Southeast Asia Center
Wednesday November 8, 2006
3:30-5:00pm
Thomson Hall, Room 317
Abstract
On the night of March 21st, 2006, a 27 year old man, Thanakorn Pakdeepol, took a hammer and smashed the image of the Hindu deity Brahma – whom the Thai call Thao Maha Phrom – near the Erawan hotel in Bangkok. The destruction took place just before the political crisis centering on Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister, reached a climax – the subsequently discredited election of April 2, 2006. Because the shrine has long been the most significant non-Buddhist shrine in Bangkok, its destruction immediately led both anti- and pro-Thaksin supporters to interpret the act as an omen. In this paper I use the story of the destruction of the Erawan shrine, which I believe can be seen as a watershed event in the crisis surrounding Thaksin. It also is part of a story of power and the occult which culminated in the coup of September 19, 2006 (or, in Thai, 19/09/2549).