I quit the CDC and NRC because I don’t believe the things they are trying to do will solve any problems, including the main issue I’ve been trying to push—for women to account for at least one-third of local political bodies.
I’m not a feminist. I just believe that women’s eye for detail and caring instincts will help create a more balanced society. If you don’t let women make decisions alongside men, then where is the balance?
Thai politics is designed by men for men. It’s all an illusion that women have the same rights. If you go beyond the city to rural areas, you will see that the control of men is immense.
I grew up in an era when people didn’t know their rights. We didn’t know that our government decided everything for us.
My dad was head of our village in the Takuapa district of Phang-nga. He got shot dead for reporting smuggling that was taking place in a local tin mine. We have no idea who did it.
I studied to become a teacher. It was the only profession I knew I could do. I wasn’t that smart so I couldn’t study to become a doctor, and I wasn’t rich either, so teacher’s college seemed like the right decision. From 1973-79 I worked as a teacher at a school in Southern Thailand, but was kicked out for leading a protest against the administration.
The unjust removal of Dr. Thawat Makarapong from his position as governor of Phang-nga province incited me to confront the authorities. Locals in Takuapa knew he was being removed because he was honest and couldn’t be corrupted. He didn’t bow to the money of the mining company and its bribes for concessions.
My friend and I secretly printed out leaflets opposing his removal, then sneaked out in the middle of the night and posted them everywhere around town in 1975. It created a sensation—many people thought the same but were too scared to speak out.
Because of those leaflets, a group of men reached out to me claiming that a great local bandit named Sue Khin, dubbed the Robin Hood in Takuapa, wanted to meet me. They took me into the woods where I did meet him. He later provided financial support when I led a mob of thousands of people to the governor’s house in Hang-Nga to protest the removal.
I actually got abducted by a group of men who offered me a suitcase full of money to dispel the protest. But I refused. It ended in tragedy when we were quashed by the armed forces and dozens of people died. I later ran away to Bangkok and Nakhon Si Thammarat.
My goal in Bangkok was to find a job where I could help people. I became involved with the Holt Sahathai Foundation in 1979, working closely with children and young mothers not ready to raise kids. We helped find families for newborn babies who couldn’t stay with their parents. I’ve been working with the foundation ever since, and also work with Ban Kanchanapisek [a juvenile vocational training center for young offenders].
We have to believe 100-percent that no one is born bad. Some people become victims of our society. If you understand the social problems, then you will understand how some youths end up making mistakes.
I always tell new members of the center that we want to apologize, and thank them for accepting their guilt and trying to improve themselves. It’s our duty to bring back their good side and give a decent person back to society.
Many of these kids go on to lead successful lives. One is the national head salesperson at a leading insurance company, another has joined the UN peace force and now works in Sudan.
When you criticize and judge someone, then they will start believing they are bad. Look at some media reporting like Sorayut Suthasanajinda, the Channel 3 anchor. He always creates added drama that does nothing to educate or inform people. Does he know what the people he’s judging have faced prior to their crimes?
Change in this world can’t happen easily. It takes someone who’s stubborn to negotiate and drive change.
I’m proud that I have triggered debate. If I just kept working on the NRC and CDC and stayed silent just to get paid, then how could I respect myself?
