Thailand's old community
A community swept away
Writers: Pratch Rujivanarom, Visarut Sankham
The Nation September 28, 2015
Homes has already been razed in the Wat Kalayanamitr community. Nation/Visarut Sankham
The 190-year-old-Wat Kalayanamitr community is to be emptied in the next few weeks, some 200 residents evicted on the basis of a Supreme Court ruling. Nation/Visarut Sankham
The 190-year-old-Wat Kalayanamitr community is to be emptied in the next few weeks, some 200 residents evicted on the basis of a Supreme Court ruling. Nation/Visarut Sankham
The 200 souls living around Bangkok's Wat Kalayanamitr have been told to get out - the temple wants its land back
A 190-year-old Bangkok community is to be emptied in the next few weeks, some 200 residents evicted on the basis of a Supreme Court ruling. The court has agreed that the abbot of Wat Kalayanamitr has the right to clear the vicinity for alternative development, notwithstanding the fact that the community is almost as old as the settlement of Rattanakosin Island itself.
While the abbot was unavailable to comment on the matter for this story, a senior monk at Wat Kalayanamitr says the land, ironically enough, will be developed as a "communal history learning centre". While holding out hope for a temporary reprieve, most residents have already begun packing their belongings. They ask their neighbours where they're going next. Worry pervades the neighbourhood that's been their home and workplace all their lives.
"I'm very sad to be leaving," says an elderly woman known as Aunt Toi. "My family still doesn't know where to go. We really don't want to leave." Toi didn't want to give her full name, saying temple officials had warned residents not to speak to the press or else they'd be forced out even sooner. But she said she'd lived in the area for more than 60 years, in a house passed down through three generations.
Located at the mouth of Bangkok Yai Canal, the Wat Kalayanamitr community began as an important depot for agricultural goods brought in by boat from Nakhon Pathom, Ratchaburi, Samut Songkhram and other provinces. From there the produce was taken across the Chao Phraya River to the Pak Klong Market.
Most of the residents today are descendants of those original merchants. For more than a century they've lived in harmony with adjoining communities where ethnic Chinese and Christians predominate.
Borvornvate Rungrujee, director of the government's Fine Arts Department, explains that the community took shape about the same time the temple was built in 1825. Wat Kalayanamitr was established by Chao Phraya Nikorn Badin and presented to King Rama III. The king allocated adjacent land for his subjects to erect homes and the tenants have ever since paid a modest rent to the temple.
These days the temple can do without that modicum of financial support, and its officials now regard the community as an obstacle to its development. Borvornvate sympathises with the residents over their predicament, but points out that the court's say is final.
"I can do nothing for the community because the land legally belongs to the temple and the ruling was in favour of the temple. What I can do is tell people about the bond between the community and the temple that existed in the past," he says.
The dispute that led to the Supreme Court dates back 12 years. When Phra Phrakob Thammasetho was appointed abbot in March 2003, he initiated a policy of demolishing dilapidated buildings, some a century old, to make way for new structures.
The residents were infuriated at the destruction of historic heritage and brought their complaint to the Fine Arts Department. Of the 80 buildings in the neighbourhood registered as historic, 22 have been razed in what was seen as possible violations of the Ancient Monuments Act. The department filed suit, naming temple officials, and they countersued to have the entire community evacuated in preparation for redevelopment. In separate decisions last year and earlier this year, the Supreme Court sided with the temple.
The residents have been told to move out by the end of October. Despite the short notice, they have no choice but to obey. The hardships facing many of them are daunting, especially for those with jobs nearby and with children attending the temple school.
Aunt Toi says the community is negotiating with temple officials - "out of desperation" - to extend the eviction deadline by three months, or by six months, when the current school year ends. It would give the residents adequate time to find new homes and schools.
She remembers stories her parents told her about the old days. It's been a place of harmony and prosperity since 1825, temple and community supporting one another. As sad at Toi is about leaving, she also frets that these charming recollections will fade away forever.
"It's only the older folks who remember a lot of the history," she says. "They'll all be gone, along with the history of the community. When the community is shattered, its history will disappear."
