Hell

OVERDRIVE: The bad omens of 2005 are building




Bad omens are popping up in droves.

The stars and the moon are venturing off track.

The nights become days, and the days become nights.

New diseases are appearing.

Drought has replaced the rain.

Rice will become rare.

The fields are poisonous.

Food and basic necessities will become expensive.

The people will slide deeper into indebtedness.

The ocean has flooded the country.

The land has turned into fire.

Earthquakes will suck the wicked and the innocent alike into the fiery pits in the middle of the earth.

Morality has turned upside down.

The rich get richer, the poor become poorer.

The country's institutions are crumbling.

We can only look into the future with apprehension.

Will such prophecies come to pass or is such talk just gloomy hyperbole? In an age when virtue and learning – the two pillars of any civilised society – are giving way to shallowness and an obsession with material gain and entertainment, Thais can only expect to see the darker side of decadence descend upon their heads.

The bad omens are everywhere, yet few seem to realise the dangers around them.

If a society walks away from virtue, it will soon have to face the disastrous consequences portended by the bad omens.

And if society fails to nurture learning, it will decay once the people can no longer differentiate between good and bad, beautiful and ugly, decisiveness and laziness, the learned and the ignorant.

In the old days, when a plague occurred, Thais would panic.

They called this phenomenon "ha kin muang" (the plague that eats up the city).

We have already witnessed a recurrence of the ha kin muang, first with Sars and then with the bird flu.

Although Sars mostly hit our neighbours, bird flu has not spared us.

Last year, after an initial delay, the government was forced to come to grips with the reality of the spread of bird flu, and more than 20 million chickens were culled.

This mass slaughter was sinful.

Several people also died from the disease.

bird flu is still lurking around the corner.

The drought has hit the country hard and is threatening this year's farm crop and the livelihoods of rural folks.

This is a bad omen.

The old Thais call this phenomenon "khao yak, mak phaeng" (rice is scarce, betel nuts are expensive).

Because of the drought, the harvest will be poor in the northern central area, the North and the Northeast.

Clean water will have to be rationed.

In a country where "in the water there are fish, in the field, there is rice", drought is a bad omen.

The amount of bad debts will rise if the rural people cannot complete their harvest.

The increase in fuel prices could possibly drive inflation to 4-5 per cent.

The government's populist policies could be in ruins.

We have also seen nam thuam lok (water floods the world), which is another bad omen.

On December 26, 2004, an earthquake off the coast of Sumatra created underwater waves that finally hit Phuket, Krabi, Phang Nga and three other southern provinces.

More than 5,000 people, foreigners and Thais alike, perished beneath the angry wave with the Japanese name – tsunami.

Overall, more than 200,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean died from the tsunami.

Earlier this week another earthquake off Sumatra erupted and once again tested our nerves.

No tsunamis occurred, but it was an overture for more bad omens to come.

The consequence of the Sumatra earthquake is that Thailand could become the next victim.

Some scientists say Bangkok and Kanchanaburi could be hit by the quake because they are linked to Sumatra by the underground movements of the furious hot material in the middle of the earth.

It is a horrifying experience to die in an earthquake.

The old Thais call this inauspicious death, normally associated with vice, thoranee soop (the land sucks the bad guys in).

This bad omen could happen any time.

In the South, we have witnessed phan din look pen phai (the land turns into fire).

This is a really bad omen.

More than 600 people have died from the violence that has raged in the South since last year.

The government's mismanagement of the unrest has created a snowball effect.

The violence could eventually attract international terrorists if it is not handled properly now.

Parliament is now debating how to put out the southern fire.

A commission has been formed with 48 members, led by former prime minister Anand Panyarachun, to recommend a peaceful and lasting solution to the problems fanning the violence.

Morality has really been turned upside down.

The people are indifferent to sin (mai mee khuam la ai to bab).

This is another bad omen.

The youth do not want to learn and like to enjoy life beyond their means.

Politicians and businessmen have no respect for the old values.

They want quick money.

The tricky get richer while the decent become poorer.

People want to cut corners instead of moving steadily ahead by virtue of hard work and good conscience.

Institutions that support the development of a democratic and civic society have been weakened and will soon crumble under the weight of short-sightedness and selfishness.

These bad omens might not add up to 16, the amount cited in the old prophecy in which King Pasendi in Nibata Jataka talked with Lord Buddha.

Still they are bad omens that all Thais have to watch for if they want to avert the catastrophe just beyond the horizon.

The prophecy has been written whether you like it or not.



20:00 hours:

On Sunday, I wrote that the stars hovering over the City of Angels were radiating exceptional heat. There could be violence starting Sunday evening. But as it turned out, the violence started exactly on Songkran Day.

My astrologer is almost right on target. To sum it up again, my amateur astrologer has told me that duang muang (the City's star) is in trouble, with the stars aligned in a complicated position. When King Yodfa founded Bangkok in 1782, the lakhana duang muang (the character of the City of Angels) was represented by the sun, which exemplified strength, boldness and grandeur.



Lakhana Duang Muang of Bangkok as marked by ancient Thai astrological codification.

_______________________________

The sun is being overshadowed by neptune at the lakhana duang muang, which exists in spiritual form. This means that bad omen and events would be hovering over the capital.

Neptune is now hovering above lakhana duang muang, magnifying its influence over events in Thailand. "We might have a very serious incident this evening and it will deterioriate further," my astrologer said on Sunday.

But beginning Tuesday of April 14, 2009, Neptune will gradually move out of Lakhana Duang Muang to the right side of the Sun. This means that the bad omen or bad incidents against Bangkok will subside. The situation will improve.

Thaksin Shinawatra launched his broadside attack against the capital by also consulting the stars above the sky. He had his Red Shirt protesters ravaging Bangkok at a time when his duang or fortune hit the peak. His duang coincides with Neptune movement against the Sun or Lakhana Duang Muang of the City of Angels.

We are witnessing a fight in both the sky and on the earth.


The following is an excerpt of King Narai's "Poetic Prophecy" (from Montri Umavijani's "Facets of Thai Cultural Life", Bangkok: Kurusapa Business Organisation, 2000):


King Narai’s Poetic Prophecy

To speak of Ayutthaya Kingdom,
The crystal house of the most high creed,
The blessing of all blessings.
There could be found in all writings
A praise of Ayutthaya.
From all cities, from all countries.
Merchants from all over the world.People speaking twelve different languages.
They all came to Ayutthaya!
As for its great king,
He ruled gladly.
For he made the law
Which brought joy and order to all.
It was a refuge for every man;
It was a home for every angel.
For every good citizen, for every good official,
For every rich man, for every Brahman
It was a dwelling place for all
Like a great banyan tree which gave cool shade:
Like the Ganges River.
Cherished by men in dry season.
His power and prowess
Subdued the enemy in all directions.
Every country, every state
Sent him royal tribute and homage.
Ayutthaya prospered
By the grace of its king.
There was peace and plenty
Until “some future year.”
Then it was the time when all sentient beings
Would live in danger and misery.
Because kings did not practice the ten virtues.
There would be born sixteen bad omens.
Irregular were the moon and stars, earth and sky:
Casualties erupted in the land.
Big clouds burst into flames.
Strange sights were seen everywhere.
The river was boiling hot like birds' blood.
The earth went mad, while the sky waxed yellow.
The forest spirits invaded the city:
The city spirits fled to the forest.
The tutelary god took his leave;
The evil spirit took his place.
Mother Earth beat her breast and cried.
The god of death burnt his heart out.
This prophecy would certainly come true.
As everything went according to it:
Not being summer, it was very hot.
Not being the windy season, the wind strongly blew.
Not being winter, it was very cold.
Not being the rainy season, it rained.
At every nook and corner,
Accidents took the world over.
The angels who guarded religion
Protected now only bad people.
The honest lost to the dishonest.
Friends killed off their friendships.
Wives betrayed their husbands.
The low supplanted the high.
Pupils rebelled against their teachers.
Seniors were treated as juniors.
The lawful fell out of rights.
The learned fell out of grace.
Bricks floated upward;
While buoyant melons sank.
The noble lost their birthrights
By associating with the low.
The devout lost their faith
By mixing with charlatans.
Kings had no power:Colonies showed them no respect.
Unholy thoughts were rampant;
The Dharma was quite put out.
The brave parted with courage.
There was a decline in learning.
The rich were deprived of their property.
The good were devoid of compassion.
Ages moved and changed their stations.
Traditions of love went awry.
Less crops came out of the earth.
Fruits and roots lost their flavours.
As to medicinal herbs,
They, too, lost their qualities.
Plants and wood that smelled good
Lost their fragrance as well.
Then there was a time of famine:
The land was completely dried up.
Smallpox and massacre erupted.
Ghosts mixed in with people.
In the city and throughout the country,
Evil happenings everywhere.
People felt so lonely,
With confusion in their minds.
Monks and laymen were worried.
Innumerable were evil things.
There were wars and massacres:
People died like ants in the fire.
Waterways dried up as roads.
The city and palaces became a wilderness.
Only beasts of the worst kind
Inhabited the land.
But people and animals
Perished together.
The god of death destroyed the land.
No more war and struggle.
Ayutthaya Kingdom would be lost.
Its Triple Gem would shin no more
The whole period until
The year 5000.
O happy, happy Ayutthaya,
Endowed with heavenly bliss,
But turned into an immoral city.
Its days were numbered!






In March 2006, a man with a record of mental disorder has just destroyed the sacred Phra Phrom statue of the Erawan Shrine in downtown Bangkok. The famous four-headed statue of Brahma, adjacent to the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel, has been hammered to pieces.

It is a shock to thousands of worshippers who come to the shrine to seek good fortune.

Some people say the destruction of the statue is just one of many evil omens hovering above the country.

The Thaksin Era, characterised by unfettered capitalism and greedy economic growth, has also been beset by bad omens.
They manifest themselves in different forms, symbols and natural disasters.
If a leader does not practise virtue and learning is absent among the populace, society will head into a series of crises.
One of the natural disasters in the Thaksin Era manifested itself as a plague destroying the city, or "ha kin muang".

We witnessed Sars and subsequently bird flu.

Then water started to flood the world, or nam thuam lok.


This manifested itself in The tsunami which killed more than 100,000 people in Thailand and elsewhere around the Indian Ocean.

OVERDRIVE: The warnings were in the names




Some time ago my 13-year old niece challenged me with this riddle: "Can you name a province that elephants are afraid to live in?" she asked.

I thought for a while, but could not come up with an answer.

I gave in.

"Well, it's Phang Nga," she said with a big laugh, knowing that she had succeeded in fooling me with her tricky word play.

Phang (destroy; destruction) Nga (elephant's tusk) really is not a welcome place for elephants if you break down the two words and take them in their literal sense.

Thanks to the deadly Tsunami on Sunday December 26, which could become one of the world's severest natural disasters, you now begin to see the dark omens concealed in the names of the places long described as Thailand's paradise on the Andaman Sea.

With the death toll rising to several thousand people, Phang Nga, Krabi, Phuket, Phi Phi Island, Ranong and the Andaman will never be the same again.

The double meanings lurking in these names and places are collectively rising up to become a twisted image that will continue to haunt for a long time to come.

Phang Nga has faced total destruction (phang) to suit its literal meaning.

An account from a chronicle of King Rama II said the name Phang Nga comes from the Malay words kra phu nga, which means estuary or river mouth.

Over time it became known as Phu Nga and finally Phang Nga.

Another local legend has it that Grandpa Yomdung was looking after his elephant.

One day the elephant ran away in heat.

Grandpa Yomdung followed the elephant to Phang Nga and used a spear to subdue it.

The elephant died, but then became Khao Chang (Mount Elephant), the symbol of Phang Nga.

Grandpa Yomdung took the elephant's tusks and placed them atop the mountain in the middle of the city.

The city became known as khao phing nga (tusks leaning at the mountain), giving us the name Phang Nga.

Another local account has it that the name of the province originally came from pha nga, which means a beautiful lady.

There is a mountain there which looks like a sleeping beauty.

A sleeping beauty is a girl who never dies, but who will never wake up.

Phang Nga's Khao Lak, where most of the tourists perished from the tidal waves, is a geographical mark dividing Thung Takua Pa and Thai Muang.

The area was rich with tin and mining was prosperous in the past.

But the local people call tin takua, or lead.

Thung Ta Kua Pa is literally the Forest of Lead.

The now-obsolete mines overlooking Phang Nga's Khao Lak stand as a testimony to the exploitation of the past, leaving the areas scattered with large holes.

Krabi prides itself as a world-class resort sandwiched between Phuket and Phang Nga.

The name Krabi is probably also derived from the Malay language, coming to be known as Dan Khanon Estuary.

In the Thai version of "Ramayana", Krabi is a monkey character.

Foremost of all soldier monkeys in the "Ramakian" or "Ramakirti" is Hanuman, the Monkey God, who helps Lord Rama of Ayodhya organise an army to do battle against Ravana, the 10-headed giant Thosakan, in Lanka and who wins back the Goddess Sita, the consort of Lord Rama.

The epic is a battle between good an evil, a battle between the army of monkeys and an army of giants possible of creating turbulence deep beneath the surface and wiping out the whole world.

Phuket, Krabi, Phang Nga and Ranong all face the charming and mysterious Andaman Sea to the west of Thailand.

Don't be confused by the word Andaman, which derives from Handuman, or Hanuman.

The Monkey God is said to have used these islands as stepping stones on his way to Sri Lanka to save the Goddess Sita.

And don't forget 2004 is the Year of the Monkey, a known trickster.

Krabi also can mean "sword".

When you cross the Rama IX Bridge from Bangkok to Thonburi, you'll confront the towering building that serves as the headquarters of Kasikornthai Bank.

The bank's headquarters rises high to a pointed top, which looks like a sword.

The sword is a symbol to counter the bridge, which cuts across the bank's territory.

Krabi, the province, was not able to raise its sword when
Off Krabi is the world-famous Phi Phi Island, another area devastated by the tsunami.

Phi Phi is the language of the tribal fishermen (chao lay) indigenous to the area.

They called the island Pu Lao Pi Ar Pi, or the island of mangroves.

Later on the island has come to be known as Phi Phi Island.

But it was Pee Pee Island for the foreign tourists coming over in search of paradise.

And if you pronounce Phi Phi with a higher vowel sound, you'll get Phi Phi as in "ghost, ghost".

When Thai people see a ghost, they cry out "phi, phi!" with their hair standing on end.

Phuket is Bukit in the Malay language, which means mountain.

Phuket is the pearl of the Andaman Sea.

John Steinbeck's "The Pearl" is a tale of greed and treachery.

In the end, the pearl finds its way back to where it belongs – in the bottom of the ocean.

The dark colour of the pearl is so tempting.

If you see TV footage of the destruction in Aceh, where Tsunami started, you'll see the black seismic waves roaring in fury over the fearful cries.

In Ranong, which was also badly hit by the tsunami, there are lots of minerals.

Raenong (rae means "mineral" and nong "full of") has come to be known as Ranong.

But ranong is also an adjective meaning "full of damage or losses".

Indeed, Phuket, Krabi, Phang Nga, Phi Phi Island, the Andaman and Ranong will continue to haunt us for a long time because of the dark meanings lurking just beneath our understanding.




People are facing greater hardship in their lives, a period characterised by skyrocketing prices for basic necessities (khao yak mak phaeng).




Another bad omen is phan din look pen phai (land turns into fire), which has been happening to Thailand's three southernmost provinces.

There, murders take place every day.

And people are also suffering from phan din yaek (cracks in the land), as they take sides in fiercely opposed political opinions.

The angel has taken flight from the city.

This is reflected in the destruction of the Phra Phrom statue.




During the Ayutthaya period, King Narai the Great (1656-1688) was believed to be the author of a poetic prophecy about Ayutthaya's fall.

The prophecy, which reflected his concern for the Kingdom, recounted 16 bad omens that would foreshadow the fall of the capital later in 1767.






Samrit Klomkliang, who claims he has been a long-time personal astrologer for Thaksin's family, said the destruction of the statue was a sign that there would be bloodshed in Thailand if the prime minister doesn't quit before March 29.




But blood has already been shed.

A protester from Nakhon Si Thammarat, Rerng Ketkaew, slashed his finger to draw blood in front of Government House and call for Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's resignation.




Thanakorn Pakdeepol, the 27-year-old man who destroyed the Phra Phrom statue, was killed near the Erawan Shrine after committing this most unnatural act.

His blood spread on the pavement.







Ayudhaya



The tension and discord necessarily leads to the Gate of Apocalypse. It immediately reminds you of the date of April 28, 1767 when Ayutthya, the ancient capital of Siam, fell into the hands of the Burmese. That was the Day of Apocalypse. Here is how it was described:

"On the 28th of April, 1767, the town was captured by assault. The treasures of the palace and the temples were nothing but heaps of ruins and ashes. The images of the gods were melted down and rage deprived the barbarian conquerors of the spoils that had aroused their greed. To avenge this loss, the Burmese visited their heavy displeasure upon the town folk. They burnt the soles of their feet in order to make them reveal where they had concealed their wealth and raped their weeping daughters before their very eyes. "The priests suspected of having concealed much wealth were pierced through and through with arrows and spears and several were beaten to death with heavy clubs.

"The countryside as well as the temples were strewn with corpses, and the river was chock full with the bodies of the dead, the stench of which attracted swarms of flies causing much annoyance to the retreating army. The chief officers of state and the royal favourites were in the galleys. The King (King Ekatad), witness of the unhappy fate of his court, endeavoured to escape, but he was recognised and slain at the gates of the palace." (quoted from Sunait Chutintaranond's and Than Tun's On Both Sides of the Tenasserim Range: History of Siamese-Burmese Relations, Asian Studies Monographs No 050, 1995, page 6). With the fall of Ayutthya, the Siamese later on moved down to found new capitals in Thonburi and Bangkok.

Are we too far gone in hatred for Burma?




Two hundred and thirty-five years after the sacking of Ayutthaya by the Burmese, the Thais today still refer to that haunting tragedy with pain in their hearts.

The trauma runs deep in the national psyche, with the Burmese being cast as the evil enemy of the Thai nation.

"The latest border conflict has not only heightened bilateral tensions; I fear that it might also develop into widespread anti-Burmese sentiment if it is allowed to drag on or if it is mishandled," said Dr Sunait Chutintaranond, a distinguished historian at Chulalongkorn University.

Just take a look back at the Thais' reaction with hatred last year to a group of Burmese inmates who broke out of a prison in Samut Sakhon and tried to make their way, with severalhostages, to the Burmese border through Ratchaburi.

Predictably, they never made would never make it to Burma.

The dramatic shooting that left them dead ?? was broadcast live to the living-rooms of Thai viewers.

Then came a film titled "Bang Rachan".

This blood-soaked movie sought to glorify the villagers of Bang Rachan in Sing Buri as heroes and heroines who fought the Burmese to the death in 1767.

In other words, the Burmese are always the bad guys in the eyes of the Thais.

The Cornell-educated Sunait, who mastered the Burmese language, has spent most of his academic career trying to understand the many facets of the Thai-Burmese relationship.

He and co-author Than Tun published a landmark book, "On Both Sides of the Tenasserim Range: History of Siamese-Burmese Relations" (Chulalongkorn University Press, 1995).

The book depicts the changing perceptions of the Siamese - or the Thais - toward the Burmese through different periods.

Sunait's premise is that the image of the Burmese in the eyes of the Thais is one of evil, demons or agents of dark forces.

But this image of the Burmese first as the enemy of the Buddhist faith and later on as the enemy of the Thai nation did not originate by chance.

It has been deliberately implanted and shaped by the Thai ruling class and even by learned monks since the early Rattanakosin period.

Thereafter the mass media, consciously or unconsciously, have carried on this task of branding the Burmese as the enemy who cannot be trusted for their unforgivable plundering of Ayutthaya.

Sunait found that before the Rattanakosin period, which started in 1782, none of the Ayutthaya chronicles explicitly expressed antagonism toward the Burmese.

For example, there is no such sentiment in the famous and quite reliable "Luang Prasert Chronicle of Ayutthaya" of 1680.

Although Ayutthaya armies were was defeated by King Bayinnaung of Hongsawadi (Pegu) in 1564 and 1569, the Siamese kingdom was spared total destruction.

Bayinnaung, in the words of Prince Damrong's "Our War with the Burmese", conquered Ayutthaya with the primary purpose of reducing Ayutthaya to a vassal state as he set his sights on expanding his kingdom in the manner of a king of kings (Rachathirat).

But the Burmese attack on Ayutthaya inthe second half of the eighteenth century 1767 was dramatically different from the Bayinnaung period.

This time they sacked Ayutthaya and burnt the city and its marvellous temples to the ground.

The Burmese commanders-in-chief, Mahanawrahta and Thihapate, showed no interest at all in accepting a total surrender by King Ekkathat (1758-1767), the last king of Ayutthaya.

The tragic loss of Ayutthaya led to the founding of Thonburi and subsequently Bangkok as the new capitals of the Siamese.

King Taksin of Thonburi, King Yodfa and the other early Rattanakosin kings viewed the Burmese as the enemy principally of the Buddhist faith.

Only later on, during the reign of King Mongkut (1851-1868) and King Chulalongkorn (1868-1910), were the Burmese viewed as the enemy of the "Thai nation" as the concept of the nation-state began to emerge, coupled with the process of building a national consciousness.

Sunait writes that in the reign of King Mongkut, when King Kavilorot (1856-1870) of Chiang Mai presented to the Bangkok court a royal necklace on King Mindon's behalf (1856-1878), King Mongkut refused to accept the gift.

He said his ancestors (pu ya ta yai) had forbidden him to be allied with the Burmese.

King Chulalongkorn (1868-1910) also mentioned that his ancestors had put a curse on any of his children and grandchildren who wished to form alliances with the Burmese.

Historical writings and school textbooks ever since have been casting the Burmese as the enemy.

The foremost Thai heroes of all are King Naresuan and King Taksin, who fought the Burmese and successfully regained Thai independence.

King Naresuan in particular has been immortalised for his fight on elephant back against the Uparacha, the Crown Prince of Burma.

"As for Thais' image of the Burmese in the present day, it has hardly changed, at least in the fundamental sense," Sunait says.

"The Burmese are still perceived as the enemy in various dimensions.

But the image and the stereotype are always formed on the basis of Thai superiority.

"For instance, when the Thais refer to Burma, they normally look upon it as a country rich with natural resources that are readily available for exploitation.

Then Burma is a backward country, which cannot be compared to the more advanced Thailand.

To put it another way, the Thais like to say that if you want to turn the clock back 30 years, you only have to visit Burma.

" Sunait warned that hatred of the Burmese might spill over into nationalism if bilateral relations were not handled properly.

The situation is even more complicated in the private sector, he said, with the mass media, plays and movies taking on the role of creating the image of the Burmese in the hearts and minds of Thais.

Thanong Khanthong THE NATION

Are we too far gone in hatred for Burma?




Two hundred and thirty-five years after the sacking of Ayutthaya by the Burmese, the Thais today still refer to that haunting tragedy with pain in their hearts.

The trauma runs deep in the national psyche, with the Burmese being cast as the evil enemy of the Thai nation.

"The latest border conflict has not only heightened bilateral tensions; I fear that it might also develop into widespread anti-Burmese sentiment if it is allowed to drag on or if it is mishandled," said Dr Sunait Chutintaranond, a distinguished historian at Chulalongkorn University.

Just take a look back at the Thais' reaction with hatred last year to a group of Burmese inmates who broke out of a prison in Samut Sakhon and tried to make their way, with severalhostages, to the Burmese border through Ratchaburi.

Predictably, they never made would never make it to Burma.

The dramatic shooting that left them dead ?? was broadcast live to the living-rooms of Thai viewers.

Then came a film titled "Bang Rachan".

This blood-soaked movie sought to glorify the villagers of Bang Rachan in Sing Buri as heroes and heroines who fought the Burmese to the death in 1767.

In other words, the Burmese are always the bad guys in the eyes of the Thais.

The Cornell-educated Sunait, who mastered the Burmese language, has spent most of his academic career trying to understand the many facets of the Thai-Burmese relationship.

He and co-author Than Tun published a landmark book, "On Both Sides of the Tenasserim Range: History of Siamese-Burmese Relations" (Chulalongkorn University Press, 1995).

The book depicts the changing perceptions of the Siamese - or the Thais - toward the Burmese through different periods.

Sunait's premise is that the image of the Burmese in the eyes of the Thais is one of evil, demons or agents of dark forces.

But this image of the Burmese first as the enemy of the Buddhist faith and later on as the enemy of the Thai nation did not originate by chance.

It has been deliberately implanted and shaped by the Thai ruling class and even by learned monks since the early Rattanakosin period.

Thereafter the mass media, consciously or unconsciously, have carried on this task of branding the Burmese as the enemy who cannot be trusted for their unforgivable plundering of Ayutthaya.

Sunait found that before the Rattanakosin period, which started in 1782, none of the Ayutthaya chronicles explicitly expressed antagonism toward the Burmese.

For example, there is no such sentiment in the famous and quite reliable "Luang Prasert Chronicle of Ayutthaya" of 1680.

Although Ayutthaya armies were was defeated by King Bayinnaung of Hongsawadi (Pegu) in 1564 and 1569, the Siamese kingdom was spared total destruction.

Bayinnaung, in the words of Prince Damrong's "Our War with the Burmese", conquered Ayutthaya with the primary purpose of reducing Ayutthaya to a vassal state as he set his sights on expanding his kingdom in the manner of a king of kings (Rachathirat).

But the Burmese attack on Ayutthaya inthe second half of the eighteenth century 1767 was dramatically different from the Bayinnaung period.

This time they sacked Ayutthaya and burnt the city and its marvellous temples to the ground.

The Burmese commanders-in-chief, Mahanawrahta and Thihapate, showed no interest at all in accepting a total surrender by King Ekkathat (1758-1767), the last king of Ayutthaya.

The tragic loss of Ayutthaya led to the founding of Thonburi and subsequently Bangkok as the new capitals of the Siamese.

King Taksin of Thonburi, King Yodfa and the other early Rattanakosin kings viewed the Burmese as the enemy principally of the Buddhist faith.

Only later on, during the reign of King Mongkut (1851-1868) and King Chulalongkorn (1868-1910), were the Burmese viewed as the enemy of the "Thai nation" as the concept of the nation-state began to emerge, coupled with the process of building a national consciousness.

Sunait writes that in the reign of King Mongkut, when King Kavilorot (1856-1870) of Chiang Mai presented to the Bangkok court a royal necklace on King Mindon's behalf (1856-1878), King Mongkut refused to accept the gift.

He said his ancestors (pu ya ta yai) had forbidden him to be allied with the Burmese.

King Chulalongkorn (1868-1910) also mentioned that his ancestors had put a curse on any of his children and grandchildren who wished to form alliances with the Burmese.

Historical writings and school textbooks ever since have been casting the Burmese as the enemy.

The foremost Thai heroes of all are King Naresuan and King Taksin, who fought the Burmese and successfully regained Thai independence.

King Naresuan in particular has been immortalised for his fight on elephant back against the Uparacha, the Crown Prince of Burma.

"As for Thais' image of the Burmese in the present day, it has hardly changed, at least in the fundamental sense," Sunait says.

"The Burmese are still perceived as the enemy in various dimensions.

But the image and the stereotype are always formed on the basis of Thai superiority.

"For instance, when the Thais refer to Burma, they normally look upon it as a country rich with natural resources that are readily available for exploitation.

Then Burma is a backward country, which cannot be compared to the more advanced Thailand.

To put it another way, the Thais like to say that if you want to turn the clock back 30 years, you only have to visit Burma.

" Sunait warned that hatred of the Burmese might spill over into nationalism if bilateral relations were not handled properly.

The situation is even more complicated in the private sector, he said, with the mass media, plays and movies taking on the role of creating the image of the Burmese in the hearts and minds of Thais.