Blame The Demon

Exorcizing Thaksin? Why doesn’t the Thai government relocate demons. As irrationality is not uncommon around here. Black magic, demons, the power of Phra Rahu – if you’re familiar with Thailand you’re familiar with the powers that be. They are very real. Which is why twelve “demon statues” at bad-lucked Suvarnabhumi airport believed to have brought bad luck to shopkeepers will be moved. At a cost of one million baht. Why? Suvarnabhumi wanted to become a world’s top ten airport. It is not.

Which is why the guardian spirit statues have to be shifted from the inner zone of the passenger terminal to “improve morale” of people working at the airport, reports the Bangkok Post. Nope, that’s not Not The Nation and neither The Onion, but the honorable Post, reporting that Airports of Thailand (AoT) president Serirat Prasutanond performed in person a Brahmin ritual in the airport terminal before the relocation of the twelve yaksa.

Weren’t baggage handlers at Thailand’s main airport already forced to wear uniforms with pockets sewn to prevent pilfering?! Not to mention the King Power saga that subverted an entire legal system. Police no longer extort tourists and sewn pockets, those and other measures assure an image makeover to put a scandal-plagued past behind – and the morale does not improve? Blame the demons.

The Post goes on, the decision to relocate the statues had partly resulted from complaints from staff working in the inner zone which has many shops. The shopkeepers are blaming the demon statues for the problems they have faced at the airport, which was seized late last year by demonstrators and supporters of the People’s Alliance for Democracy.

An AoT source said the airport had planned to move the statues to stand guard at the gates of the terminal but a Brahmin had warned the statues should not be placed there because they were the models of those at the Grand Palace and represented highly ranked demons.

The AoT decided to move the statues to face a showcase of the Buddha’s relics at Gate 5 on the fourth floor.

Bad bad demons. Why blaming corruption, greed or incompetence – even though, as a Martin R. considers in Post Bag, the problems

could at least partly be due to negative widespread reports of (shopkeepers’) customers being accused, falsely or otherwise, of shoplifting, then being ripped off by the concerned authorities; the ever prolific rogue taxi operators; the annoying gangs of unofficial tour guide touts; and, last but not least, the slow and surly service of the immigration officers whose attitude is enough to put off any passenger from shopping.

Instead of blaming fellow airport workers for misfortunes, those inanimate objects give the tedious blame game so much more profundity.

Must confess, who doesn’t adore this pragmatic approach.

Wait, there’s an even easer solution. Some astrologers are warning shifting the statues to a new location could bring more bad luck, reports the BBC. They have suggested a safer option could be to turn them to face a different direction.

Out of sight, out of mind. Conflict resolution à la Thai.

Maybe not too sustainable, but hey, it was the demon, not me.

Thanks for the heads-up ThaiCrisis





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Comments

2 Responses to “Blame The Demon”

  1. Insanity+ on November 12th, 2009 2.30 am

    If you are looking for an intelligent blog with a touch of satire look no further than ThaiCrisis.

    http://thaicrisis.wordpress.com/

  2. David Brown on November 12th, 2009 12.04 pm

    Perhaps King Power just want more space to make money and the statues were in the way?

    So they made up some fancy stories to conceal their motive …

    Or is that just a crass greedy Western capitalist interpretation?

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