Moments of Silence: The Unforgetting of the 1976 Massacre in Bangkok

Thirty years later, the massacre at Thammasat University in Bangkok in 1976, one of the most brutal suppressions in Thai history, remains a mystery in Thai society. It is one of the most awkward and sensitive subjects for people involved, be they the former victims, perpetrators or the politicized by-standers, and for Thai society in general. Because the monarchy and the sangha (the Buddhist order) were implicated in the crime, public discourses about the massacre have been very limited and suppressed. For the same reason, however, many choose silence due to their concerns for the society that unimaginable repercussions might have happened if the truth is widely known. Beyond the consequences for truth, silence is also at every locus and moment where memories and discourses of the tragedy face limits of articulation, due to shame, guilt, and the desire to move on. Thanks to the changes in political environment and democratization in Thailand during the 1980s-1990s, the victims and the perpetrators have different reasons to remain silent about the tragedy. Jubilance turned to shame; vengefulness turned to guilt.  For many, nevertheless, silence is a form of remembering, speaking, a protest, and a voluntary act out of the desire to move on even without justice or truth. It is a powerful, though unarticulated, unforgetting that lasts the lives of those people.