition. Recent activities focus on the Tipiṭaka, namely, organising Annual Tipiṭaka Lecture[2] and Tipiṭaka presentation as a gift of Dhamma.[3]

Donations

In 2000, Dhamma Society made a donation of its private collection of very rare palm-leaves Pāḷi Tipiṭaka and Pāḷi Tipiṭaka Editions (first edition) in various national scripts as well as in translations (over 3000 items) to the Faculty of Arts,[4] Chulalongkorn University (จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย), which are housed in the International Tipiṭaka Hall,[5] Mahachulalongkorn Building, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

The World Tipiṭaka Project

Initiated in 1999 by the Dhamma Society upon a request from abroad to support the publication of the B.E. 2500 (1957) Great International Council Pāḷi Tipiṭaka Edition in Latin script.[6] After a preliminary investigation of all the available electronic manuscripts, the Dhamma Society found that it was necessary to undertake anew the entire proof-reading and editing in Pāḷi language of the International Council Edition, both in printing and electronic formats. In 2004, the development of the electronic Pāḷi Tipiṭaka version was completed and was presented to Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana (กัลยาณิวัฒนา, 1923 - 2008), the Royal Matriarch of Thailand. In 2005, the printing project was finally completed and was published in Latin script in 40 volumes as a homage to the Buddha and in honour of the Buddhist Sovereign Monarchy of Thailand. For an inaugural presentation, HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana, as Honorary President and Royal Patron, led a historic 24-hour Pilgrimage by a special flight from Bangkok to Colombo to present the special inaugural edition as a royal gift of Dhamma to the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka on March 6, 2005.[7] Two additional inaugural editions were graciously presented to the Constitutional Court of the Kingdom of Thailand[8] and to the Carolina Rediviva, Uppsala University, Kingdom of Sweden. The special World Tipiṭaka Edition has since been presented to international institutions worldwide upon a formal request to the Princess Patron and World Tipiṭaka Committee.

Publications
  • The World Tipiṭaka Edition in Latin script, 40-volume set, hardcover, since 2005
  • The Tipiṭaka Studies Reference, 40-volumes set, hardcover, since 2007
  • The Chulachomklao of Siam Pāḷi Tipiṭaka : Digital Preservation Edition, 40-volume set, hardcover, since 2008
  • Tipiṭaka Studies & Pilgrimage
  • The World Tipiṭaka Recitation Edition
  • Tipiṭaka Anthology"

[Quelle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhamma_Society_Fund. -- Zugriff am 2012-10-09]

1997

Ministerpräsident Chavalit Yongchaiyudh (ชวลิต ยงใจยุทธ, 1932 - ) und seine Gattin ziehen für eine Zeitlang um. Ihr altes Haus hat ein Leck am Dach und einen Riss in der Wand. Ein Wahrsager sagte ihnen, dass ihnen das Unglück bringe. Sie ziehen während der Reparatur in ein neues Haus, nachdem sie ein fünfstündiges Ritual in schwarzer Kleidung und mit schwarzen Kerzen zu Rahu (พระราหู) vollzogen haben, um das Unglück zu vertreiben. "In Thailand, people offer a plate of black offering—black coffee, black Coke, black beans, black biscuits amongst other items to propitiate Phra Rahu (พระราหู), whom they hold in very high regard. There is a shrine for Phra Rahu in Wat Traimit (วัดไตรมิตร) near Chinatown in Bangkok." (Wikipedia)


Abb.: Rahu (พระราหู), Saraphi (สารภี), Provinz Chiang Mai (เชียงใหม่)
[Bildquelle: LigerCommon / Wikimedia. -- Public domain]

1997

Es erscheint:

Skrobanek, Siriporn [ศิริพร สะโครบาเนค] ; Nattaya Boonpakdi [ณัฐยา บุญภักดี] ; Chutima Janthakeero: The traffic in women : human realities of the international sex trade. -- London : Zed, 1997. -- 124 S. ; 22 cm. -- ISBN 1-85649-528-0


Abb.: Einbandtitel

 

"My name is Nuj and I am 18 years old. I grew up in a village in Mae Sai [แม่สาย] district, a town on the northern border between Thailand and Burma in Chiang Rai province. Since I was small I remember seeing women — mostly local and those from the ethnic Thai group in Burma’s Shan state [မိူင်းတႆး] - wearing thick make-up and beautiful dresses, and walking in and out of the brothels that were mushrooming in the village. The brothels have always been quite busy, especially during festival time, when many Burmese men came over, and the brothel-owners had to bring truck- loads of women from other villages to service them.


Abb.: Lage von Mae Sai [แม่สาย]
 [Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]

My parents love me dearly. They wanted me to have a good education and they always forbade me to look at the women in the brothels. But life in Mae Sai revolved so much around the sex business; daughters are sold to local agents as well as agents from Bangkok. The women who work in the sex trade in Bangkok can send home a lot of money to build big houses and to buy cars. When you see people getting these things, the whole business appears quite attractive... and it wasn’t difficult to follow the same path.

As the only daughter, I have always told myself that I must earn enough money to support my poor ageing parents who still have to work very hard to sustain their living. Champa is a local sex worker who has made a fortune working in Bangkok. She always came up to Mae Sai to recruit women to go south. When she asked me to work as her housekeeper in Bangkok, I decided to go with her. Champa told me that I wouldn’t have to pay anything for living in Bangkok, and that I would get paid for working. I was 15 then.

During the first three months in Bangkok I was put into an old flat by myself, and had to do all the housework for Champa. One day she took me to a beauty salon and made me wear nice dresses. She took me to work in a massage parlour called ‘Darling’. I lived with Champa and her husband, Yongyuth, who beat me and forced me to work as a prostitute. My virginity was sold for 20,000 baht, but I never saw the money.

Throughout the three years I worked in that massage parlour, I never received any money for my body, even though the charge was about 60 baht for the room, and 1,500 baht for the service. Each weekday I had to work from 5 p.m. till midnight, and at weekends my work started at 11 a.m. Each night I had to give service to at least five men — mostly from Saudi Arabia and Japan, as well as Chinese. After work, Champa would bring me back to the flat, and she locked me in the room where I could watch TV. The only holidays I ever had were the religious holidays, when the massage parlours are closed by law.

While working in the parlour I got to know Noi, who worked as the parlour’s cashier. Noi felt pity for me, and tried to help me by changing the figures on the receipt of payment from the customers. When a customer gave me a tip of 1,200 baht, Noi would write only 900 baht on the receipt, so that I could keep 300 baht. Noi also helped me to open a bank account, in which I managed to save 5,000 baht. But luck was not on my side. Yongyuth found my wallet one day and saw my Automatic Teller Machine card, which he took after he had beaten me.

My patience was wearing thin, and finally I decided to escape. I had sworn at Yongyuth, and he had beaten me again. I was not afraid. I told him I was going to a beauty salon. I met a man driving by on his motor cycle. He was the head of a gang of construction workers. I asked him to help me escape. Although Yongyuth realised what was happening and followed us in his car, the traffic was quite bad and we got away. That man took me to hide in his office, and helped me contact Noi. Noi suggested I stay with her sister, who happened to know about the emergency home. Noi’s sister contacted the emergency home for me. I was then able to study, while working as a cleaner at the guest house run by the home. Noi told me that Champa and Yongyuth found four ethnic women from Mae Sai to work at the parlour after I left.

I’m lucky that I did not contract HIV/AIDS, as I was regularly checked at the clinic. But I realise now how this traumatic experience has affected my life. I used to cut myself, leaving a big wound in my arm. Sometimes I felt desperate, irritated and emotionally hurt. What I have gone through has made me lose confidence in myself. I would love to go back and be with my parents, but I am afraid they are still angry that I left home. For now I plan to take a course to become a hairdresser, so I can work and save some money. Then I’ll go home and open my own shop. When that day comes, perhaps all the depressing experiences will fade away from my memory."

[a.a.O., S. 1ff. -- Fair use]
"Kritaya Archavanitkul [กฤตยา อาชวนิจกุล] (1993) divides international migration of Thai labour into four periods:
  • 1967-77: the start of labour migration. Migrant workers received relatively high wages and labour recruiting agencies paid all expenses.
  • 1978-81: a rise in demand for migrant labour abroad. More employment agencies sprang up, but increasingly the migrants themselves were expected to pay expenses. There were few reports of fraud or deceit.
  • 1982-87: demand for migrant labour slackened while the supply increased. Fees rose, and it was reported that workers mortgaged their rice farms to enable them to pay the commission charges. Deceit by recruiters became more common. Many workers arrived to discover their earnings were lower than promised.
  • 1988-the present: employment agencies make even more extravagant promises to entice potential workers. Workers pay commission to the agents of 80,000-250,000 baht (US$3,300-10,400). Many workers are deceived by agents and employers. The government continues to encourage the export of labour."

[a.a.O., S. 24f. -- Fair use]
"Pring, a woman from Soi Dao [สอยดาว], described such migration thus:

There are two types of prostitutes. The first type are spoiled teenagers, who want to have a car, a house, to be well-dressed with gold ornaments and lots of money to spend. And this is a new social status for them. The second type are women who are forced into prostitution by necessity, such as separation from husband, being widowed, the poverty of their parents, or debt.


Abb.: Lage von Soi Dao [สอยดาว]
[Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]

In Soi Dao, we found that some of the girls in the sex industry were daughters of women who had previously done the same work. Prao, for example, was taken by her mother Pring to Telephone House, a sex venue in Sungaikolok [สุไหงโกลก]. Auong, another second-generation sex worker, started her work in Bangkok, at a house with many other women from the same village. She later moved on to Pattaya."


Abb.: Lage von Sungaikolok [สุไหงโกลก]
[Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]

[a.a.O., S. 32. -- Fair use]
"Saeng, a 14-year-old girl from Burma, was sold by her elder sister for 2,001) baht (US$83). When she was taken to the brothel, she was refused, because of her age. The agent kept her at home to do domestic work. One day, the agent ‘uncle’ was drunk, and she feared she would be raped. She climbed over the fence and escaped.

A girl from the Akha hilltribe was sold for 2,000 baht when she was 10. She was later sold to a brothel in the south for 40,000 baht (US$1,600). She worked in the brothel for six years before being helped by the police."

"Chan urged her two nieces to live with Japanese men, friends of her husband The girls did not enjoy the experience. Chan reminded Bee, one of the nieces, why they should be patient: ‘They give us hundreds of thousands. We must be patient and show we are worthy of that payment. Just stay with them until you have enough savings for a house; then you can leave them.’ Bee’s parents had been trying to control her by not allowing her to go out with friends, for fear that something bad would happen, and her Japanese ‘husband’ would cease supporting her. Bee regularly received 7,000 baht a month."

"In a village near Ton Yang [บ้านต้นยาง], there was a report of a foreign tourist seeking a young wife without the mediation of a broker.


Abb.: Lage von Ban Tonyang [บ้านต้นยาง]
[Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]

A foreign tourist rode a motorbike around the village in order to chat with the local women. He met Ms Dok Or on her way to the rice field. He accompanied her, and met her older and younger sisters there. He didn’t like the older one, because she was fat, but took a fancy to the younger, who was only 15. The following day, he returned, chatted with Ging, and expressed his interest in her. He made her sit in his lap, which frightened her. She told him she was married.

He came back to the village, and went straight to the house of another young woman, Paungh. He said he would buy a farm and a house for Paungh’s family. Finally, he asked her mother if he could marry her. Paungh’s mother had no objection, but insisted on a wedding ceremony. The man agreed, and told Paungh he would stay with her three months a year. He gave her mother 3,000 baht to prepare food for the wedding party. Paungh’s mother asked for more, but the man refused."

[a.a.O., S. 34f. -- Fair use]
"Data from the study indicate the following major pathways for prostitution:
  • from all regions to Patpong [พัฒน์พงษ์] and Pattaya [พัทยา];
  • from the north to Suthisarn/Saphan Kwai [สุทธิสาร/สะพานควาย];
  • from the north to the southern border with Malaysia;
  • from all regions to several European countries, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong."

[a.a.O., S. 37. -- Fair use]


Abb.: Lage von Patpong (พัฒน์พงษ์)
[Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]


 

Abb.: Lage von Pattaya (พัทยา)
[Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]


Abb.: Lage von Suthisarn/Saphan Kwai [สุทธิสาร/สะพานควาย]
[Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]

"Loy was a girl from Roi-et [ร้อยเอ็ด] in the north-east, who moved with her friends to work in a textile factory in Rangsit [รังสิต], just north of Bangkok. Her mother provided her with money for the bus ticket, which she was to pay back from her first month’s salary. After working for some years, Loy became bored. She was angry with her family in Roi-et, because they kept asking her for money. Sometimes her mother came to the factory on pay-day to collect her pay-check. Loy began to think she would get nowhere if she carried on with her factory job. She switched to work as a masseuse at the Chao Praya Massage Parlour. There was a police sergeant whose part-time job was to urge customers to choose the girls on display in the glass window of the parlour. Every girl there had to be nice to this man. Loy was a fresh face and she slept with him. He was pleased with her, and directed many customers her way. Loy moved into a rented house with him, in an effort to save money. She changed jobs frequently and ended as a bar-tender in Patpong [พัฒน์พงษ์]. She had many expenses. Dara, a Thai woman living in Germany, came looking for Thai women to work a three-month contract in Germany. Loy took the job, and came back well-off. She underwent cosmetic surgery to change her face, and went to and from Germany often, working as a prostitute. With the passage of time it became more difficult. Loy is now over 40, and still working in Patpong."

[a.a.O=., S. 37f. -- Fair use]


Abb.: Lage von Roi-et [ร้อยเอ็ด]
 [Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]
"Most of the women who had come to Pattaya [พัทยา] as sex workers spoke positively about their experience.

If I had known about foreigners and Pattaya, I would have come here when I was 15 or 16. I would have worked hard and become very rich. I would not have married a Thai and had children. But I was too old when I came here."

[a.a.O., S. 41. -- Fair use]

"Lily is from Hong Kong [香港], and came to work in the Petchburi Road [ถนนเพชรบุรี] area during the Vietnam War. She married the owner of the bar so that she could remain legally in Thailand. She earned a reputation as a talented exotic dancer, and she taught this art to Thai women. She later married an American soldier, who was later based in Germany, and they got involved in the drug scene in Europe. She took up exotic dancing there to pay for their habit. She was imprisoned for drug possession and repatriated to Thailand.

Dara met Lily in Hamburg. She was born in Korat [โคราช] in the north-east. She left school after six years and worked as a domestic servant for a German couple, who were living temporarily in Korat as consultants on a dam project. Dara went with them back to Germany. When she arrived, they confiscated her passport, and she was forbidden to leave the house on her own. She was 16. She was forced to have sex with the man. When he went to Africa on business, the woman took Dara to a bar in the red-light district of Hamburg, and ‘sold’ her to the owner.

Lily and Dara became friends in the bar. The owner arranged her marriage to a German, so that she could stay in the country. Dara became involved in the drug scene, but returned to Thailand to avoid arrest. When her family learned of the work she had been doing, they treated her badly. Dara then became a recruiter, encouraging women from Patpong [พัฒน์พงษ์] to work in bars in Germany."

[a.a.O., S. 46. -- Fair use]
"Sai Buo works as an agent, mostly in Chang Pheuk village [ช้างเผือก]. She has a house in Bangkok for village girls who want to sell their virginity for one-off large sums, or to work irregularly in the sex industry. She provides both lodgings and customers. At Songkran [สงกรานต์] (Thai traditional New Year celebrations in April), Sai Buo hosts a ceremony in Bangkok in aid of the temple of Chang Pheuk."


Abb.: Lage von Chang Pheuk [ช้างเผือก]
 [Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]

[a.a.O., S. 51. -- Fair use]
"These agents send Thai women to work abroad. Some are themselves experienced migrant sex workers. Each route has its own agents.

Sumontha’s home town is near Ton Yang, but she spends most of her time in Denmark with her Danish husband. When she visits the village, parents pay her 50,000 baht to arrange migration to Europe for their daughters.

Wilaiwan is an officer of the Forestry Department. She recruits for a network based in Germany, who post her a commission once the woman has arrived.

Nak, of Rim Mon, used to work in Singapore. For 7,000 baht, she arranged transport to and contacts in Singapore.

Poonsap, of Ton Yang [บ้านต้นยาง], worked in Singapore for 10 years and married a Singaporean. After visits home, she takes young women back with her to Singapore. One of these, Saisamorn, died a few years ago, apparently of an AIDS-related illness.

Saeng-Deuan of Rim Mon, and her Japanese husband, recruit women for Japanese men to visit in the village. ‘We don’t want our children to go far away, because we don’t know the foreigners. When they stay at home like this, we don’t have to work hard, but we still receive an income. If we save, we can soon build a house. We won’t have to suffer. I want all those who are like sisters and relatives to me to be happy. The foreigners are easy. They don’t stay long or come too often. Husbands we choose for ourselves are not as nice as this. To marry a man from the village is to suffer. This way, we don’t get tired and we don’t have to worry. We only want money. What’s more, if we go into prostitution, we’re at risk from disease. I don’t think what we do is prostitution. We think of the men as our husbands. It’s like having a husband who works abroad to send us money. We are faithful to them, and don’t go with other men. They are happy to support us. We’re like their wives.’

Puang-panga of Chang Pheuk village [ช้างเผือก] operates a long-distance telephone service. She is a middle person, who supplies the women needed by a Bangkok agent for travel to Japan. She charges the Bangkok company between 2,000 and 5,000 baht per recruit.

Nai Thong lives in a village near Ton Yang. He sends groups of 10 at a time by van to Bangkok, where false travel documents are provided for the journey to Japan.

Nang Fetch lives in Nong Kai near Ton Yang. She informs women of the nature of the work they can expect in Japan, but she does not tell them about the huge debt they will incur. Her sister has also joined her in recruiting.

Nai Sakchai, an official at the Labour Office of Nong Khai province [หนองคาย], said, ‘Work in Thailand commands a salary of only a few thousand baht. It’s better to work in Japan and come home rich.’ He sent two women to Japan to work as prostitutes.

Nang Huan once arranged for a group of 10 women to leave from Na Thong for Japan. Each made a down payment of 25,000 baht. They waited in a flat in Bangkok for travel documents, and she arranged plastic surgery for those who wanted it. She also organised customers while they waited. Nang Huang went with them to Japan. She confiscated their passports, and resold them at 15,000 baht each to women there who wanted to return to Thailand.

Besides individual agents, we found evidence of teams of five and six, each headed by a boss. The team lets women in Patpong [พัฒน์พงษ์] know that they can be taken to Japan for only 10,000 baht. The boss usually goes with them, and negotiates the ‘sale’ price."

[a.a.O., S. 52f. -- Fair use]

"The Bangkok-based Dara Songsaeng company is owned by a husband-and- wife team. They send women to Germany on the understanding that they will work as waitresses for a daily wage of 10,000 baht and free accommodation. The company advances money to cover all costs. The women are flown to Poland, and then cross the border into Germany. Turks and Germans meet them and deliver them to brothels in Berlin."

[a.a.O., S. 53f. -- Fair use]

"Many Thai sex workers are employed in bars overseas. This began in Germany in the 1970s, and returnees to Thailand encouraged others to go. They could stay legally in Germany for three months without a visa. Initially, Thai women working in Germany could make good money, but this has been reduced over the years. More recently, trafficking and forced prostitution have darkened the prospects.

I went [to Germany] to sell sex. It was illegal. There was no contract and no fixed working hours. After travelling expenses and brokerage fees had been deducted, the net income from a three-month period was 100,000 baht. I worked until my visa expired, returned to Thailand, then went back again. Our lodging was on the top floor of the owner’s house. The ground floor was a pub and snack bar, the first floor a cabaret, the second floor an X- rated theatre. The third floor consisted of rooms for rent, just like a brothel. The owner and his family lived on the third floor.

Thai women who worked in Germany in the early years were relatively independent. Their income was high in comparison to what they could earn in Thailand. Some had plastic surgery and changed their identity, so that they could continue to re-enter the country. Over time, working conditions changed. Some migrant women were deceived: they were told they would be selling drinks, not sex. Increasing deductions from their salaries were made for a variety of reasons - travel expenses, brokerage fees and the cost of an arranged marriage. These debts sometimes amounted to 300,000 baht, and could be increased on the whim of the bar owner.

In 1991 the German government imposed an entry visa on Thais. The cost of references and brokerage fees went up, all borne by the woman. Attempts were made to bring in Thai women as refugees, which allowed them a longer stay in the country.

We were told that in Japan women were sold off by a broker who sometimes went with them to the country. The individual who has paid the broker is called the ‘money owner’. The woman must pay the money owner a debt which comes to two or three times the purchase price. The money owner, if (s)he is not the bar owner, comes to an agreement with the bar, not with the woman. Japanese bars sell food and drink, and have women welcome the customers and chat with them. A woman must be ready to leave with the customers and to have sex with them. There are around 20 women in each bar. Women working in them can be divided roughly into three groups:

  • women married to Japanese men;
  • women brought to Japan by bar owners and forced to service a debt;
  • women purchased by a money owner.

The third group constitutes the majority, and they are subject to strict control by the money owner. They may not choose their clients and they can be sold off when repayment of their debt is almost complete. The women then begin debt payment to a new money owner. Their only income is from tips; some money owners take even the tips. The money owner may threaten her life or the life of her parents in order to intimidate her into staying with the bar. Women in the first and second groups work until their debts are paid, and they can then leave or claim for themselves the income from the sex service they provide.

Before the customers arrive, the women clean and tidy the place. Then they must welcome and entertain the customers. If there is karaoke, they must learn to sing japanese songs. If a customer wants to take a woman off, he speaks to the madam. She has an address card which the woman can show to the taxi-driver for the return trip. The arrangement may be short-term or overnight; the price of the former is 10,000-15,000 yen (2,000-3,000 baht; about US$100) and the latter 30,000 yen. The fee is shared between the madam and the money owner.

If the client should complain about the service, the woman may be punished. If she refuses oral or anal sex, she may be scolded or beaten. If the woman is disobedient or tries to escape, she risks being beaten by

thugs working for the Yakuza [暴力団] (Japanese mafia). The Yakuza are heavily involved in the Japanese sex industry. The woman rarely receives medical treatment or any help in avoiding illness or pregnancy. Medical costs in Japan are very high, so some women arrange to have birth-control pills sent from Thailand. During the interviews we were told that Thai bar workers with HIV/AIDS or cancer of the cervix are sent back to Thailand. If a woman’s money owner incurs any medical costs, these will be added to the woman’s debt.

A woman must please both her customers and the money owner. She must earn a maximum in the shortest possible time. At times of economic boom in Japan a woman can repay her debt within three months, but in a recession it may take more than a year. The debt may also be arbitrarily increased. Food and living expenses are sometimes added. Working illegally in Japan makes them more vulnerable to the inhuman treatment and abuse. Some have assaulted their money owner or madam in an attempt to escape; but they run the risk of arrest for assault as well as illegal residence. A Thai woman who killed her boss to end her slavery-like situation in Japan — the Shimodate [下館] case - said:

Many women cried at night. Some had worked for more than five or six months, and were able to pay back only US$8,000. ... We were her slaves. Why did we let her treat us like animals? Even cattle, after hard work, have time to rest. When they fall sick, they get medical care. But we are human beings, we feel pain and misery like any other being.

Some women have become free by making a relationship with a member of the Yakuza. They may then become money owners themselves and buy other women. Some money owners have more than ten women under their control, and send them to bars in other cities. They travel between the cities to collect the money, which the bar owners keep for them."

[a.a.O., S. 62ff. -- Fair use]
"Tranquillisers are readily available, and are frequently used to dull the sense of shame and to ease the psychological pain of daily work.

We had to wear very revealing outfits, we had to allow customers to grab and fondle us, we had to sit in their laps. We feel guilty about problems we caused their families, because some married men become attached to us. We have no friends and we cry a lot. We are so lonesome. We drink, we take drugs to numb the pain. And the customers are free to do anything they like with us, because they have bought our time and our services."

[a.a.O., S. 69. -- Fair use]
"People may think we are stupid, selling our young bodies. We don’t think so. It is a struggle to stay alive. We cannot bear to see our parents suffer. They brought us up. They didn’t force us into it. And we have no other way of repaying them, because we have no good education and we don’t come from rich or influential families who can find decent jobs for us. Our young bodies are all we have to improve the family’s economic status. I don’t care what other people say. Maybe Bangkok people really think what we do is wrong. But none of us thinks so. It is our life and our future. Once we have made up our mind, we have to keep on telling ourselves it is okay to do it. (Rim Mon village)"

[a.a.O., S. 70. -- Fair use]
"The hardship is my daughter’s problem. I’m not affected by it in any way. That’s all right by me. Besides, children have a duty to repay their parents. They have to struggle, make a living, earn money. They shouldn’t remain idle. (Thiang of Khamwan village, near Ton Yang)"

[a.a.O., S. 71. -- Fair use]
"My mother never had a sarong [ผ้าขาวม้า ]. She wore only a ragged cloth. No one ever invited her to any village fair or feast. I once heard someone say she didn’t want to invite my mother because she was so dirty. I was very angry. I thought to myself, if and when I have enough money, I will buy her nice clothes to wear. Now that is what I’m doing. They have started inviting her to all kinds of social functions, weddings, house-warming parties. Before, we never really had any social life. Now people go out of their way to talk to us and treat us well. Suddenly, we are very much one of them. (Rim Mon)"

[a.a.O., S. 76. -- Fair use]
"One unanticipated outcome of the project was that recruitment agents and brokers were praised and congratulated by families who felt their daughters had been successful. This was the opposite of the response of those women whose stories featured in the videos and books. In Rim Mon in particular, from where there is a well-beaten path to overseas prostitution, there were many wealthy returned women. Their very presence was an eloquent denial of the message which the project was seeking to convey.

This job is not a mistake. Right now, money can save our lives, never mind our honour. Disparaging prostitution only makes villagers dissatisfied, especially the parents of the women in prostitution.

The researchers had to make clear the difference between trafficking and prostitution. Traffic, it was explained, was about coercing women into prostitution, or into any other work, denying them adequate wages and dignified working conditions."

[a.a.O., S. 91. -- Fair use]

1997

Es erscheint:

Kamala Tiyavanich [กมลา ติยะวนิช] <1948 - >: Forest recollections : wandering monks in twentieth-century Thailand. -- Honolulu : Univ. of Hawai’i Pr., 1997. -- ISBN 0824817818


Abb.: Einbandtitel

"Furthermore, Bangkok could not control the meuangs’ [เมือง] religious customs and practices. The kingdoms had different histories, literatures, languages, and religious customs. Substantially different forms of Buddhism existed among the Siamese in the Central Plains, the Lao [ລາວ] in the Northeast, the Yuan [ไทยวน] in the North, the Shan [တႆး] along the western border with the Shan states, the Khmer [ខ្មែរ] in the southern tier of the northeastern region along the Cambodian border, and the Mon [မောန်] scattered in the Central Plains and the northern region. Even within one principality, religious customs varied from one meuang to the next and from one village to the next.

For example, in the Lan Na kingdom [ล้านนา] there were as many as eighteen nikais [นิกาย] or lineages of Buddhist monks in Chiang Mai alone. 12 (The term "nikai" as used in Lan Na in those days referred to a community of monks adhering to common beliefs and disciplinary practices. )

In the Lao tradition in the Northeast, Buddhist customs varied among the Phuan [พวน], Lawa [ລະວ້າ], Song [ลาวโซ่ง], Phu Thai [ຜູ້ໄທ ], and Yau (or Yo).

Or again, in the Mon tradition the religious practices of the Mon in Lamphun [ลำพูน] differed from the customs followed by the Mon in Ratchaburi [ราชบุรี], Kanchanaburi [กาญจนบุรี], Pak Klet [Pak Kret - ปากเกร็ด], Pathum Thani [ปทุมธานี], Nonthaburi [นนทบุรี], or Samut Prakan [สมุทรปราการ].

Similarly, in the Yuan tradition, the Buddhist customs in Chiang Mai [เชียงใหม่], Chiang Rai [เชียงราย], Phayao [พะเยา], Lamphun [ลำพูน], Lampang [ลำปาง], Nan [น่าน], and Phrae [แพร่] all differed.

 Each of these Buddhist traditions was differently influenced by the many different forms of indigenous spirit worship and by the Mahayana and Tantric traditions that flourished prior to the fourteenth century."

Anm.12 (S. 303):

"These were the

  • Chiang Mai nikai [เชียงใหม่นิกาย],
  • Chiang Saen nikai [เชียงแสนนิกาย],
  • Nan nikai [น่านนิกาย],
  • Lawa nikai [ลั๊วะนิกาย],
  • Mon nikai [มอญนิกาย],
  • Yaung nikai,
  • Phrae nikai [แพร่นิกาย],
  • Ngiew nikai,
  • Mae Pala nikai,
  • Luang nikai [หลวงนิกาย], the
  • Khoen nikai,
  • etc.

See Sommai Premchit [สมหมาย เปรมจิตต์], A List of Old Temples and Religious Sects in Chiang Mai (Chiang Mai: Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Chiang Mai University, 1975).

The name of a nikai often indicated its origin. In the nikais bearing the names Man, Thai, Mon, and Lawa, for example, Man is an ajan’s name, while Thai, Mon, and Lawa are names of ethnic groups. Sommai Premchit, interview by author, 18 August 1995"

[Quelle: Kamala Tiyavanich [กมลา ติยะวนิช] <1948 - >: Forest recollections : wandering monks in twentieth-century Thailand. -- Honolulu : Univ. of Hawai’i Pr., 1997. -- ISBN 0824817818. -- S. 5. -- Faire use]

"A nikai [นิกาย] in Chiang Mai [เชียงใหม่] usage includes all monks who have had the same preceptor. Monks of different nikais and from different traditions often performed the religious ceremonies together. Under Bangkok’s influence, however, monks of the Thammayut order [ธรรมยุติกนิกาย] refused to perform group rituals with monks of other orders."

[Quelle: Kamala Tiyavanich [กมลา ติยะวนิช] <1948 - >: Forest recollections : wandering monks in twentieth-century Thailand. -- Honolulu : Univ. of Hawai’i Pr., 1997. -- ISBN 0824817818. -- S. 315, Anm. 102. -- Faire use]
"A Phu Thai [ภูไท] monk recalled how they used to celebrate Songkran [สงกรานต์] in his village in the Northeast:

[It did not matter] whether the monks (and novices) threw water at the laywomen first or the women initiated it. Once it started, there were no holds barred. The monks’ robes along with their requisites in the kutis [กุฏิ] were all soaked. The women would chase the monk if he retreated. Sometimes they caught only his robes.

If they caught a monk he could be tied to a post in the hut. In the midst of this chasing, sometimes the women’s clothes fell off. The monks always lost [the games] or gave in because they were outnumbered by the women. The laywomen really played to win.

After the game was over, a lay leader would escort the women, bearing gifts of flowers and incense sticks, to ask the monks’ forgiveness. This has always been the rule."

[Quelle: Kamala Tiyavanich [กมลา ติยะวนิช] <1948 - >: Forest recollections : wandering monks in twentieth-century Thailand. -- Honolulu : Univ. of Hawai’i Pr., 1997. -- ISBN 0824817818. -- S. 28. -- Faire use]
"Besides boat racing, monks and novices participated along with laypeople in drum beating (seng klaung) [เสียงกลอง], polo playing (ti khli) [ตีคลี], kickball (takrau) [ตะกร้อ], and chess (mak kruk) [หมากรุก]. 35 During a wake (ngan heuan di), Lao village monks in meuang Ubon [เมืองอุบล] might be seen playing chess or playing match games with women. In the Central Plains the Siamese had a similar custom. During a wake laypeople wanted the monks to stay around long after the funeral rites were performed. Monks who went to a wake usually did not get back to their wat [วัด] until after midnight.

People in villages and towns saw nothing wrong with monks participating in boat races, throwing water at women, or playing chess because they knew the monks and were in fact often their relatives. Many of the monks were sons of villagers who had been ordained at least temporarily, and their lay providers were their parents, aunts and uncles, or acquaintances. But for outsiders— sangha inspectors, Christian missionaries, and Western travelers —the regional monks’ behavior was, to say the least, questionable. "In many wats the monks do not behave properly, " is a typical remark of a sangha inspector. McCarthy puts it more strongly: "in view of the celibacy of the priesthood the circumstances tend to scandal. " Although sangha authorities forbade monks to follow these customs, in remote areas these practices persisted for several decades after the imposition of modern state Buddhism.

[Quelle: Kamala Tiyavanich [กมลา ติยะวนิช] <1948 - >: Forest recollections : wandering monks in twentieth-century Thailand. -- Honolulu : Univ. of Hawai’i Pr., 1997. -- ISBN 0824817818. -- S. 29. -- Faire use]


 

Abb.: Vicinities most suitable for thudong kammathan [ธุดงค์กรรมฐาน] practice. Solid circles are district centers:

  1. Loeng Noktha [เลิงนกทา];

  2. Khamcha-i [คำชะอี];

  3. Si Songkhram [ศรีสงคราม];

  4. Ban Phaeng [บ้านแพง];

  5. Phanna Nikhom [พรรณนานิคม];

  6. Sawang Daendin [สว่างแดนดิน];

  7. Naung Han [หนองหาน];

  8. Naung Bua Lamphu [หนองบัวลำภู];

  9. Na Klang [นากลาง];

  10. Wang Saphung [วังสะพุง];

  11. Beung Kan [บึงกาฬ];

  12. Phon Phisai [โพนพิสัย];

  13. Tha Bau [ท่าบ่อ];

  14. Si Chiangmai [ศรีเชียงใหม่];

  15. Phu Khao Khwai [ພູເຂົາຄວາຍ].

[Quelle: Kamala Tiyavanich [กมลา ติยะวนิช] <1948 - >: Forest recollections : wandering monks in twentieth-century Thailand. -- Honolulu : Univ. of Hawai’i Pr., 1997. -- ISBN 0824817818. -- S. 73. -- Faire use]
"The following dialogue between Juan [Juan Kulachettho (หลวงปู่จวน กุลเชฏฺโฐ, 1920 - 1980)] and a border patrol agent suggests that the thudong monk [ธุดงค์] was probably saved by his wits:

"What’s a communist like?" Juan asked the policeman who was probing him for possible pro-communist sentiments.
"Among communists there is no religion, no suffering, no rich people. Everyone is equal. No private property. Only communal property," replied the policeman.

"What kind of clothes do they wear? What do they eat? Do they have a wife and children?" asked the monk.
"Yes, they have a family. They eat normal food. They wear shirts and trousers like villagers."

"How often do they eat?" Juan asked.
"Three times a day."

"Do they shave their heads?"
"No."

"So," Juan concluded, "If a communist has a wife and children, wears a shirt and trousers, eats three meals a day, does not shave his head, and carries a weapon, then how can I, who have neither a wife nor children, eat once a day, shave my head, wear robes and carry no weapon be a communist?"

[Quelle: Kamala Tiyavanich [กมลา ติยะวนิช] <1948 - >: Forest recollections : wandering monks in twentieth-century Thailand. -- Honolulu : Univ. of Hawai’i Pr., 1997. -- ISBN 0824817818. -- S. 233. -- Faire use]
"As one Mahanikai [มหานิกาย] abbot in Isan [อีสาน] remarked,

"Although in public Thammayut monks [ธรรมยุติกนิกาย] do not touch money, privately if they catch a temple boy spending their money they often beat him severely. In a similar situation, the Mahanikai abbot, who is outwardly less strict since he may handle money, will not punish the temple boy so harshly."

Phra Kittiyansophon [กิตติญาณโสภณ] (b. 1927), abbot of Wat Maha Wanaram [วัดมหาวนาราม], Ubon Ratchathani [อุบลราชธานี], interview by author, 6 June 1989."

[Quelle: Kamala Tiyavanich [กมลา ติยะวนิช] <1948 - >: Forest recollections : wandering monks in twentieth-century Thailand. -- Honolulu : Univ. of Hawai’i Pr., 1997. -- ISBN 0824817818. -- S. 349, Anm. 46. -- Faire use]
"Sathianphong [เสฐียรพงษ์ ], an ex-monk and Pali scholar, points out that in the years following World War II a large portion of the Thai sangha consisted of monks who were using it to fulfill their personal ambitions. He is critical of how the Thai sangha changed during these three decades (1946-1971), noting that high-level monks, who held teaching and writing in low esteem, would rather confer honorific titles (samanasak) [สมณศักดิ์] on monks involved with construction.

"Nowadays," he tells us, "the monks are losing their important function as spiritual leaders. They have become the followers of lay society, which is preoccupied with status and is greedy for power, prestige, and wealth. ... Some unworthy monks were awarded honorific titles because they were the favorites of influential sangha authorities. Apart from these privileged monks, priority is given to [those who have the] ability to promote the construction of ordination halls or preaching halls. It has become common practice for a monk who has built an ordination hall to be given a preceptor position, and building a preaching hall can be exchanged for a Phra Khru [พระครู] title."

Maha Sathianphong, "Phra song thai nai raup 25 pi" [Thai sangha over 25 years], Sangkhomsat parithat 9, no. 6 (December 1971): 22-23, quoted in Somboon, Buddhism and Politics in Thailand, 24. Sathianphong, a parian 9 [เปรียญ]  monk, left the monastic life and is now teaching at Sinlapakhon University [มหาวิทยาลัยศิลปากร]."

[Quelle: Kamala Tiyavanich [กมลา ติยะวนิช] <1948 - >: Forest recollections : wandering monks in twentieth-century Thailand. -- Honolulu : Univ. of Hawai’i Pr., 1997. -- ISBN 0824817818. -- S. 367, Anm. 43. -- Faire use]

1997

Es erscheint:

Chob Kacha-Ananda: Thailand Yao : past, present, and future. -- Tokyo : Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, 1997. -- 333 S. ; 26 cm. -- Zugl. Diss.

1997

Es erscheint:

Fellows, Warren <1953 - >: The damage done. -- Sydney : Macmillan, 1997. -- 192 S.


Abb.: Einbandtitel

"Warren Fellows (13 September 1953) is a former Australian drug courier who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Thailand in 1978 for his role in a heroin trafficking operation that took place from Perth to Bangkok. In his best-selling book The Damage Done, Fellows describes the violence and harsh conditions he experienced in Thailand prisons.

Biography

Early life

Fellows was born in Sydney, Australia. His father Bill Fellows, was a champion jockey and horse trainer who won the 1949 Melbourne Cup on Foxzami. He was the youngest of three children, but his two-year-old sister Gail, died in 1950 from a "bowel complication". His older brother Gary died when he was 36 years old. Gary was living with his wife Carole and two sons Brett and Rodney. He also had a daughter Kimberly.[1] Fellows was educated at De La Salle College, a Catholic school for boys in Ashfield, New South Wales. Fellows claims he was nearly expelled from the school when he was caught running a horse betting operation from his school desk.[2] Warren "left" De La Salle College and went to Randwick North High School.

Drug trafficking

Fellows worked in various jobs, including as a barman and an apprentice hairdresser in Double Bay. It was through his bar work that he first became involved with drug trafficking, successfully importing hash from India with a friend. On his return to Australia he married and had a child. Word got out about the successful drug run and a customer in the bar where Fellows worked employed him to travel to Los Angeles, Hawaii and South America to smuggle cocaine into Australia. Fellows came to know drug dealer William Sinclair, who took him to Bangkok, Thailand where he was introduced to Neddy Smith and made his first successful attempt at smuggling heroin into Australia.

After returning to Australia, Neddy Smith who was impressed with his smuggling skills, contacted Fellows and offered him a job. Smith did not have the notoriety he had later, but was already a major and feared figure in the Sydney criminal world. Fellows claims he became involved with Smith because he was "young and impressionable" and flattered that he "was liked by a man most people were terrified of".[3] Fellows worked for Smith as a drug courier, domestically and internationally.

Thailand

In October 1978, Smith instructed Fellows to again travel to Bangkok, this time in the company of Smith's brother-in-law Paul Hayward (1954–1992). Hayward played professional rugby league with the Newtown Jets and had been selected to represent Australia as a boxer at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Hayward had done "favours" for Smith, but this was his first international job. [4] Fellows and Hayward became best friends. Prior to leaving Australia, Fellows was tipped off by a friend with a police contact at Manly, that the Commonwealth Police believed he was involved in a large drug importation operation and had him under surveillance. Fellows reported this to Smith who dismissed it, claiming that he would have been informed if it were true. Smith insisted they continue with the job.

Hayward and Fellows became increasingly apprehensive, but after Smith lost his patience with them and made implied threats, they reluctantly agreed to go through with the trip.[5] Fellows was particularly anxious about returning to Bangkok. During his last trip in February 1978, he had been forced to abandon a package of heroin he had been attempting to ship back to Australia and he feared that Thai police may have found it and been able to trace the drugs back to him. So Fellows procured a false passport through a friend, in the name of a deceased child Gregory Hastings Barker. Smith later said that Fellows got done because he booked his flight using Smith's telephone. Although Fellows says he cant remember whether he booked it with Smiths phone or not.

On arriving in Thailand, Fellows and Hayward met William Sinclair by chance. Sinclair now lived in Bangkok and owned the Texas Bar. Sinclair took them to his bar, and in a drunken state, attempted to obtain information from them about their trip. Unbeknown to them, the trio were under surveillance and the meeting appeared to police to incriminate Sinclair, even though according to Fellows, he was not involved. Fellows claims that there were many warning signs and that the night before they were arrested he had a "moment of clarity" and resolved to wash the heroin down the bath drain. But he fell asleep and was woken in the morning by police.[6]

Arrest

On 11 October 1978, the rooms occupied by Fellows and Hayward at the Montien Hotel in Bangkok were raided by Thai police. The pair were arrested when 8.5 kilograms of heroin was found in a suitcase in Hayward's room.[7] Fellows alleges they were subjected to physical and psychological abuse at the hands of Thai Narcotics Suppression Unit officers who demanded they sign statements which they could not read because they were written in Thai. The officers demanded Fellows and Hayward make statements incriminating Sinclair. Fellows claims they resisted because Sinclair was innocent, but he eventually relented when officers informed them they were to be executed without trial under Article 27 of the military law and dragged Hayward outside for execution.[8] Fellows and Hayward agreed to sign the statement and Sinclair was arrested and charged.

The three men were sent to Bambat remand centre at Klong Prem Central Prison (คลองเปรม), but after plotting an escape attempt were moved to "Maha Chai" the Special Bangkok Metropolitan Prison on Maha Chai Road (now the Bangkok Corrections Museum). They spent three years in Maha Chai before they were convicted of heroin trafficking. Sinclair and Fellows were sentenced to life imprisonment and Hayward was sentenced to 30 years jail. They were sent to the Lard Yao prison but after five days there when Sinclair attempted to bribe the wrong guard, they were transferred to Bangkwang (บางขวาง). Two years later, Sinclair's conviction was overturned on appeal in 1983. Hayward was later returned to Lard Yao, and later received a royal pardon and was released from Lard Yao on 7 April 1989. Fellows received a royal pardon and was released from Bangkwang on 11 January 1990.

Whilst imprisoned in Thailand, Fellows attempted suicide several times, one he recalls was when he was locked into a darkroom he wrapped a sarong around his neck and tied it to a hook on the ceiling, however he claimed as he felt his bowels fall the sarong snapped causing him to fall, saving him. Fellows became addicted to heroin. He claimed that heroin was easily available in Thai jails and was the only form of escape from the appalling conditions. In his autobiography The Damage Done, he expressed great sympathy for those afflicted by addiction to drugs. He writes that it was "an outstanding case of poetic justice" that he should become addicted himself.[9]

Return to Australia

On his return to Australia, he spent two weeks in a hospital being treated for malnutrition and pneumonia. He expressed concern regarding his and Paul Hayward's ability to adapt back into society, an issue which he claims played a part in Hayward's death in 1992 from a heroin overdose. Fellows explains how he still has hallucinations of strange abnormal creatures hovering over him and watching him. Furthermore Fellows claims that he has the same nightmare once a month, regarding him lying on a beach with two beautiful women feeling free and happy, however as he begins to walk off into the sunset he turns around and notices that the two girls have disappeared and that he is back in the Thailand Prison where a guard is calling his name telling him to go in his cell. Fellows says that although he is released from Bangkwang he will never be free from the tortures in his mind. In the late 2000s, Fellows commented in the media on the cases of the Bali Nine and Shapelle Corby.

Popular culture

Sheffield four-piece band Harrisons penned a song entitled Simmer Away after reading The Damage Done."

[Quelle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Fellows. -- Zugriff am 2012-06-15]

1997

Es erscheint

Vatcharin Bhumichitr [วัชรินทร์ ภูมิจิตร]: Vatch's Southeast Asian cookbook. -- 1st U.S. ed. -- New York : St. Martin's, 1997. -- 192 S. : Ill. ; 29 cm. -- ISBN 0312182740


Abb.: Umschlagtitel

Darin folgende Beschreibung Nordostthailands:

"As for the Northeast, that was definitely a closed book. Indeed everyone In Bangkok did their best to avoid going there. Issan [อีสาน], as we call that huge region, was a notorious punishment post for civil servants and soldiers, a strange forbidding place of droughts and floods, of famine and neglect. Its people were not Thai as we were, but Lao, ethnically the same as the people living across the Mekong in the neighbouring Kingdom of Laos, as it then was. Of course, we knew what the Issan people were like, as thousands of them were obliged to migrate south in search of work, but their food was a rare pleasure only occasionally found on food stalls in Bangkok. Some years back an Issan woman set up a stall In our soi, or lane, offering what we always called Issan chicken, which was a half chicken, flattened out, marinated and barbecued, and often served with som tam, the highly charged, chilli-strong salad of grated raw papaya flavoured with chilli, fish sauce and ground peanuts, that was the one Issan dish you could find everywhere. What I didn’t know at the time was that this fiery flavour was typical of a region where any food product was usually in short supply. With little meat and few vegetables, what there was needed to be highly spiced in order to help consume lots of rice - again sticky rice - in order to feed a family with limited resources. This meagre regime had to be augmented with whatever was available: frogs and insects - anything nutritious in fact."

[Quelle: a.a.O., S. 25]

1997

Es erscheint

Thailand. -- New York : DK, 1997. -- (Eyewitness travel guides). -- ISSN 1549-8875


Abb.: Einbandtitel

1997

Erstes The Thai Short Film and Video Festival (เทศกาลภาพยนตร์สั้น).

Der Film

คนกราบหมา = My Teacher Eats Biscuits / von อิ๋ง เค [= สมานรัชฎ์ "อิ๋ง" กาญจนะวณิชย์] [Ing Kanjanavanit] <1959 - >

sollte zur Aufführung kommen, wird aber wegen seiner Satire über Religion und Mönche verboten.

"There is another film that Ing K [อิ๋ง เค] has made, a film so controversial that it has been ‘disappeared’ from history. It’s called, in Thai, Khon graab maa [คนกราบหมา], which literally translates as ‘man prostrates to dog’; though the official English title is My Teacher Eats Biscuits. The film has been described as an insult to Buddhism, an insult to all religions in Thailand, in fact. And it’s been accused of social depravity.

Khon graab maa was meant to be screened at the 1st Bangkok Film Festival in 1997, but after an anonymous complaint was mysteriously faxed to the police an investigation took place resulting in the banning of the film.

Ing K went to parliament to defend her rights and to clarify her artistic intention, but she was severely attacked with various allegations. In the end she decided to stop fighting for the film to be shown and, for a while, turned her back on filmmaking. Instead, she threw herself into environmental campaigning, most notably the protest campaign highlighting the environmental havoc caused to Maya Bay [อ่าวมาหยา], Krabi province [กระบี่], by the shooting of Danny Boyle’s [1956 - ] The Beach [2000] in the area.

Since only a handful of people have had the chance to see My Teacher Eats Biscuits, the accusation about the film’s so-called depravity has come to be taken as accurate. The fact that Ing K is a straight-talking woman who refuses to bend to the creaking conservatism of Thai society also encouraged people to believe the worst – they imagined the film to be very aggressive and violent. Twelve years after this debacle, I finally had the chance to see the film for myself. I now realise that to call My Teacher Eats Biscuits a dangerous, depraved film, is the equivalent of the Thai government accusing Pink Flamingos [1972] of national treachery, or of clinging to the logic that the films of Paul Morrissey [1938 - ] have the power to destroy religion. That’s because My Teacher Eats Biscuits is a 'cult' film in the spirit of John Waters [1946 - ]. It’s low-budget, stars friends of the filmmaker, and is shot in the back of somebody’s house. The resulting film is one that had myself and a group of friends helplessly laughing every five minutes when we finally got to see it.

The film is about a man (played by the Eurasian Krisada Sukosol [กฤษดา สุโกศล แคลปป์, 1970 - ], who's since become a famous rock star and actor) who hopes to win back his estranged wife. He and a farang [ฝรั่ง] friend disguise themselves in order to go join a strange sect that his wife belongs to. The people in this sect dress in white, live in the same ashram, and worship a sacred dog (a particularly cute dog as it turns out). They eat dog food and dog shit, and imitate the movement of dogs. The inhabitants of this ashram are both Thais and farang. The leader, who acts as a kind of right hand person to the sacred dog, is a beautiful woman played by Ing K herself. There’s also a sub-plot involving a necrophiliac monk who claims that having sex with corpses is a form of education in dharma, and in any case there is nothing sinful about such intercourse with the dead since the corpses happen to be male!

The film is shot on 16mm with 70% of the dialogue spoken in English. Despite the low budget, production quality is actually very impressive. Khon graab maa makes serious fun of the superstitiousness that has long taken root in Thai society. Thais are no longer clear whether Buddhism or animism constitute the national religion. Ing K makes precisely this point, while adding another layer, which is the exoticism of Buddhism as a kind of rehab center for Westerners. (Though there is more to it than that. In the film Westerners are investors in the ashram but the picture isn’t one in which Thais are deceiving Westerners. Thais and Westerners are co-operating with each other in order to pull a fast one on Thais and Westerners alike.)

What lifts Khon graab maa above the usual satirical cult movie is its climax: a monologue by Ing K herself on the benefits of deception. All members of the sect are well aware that the ‘sacred dog’ is a nonsensical conceit, yet all are willing to remain within this fictitious world. On this point the film is comparable to the social parables of Satyajit Ray [সত্যজিত্‍ রায়, 1921 - 1992]."

[Quelle: Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn [ไกรวุฒิ จุลพงศธร]: Film Review: My Teacher Eats Biscuits. --  https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0I4yyxCfUltWjEtS3ZwQjh6Y3M/edit. -- Zugriff am 2016-02-02. -- Fair use]

1997

Gründung der Rockband Big Ass (บิ๊กแอส)

Die Gruppe auf Spotify:
URI: spotify:artist:5L2o51nU05NXqjsueisFpU
URL: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5L2o51nU05NXqjsueisFpU

"Big Ass (Thai: บิ๊กแอส) ist eine thailändische Rockband aus Bangkok.

Bandgeschichte

Die Band wurde 1997 in Bangkok gegründet und brachte ihr erstes Album No World noch im selben Jahr heraus. Auf den Namen „Big Ass“ kam man, als man nach einem Namen suchte, welcher markant und ungewöhnlich sein sollte. Man schaute sich um und blickte auf einen Arsch. Da dieser etwas „Handfestes und Robustes“ darstelle – eben Rock-Musik – man aber nicht nur einen normalen Arsch wollte, entstand daraus der Name „Big Ass“ (deutsch etwa: „Großer Arsch“).[1] Mit dem vierten Album Seven kam dann auch das Bandlogo von „Big Ass“ dazu. Der achte Titel des Albums ist dann auch dem Bandlogo gewidmet, er trägt anstelle des Songtitels das neue Bandlogo.

Im Jahr 2000 erschien mit XL das zweite Album der Band, 2003 folgte My World. Für das vierte Album, Seven, wechselte die Band vom Label Muci Bugs zum größten thailändischen Label, GMM Grammy. Der Song Khon Mai Ao Than (คนไม่เอาถ่าน) verhalf der Band zum Durchbruch in Thailand. Die zuletzt veröffentlichte Single Yang Noi (อย่างน้อย) stammt aus dem Soundtrack zum Film Pid Term Yai Hua Jai Wa Wun (ปิดเทอมใหญ่ หัวใจว้าวุ่น, 2008).

Stil

Die Band spielt überwiegend melodischen Rock, auf den neueren Alben sind jedoch auch Einflüsse von Nu Metal, Metalcore und Power Metal zu hören.

In den Schlagzeilen

„Dax“ Ekarat Wongcharat (เอกรัตน์ วงศ์ฉลาด - แด็ก) machte Schlagzeilen, als ein 17 Jahre altes Model 2006 behauptete, dass er der Vater ihres Babys sei. Angeblich hatten sie Sex, als sie 16 Jahre alt war. Dax wurde zunächst festgenommen, jedoch kurze Zeit später wieder auf Kaution freigelassen. Nach einer DNA-Probe konnte festgestellt werden, dass er nicht der Vater des Kindes ist. Er wurde dennoch verurteilt wegen Sex mit Minderjährigen. Er bekam ein vermindertes Strafmaß und musste sich verpflichten, zwei Anti-Drogen-Lieder zu schreiben oder zu produzieren."

[Quelle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ass. -- Zugriff am 2013-04-08]

1997

SEAwritelogo.png

Win Lyovarin (วินทร์ เลียววาริณ, 1956 - ) erhält den Southeast Asian Writers Award für den Roman ประชาธิปไตยบนเส้นขนาน (Democracy, Shaken and Stirred)


Abb.: Einbandtitel einer der Ausgaben

1997

Bangkok: Eröffnung des ersten Coffee World.


Abb.: Coffee World, Bangkok, 2010
[Bildquelle: James Cridland. -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamescridland/4309444808/. -- Zugriff am 2013-04-21. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung)]

"Coffee World is a premium specialty coffeehouse that provides a wide range of hot and iced coffee as well as ice-blended beverages, waffles, wraps and signature deserts in hundreds of outlets scattered across India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, China, and Sudan.[1]

Coffee World is a brand of Global Franchise Architects (GFA), a Geneva Switzerland-based company that builds, operates, and franchises a select portfolio of specialty food service brands. GFA is part of the Synergia One Group of Companies; a diversified group that consists of companies founded by serial entrepreneur Fred Mouawad and includes the 122-year-old family jewelry business Mouawad.

Coffee World currently has two formats: the original Coffee World shops and the Coffee World Restaurant which offers full table service and a menu of over 100 items featuring local, international, and Asian-fusion cuisine.

All Coffee World stores and Coffee World Restaurants are designed by Itorama[2] and built by Interbuild Solutions,[3] two companies that are part of the Synergia One Group."

[Quelle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_World. -- Zugriff am 2013-04-21]

1997

Eröffnung des EFEO (Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient) Center im Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre (ศูนย์มานุษยวิทยาสิรินธร) in Bangkok.

1997

Sieger in der Thai Premier League (ไทยพรีเมียร์ลีก) (Fußball): Air Force United F. C. (แอร์ฟอร์ซ ยูไนเต็ด)


Abb.: ®Logo
[Bildquelle: Wikipedia]

1997

Architekt Vittvat Charoenpong (วิทวัชช์ เจริญพงศ์): Fertigstellung des Hauses

1997

Architekt Vira Inpuntung (วีระ อินพันทัง) (1953 - ): Fertigstellung des Hauses

1997

Architektin Kanika Ratanapridakul (กรรณิการ์ รัตนปรีดากุล): Fertigstellung des Hauses

1997

Architekt Chana Sumpalung (ชนะ สัมพลัง) von A49: Fertigstellung des Hauses

1997

Briefmarken:

1997

Singapur: Premiere des Musicals Chang & Eng. Es wird zum Musical mit der längsten Laufzeit in Singapur.

"Chang & Eng is a Singaporean musical theatre production directed by Ekachai Uekrongtham (เอกชัย เอื้อครองธรรม / 吕翼谋) based on the lives of the Siamese twins, Chang and Eng Bunker (昌/ จัน and 恩 / อิน) . The music and lyrics were by Ken Low, with the book by Ming Wong, costumes by Niphon Tuntiyothin, set design by Thoranisorn Pitikul, lighting by Thio Lay Hoon, orchestral arrangement by Iskandar Ismail and choral direction by Babes Condes. The musical was first performed in 1997, rerun in subsequent years until 2002 and has since travelled around Asia. Performers such as RJ Rosales (1194 - 2011), Robin Goh and Edmund Toh have been cast as Chang and Eng, and writer-composer Ken Low has a cameo as the King of Siam in some productions.

Chang and Eng also became the first English Language Musical to be ever performed in the People's Republic of China between 9th - 11 December 1997 at the Century Theatre, Beijing.

The musical focuses on the lives of Chang and Eng, from their troubled childhood, seen as outcasts by children in Siam but reassured by their mother Nok, to their journey to New York as exhibits managed by Captain Abel Coffin and their settling down with Adelaide and Sallie Yates in North Carolina."

[Quelle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang_%26_Eng. -- Zugriff am 2015-03-31]

Verwendete Ressourcen

ausführlich: http://www.payer.de/thailandchronik/ressourcen.htm

Zu Chronik 1997 / B. E. 2540. -- 2. datiert (Januar bis Dezember)