A mentally disturbed man was beaten to death early yesterday after he destroyed a much revered Brahman statue at the Erawan Shrine -- one of Bangkok's most popular places of worship, police and eyewitnesses said.
Thanakorn Pakdeepol, 27, was found dead in a pool of blood outside the shrine shortly after he attacked the sacred image at 1am, police said. He was beaten to death with a steel bar.
"I saw him climb over the fence and use a hammer to smash the statute," said Wandee Vichai, 42, a vendor who was one of the few eyewitnesses to the incident.
PHOTO: EPA
"I started to scream and some trash collectors came out and chased after the man. When I caught up with them he was lying dead on the pavement," Wandee said.
Lumpinee Police Colonel Supisarn PakdeeNarunart said two suspects had been arrested for Thanakorn's slaying.
The victim's father Saiyan Pakdeepol said his son had suffered from mental illness for several years and was nervous and depressed on Monday, one of Bangkok's hottest days so far this season with temperatures reaching 39oC.
Saiyan said his son had a breakdown and ran out of the house at midnight.
The incident, coming at a time of great political upheaval in Thailand, was immediately hailed by some as an inauspicious sign for embattled Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
"This is a very unlucky omen, especially since the perpetrator was crazy and was killed after committing the sacrilege," said Samridh Kaokrieng, a well-known astrologer who once served as the prime minister's private fortune teller.
"This is a sign that if the prime minister doesn't resign the country must sacrifice blood," Samridh said.
The fortune teller recently lost his job with Thaksin after he informed the premier that the stars were not in his favor and he should step down.
Mass protests calling for the prime minister's resignation have been escalating in the capital since Jan. 23, when Thaksin's family sold off their 49 percent stake in Shin Corp to Temasek Holdings, an investment arm of the Singapore government.
The US$1.9 billion sale has sparked a nationalistic backlash among many Thais who have criticized the premier for handing over sensitive sectors to a foreign firm.
Shin Corp holds government-granted concessions to run Thailand's largest mobile phone service, the national satellite network, a TV station, an Internet service and a no-frills airline.
The Erawan Shine stands next to the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel in central Bangkok. The shrine was built in 1956, one year after the original government-owned Erawan Hotel was opened as one of the capital's first international-class establishments.
Rear Admiral Luang Suwichanphaet, a specialist in astrology, advised the hotel management to construct the shrine with the Thao Maha Brahma statue, also known as Phra Prom, on the corner of its property to ensure good fortune.
The Erawan Hotel was bought by the Hyatt hotel group about 14 years ago.
The shrine is a popular place of worship for Buddhists and Hindus from Thailand and abroad, especially among tourists from Hong Kong and Singapore.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to