In an interview given just a few days after becoming Prime Minister, Samak Sundaravej told CNN news that only 1 person died as a result of the violent suppression of students at Thammasaat University on 6 October 1976. This was in direct contradiction to his own statement in his capacity of Interior Minister in 1977, when he told Thai students in France that 48 people had died (Manager online news, 12 Feb 2008). Many questions were raised by this interview: what is Mr Samak’s motive for lowering the number of dead to just 1 person? Is he attempting to reduce that terrible massacre to a petty accident? Is he implying that it was not nearly as bloody and significant as has been portrayed in the news and perceived by the public for over 30 years? If Mr Samak really believes that he had no hand in this event, why did he lie about the number of the dead? I happened to meet Mr Pol Polpanadharm of the Sai Tarn Prachatipataya (“Wellspring of Democracy”) Foundation, who brought forward pictures that some well-meaning person had photocopied and leaked to him from the Attorney-General’s secret files, to display at a press conference held to protest Prime Minister Samak’s statement, thereby confirming to the media that more than 1 person had died. Our own cruelty, I think, is the vital component that is absent from our society’s discussion of Thai history. We shouldn’t be content to see ourselves only as compassionate and kind. To better our understanding of ourselves, we should also have the courage to confront and examine our dark and hideous side. This is why I wanted to bring back these portraits of the people who sacrificed their lives in the events of 6 October’76, to show to viewers who may or may not have seen them. I selected 36 out of 42 faces of our October 6 martyrs, (of the rest, 2 pictures were unusable and 4 of them in one picture were burned to ashes). Most were the faces of young men and women, just a few years older than I was then. How fortunate that, on that dark day, some anonymous ethical policeman had foreseen the vital importance of the preservation of such evidence, even though it would have been easy to overlook forensics during a time of utter chaos. Every corpse was accompanied by a label identifying each one as Anonymous Male/Female, and the cause of death. I enlarged the pictures and immersed each one in a developing tray filled with fresh blood. Slowly, the picture would float up toward the surface of the blood. I watched as the faces of the martyrs gradually emerged from the red depths, as if their souls were entering the pictures, bringing them back to life. Like inky monsoon clouds refusing to disperse, the blood did not clear away completely and parts of their faces remained in shadow. Before pressing the shutter, I raised my hands to pay respect, praying to each one: if there is something you want to say to the people of today, please manifest your message through my work and I will be your channel. One young woman, who could’ve been my older sister, reddened her eyes deeply as if in response, an unforgettable image that will forever stay with me.
Manit Sriwanichpoom
24 June 2008

Safari 2005