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Story: Sran Tongpan
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During the days when Thailand still had a policy of detaining politically active individuals perceived as a threat to the government, political prisoners served prison terms as long as those convicted of criminal
acts. But they were of a different breed, and could not quite be considered in the same category as regular prisoners. As such, they were allowed certain privileges. |
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For one, they were given the opportunity to choose their cell mates, which in the least, may have provided for some solace and companionship, a saving grace from the cramped and deprived living conditions of the prisons. At Baan Kwang
for example - a two-storied concrete structure housing a total of twenty-four cells, each devoid of windows and electricity - approximately eight to twelve tenants were crowded into one small cell, forced to share one wooden pail as
their toilet bowl. Life inside was brutish. Still, there were those who were able to make their time behind bars socially significant, and their exemption from manual labor - another privilege enjoyed by political prisoners - became an
excuse to enrich their minds or commit to a lifelong project. So Sethaputra was one such individual. |
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At the young age of thirty, So Sethaputra became a political prisoner with a life sentence behind bars. A learned King's Scholar educated in England, and at the time of his detainment in 1933, an active member of the Bangkok Daily Mail
(a Siam Free Press publication branded sympathetic to the government's opposition), So decided to commit his time in prison to the compilation of an English-Thai dictionary. By making use of his fluency in English and Thai, So used
profits earned from the project as a means to support his family. |
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But in addition to the functional aspect of his project, So also meant for his dictionary - still the most widely used in the country - to offer not only the precise literal definitions of words, but also to convey their usage, in a
sentence. Popular because it provided this deeper sense of the meaning of words, the dictionary ended up becoming the most useful dictionary in print, as the sentences additionally reflected the political and social upheavals experienced
during Thailand's transformation from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy, as well as during the country's reversals between military dictatorships and democratically-motivated administrations. |
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