A celebration of the life of Thai political prisoner Amphon Pt. 1

Political prisoner Amphon Tangnoppakul (aka Ah Kong), died in a Bangkok prison hospital May 8th 2012. He had been sentenced to a 20year prison term after a Bangkok court decided he couldn’t “prove his innocence” in a case relating to four SMS messages sent to an aide of the then Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjijva, that were deemed to defame the monarchy.
But Ah Kong was, of course much more than a political prisoner. This former truck driver from the working class Bangkok suburb of Samut Prakan was a dearly loved husband, father and grandfather.

Despite this affection Ah Kong died in terrible circumstances – left alone in pain in a prison hospital, his family and loved ones denied a chance to say their final goodbyes.

On 26th August 2012 Ah Kong’s funeral rites were concluded and he was cremated.

To mark the final stage of his passing, Ah Kong’s wife, Rosmalin (aka Pa Ou) put together a traditional Thai “funeral book” entitled "O Love" to celebrate this kind and gentle man’s life.

I’ve been lucky enough to receive permission from Pa Ou to translate and serialise Ah Kong’s funeral book here on this blog.  I didn’t complete the translation myself and wanted to gratefully thank the person who worked very hard to get this English version to me but whom wishes to remain anonymous.

Once the serialisation is complete I will be working with others to place the entire book onto its own website.

As a mark of respect to Pa Ou and the family I would ask anyone who wants to reproduce this text to please ask me first via email ([email protected]) however, everyone is more than welcome to link to the serialisation.

The first part of the English translation can be found here > http://asiaprovocateur.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/a-celebration-of-life-of-t...