The future of the past

Outlook News - Thursday December 20, 2007

The future of the past

Following up on Por Intarapalit's vision of Bangkok in 2007

Stories by Vasana Chinvarakorn, Pictures reproduced from Vichitvong Na Pombhejara's Wiwattanakarn Sangkhom Thai Kab Hassaniyai Chud Phol Nikhorn Kim-Nguan (Evolution of Thai society and the comedy series of Phol Nikorn Kim-Nguan)

On Sukhumvit Road, in front of the 'Patcharaporn' mansion, numerous cars sped by at dizzying speed. They looked different. Buses were double-deckers, huge and long. Both taxis and personal automobiles were aerodynamic; the sound of their engines indicated they were jet machines.

In the sky, several cars were flying past the 'Patcharaporn' house at rather low levels. There were propellers on their roofs. Sports or private monoplanes flew in scatters here and there not unlike birds. All of a sudden, everybody sighted a huge train, with two tram-like carriages joined together, running at no less than 60-kilometres-per-hour on tracks about ten metres above Sukhumvit Road.

From the 'Patcharaporn' house, one could see skyscrapers with at least 20 to 80 stories, the top floors rising into the thick clouds. Fluttering from the top of each building was the tri-coloured national flag. The crowds on Sukhumvit bustled by in a hurry, men in their suits and women in their one-piece outfits. The people of Bangkok looked not so different from the Europeans or Americans.

Nikorn asked his son in a hoarse, shaky voice ...

"Tell me, Nop, is this Bangkok or Paris? How come all these cars and planes are flying like dragon-flies?"

"This is Bangkok, Father. This is Bangkok of 2007."

Pai Su Anakhot (Toward the Future), Por Intarapalit, 1967.

It is almost always humour that saves the day. A laugh, however dry it might be, that somehow enlivens the drudgery of living. Thus, when Por Intarapalit penned his best-selling Samgler (The Three Chums) series, spanning three decades from 1938 to 1968, the Thai public instantly embraced this overwhelming, inimitable dose of humour. Even years afterwards, thousands of Thais continue to relish the misadventures of the three wayward buddies - Phol, Nikorn, Kim-nguan - and their host of likeable peers. Read the books and you will find it hard not to be laughing out loud every now and then.

The secret of Por's charms could be in the thin, sometimes blurred, line between his wit, vision and sense of irony. At a gathering last Saturday, fans of the Samgler series, writers and academics discussed one of Por's last Samgler instalments entitled Pai Su Anakhot (Toward the Future), written a year before his death in 1968. There, Por took his three heroes, their scientist friend Dr Direk, two of their sons, the bald-short-and-hot-tempered Chao Khun Patjanuek and Ai Haew, Phol's mischievous valet, on a bewildering trip four decades into the future. Through a time machine dubbed Kruengmue Wiset (The Magical Machine), the eight men were transported for a 24-hour excursion through Bangkok in the year 2007. So how does our capital today compare with Por's vision of 1967?

Physically, economist and columnist Vichitvong na Pombhejara points out how amazingly accurate several of Por's prophesies turned out to be. The metropolis of Bangkok, which Por said in the novel would incorporate Thonburi, Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani, now had "a population of 15 million," Por wrote, "and no less than five million more who have not been registered."

Por described rice fields, orchards and canals giving way to massive buildings and spacious roads; tap water was in abundance and Bangkok was lit up day and night by a pair of "man-made moons". The affluent would spend all day trading stocks and shoppers in supermarkets could shop "'til they drop" - just dumping stuff from the shelves in their trolleys and paying at the exits. The citizens of Bangkok would be dressed in Western clothes and speak English instead of Thai. Transport would come in a variety of forms - from taxis to flying cars, helicopters, elevated trains and personal jets. The sick would receive swift and polite treatment from nurses and doctors ("no more scolding, threatening, and back-slapping!"). Those over 65 would be put in beautiful nursing homes under the constant care of medical staff with four meals a day, and last but not least, everything would be free.

"To say we don't have money [for the welfare programmes] ... no, our government has long stopped saying such things," a taxi driver of the future tells the Samgler crew. "What we earn from selling oil is more than enough for the government to put into developing the country. We recently lent 30 billion to the United States. During my father's time, we borrowed money from the World Bank to restore our country. Now, it is the World Bank that has to send people to borrow money from us."

In Por's book, Bangkok - and Thailand - in the year 2007 has become a heaven on Earth, Asia's number one nation (with Japan in second place) and a land of everlasting joy and peace.

And this is probably where hilarity sets in. The more exuberant Por's depictions of Bangkok are, the more ludicrous and laughable the story becomes. There might not actually be much difference between how readers of 1967 and 2007 could gain amusement from Pai Su Anakhot. It is funny because we know, and have learned to accept, that most of what's described in the book could never be true. The gap between reality and fantasy remains, so why not enjoy the escape?

General Direk said suddenly:

"All right, have no doubts, Korn. We have indeed arrived in Bangkok of 2007. All these things have not yet happened, but we now have an opportunity to see them beforehand. And they will certainly take place [in the future] the way we are seeing them now. Aren't you excited, Kim-nguan?"

The Chinese man gulped down his throat.

"I'm going insane. How could we get to see what has not yet happened?"

Nikorn and Kim-nguan have good reasons to feel initially overwhelmed. The future Bangkok confronting them was beyond their wildest imaginings. By the end of the novella, though, every crew member grew to like their new capital so much so that they wished to return to it again soon.

What were the attractions?

- Places, language, food, dress code, commercial billboards, greeting by handshakes and even boxing had literally become Americanised - "except for the presence of national flags, everything looks like New York ... which meant Thailand must have progressed rapidly, to become the world's superpower, on the same par as America."

- Every cabinet minister, "even the one overseeing the ministry of defense", was a civilian. "They served the country diligently, and there was absolutely no corruption."

- Every Thai citizen was well-educated - the two taxi drivers hired by the Samgler gang had university degrees in architecture and engineering; Bangkok boasted about 200 universities and no fewer than 5,000 primary and secondary schools did not charge for tuition, stationery or uniforms (a precise prediction of today's politicians' election gimmicks).

- Traffic problems in Bangkok were nonexistent.

- The Thai currency had the same value as the US dollar!

- The Thai economy was rock-solid: Rich oil fields had been discovered and Thailand suddenly became industrialised, producing and exporting everything from clothes to cars, planes and battleships. Heavy machinery was exported to China while China sent agricultural products and hordes of tourists in return. Also, Bangkok no longer had small-scale businesses or street peddlers that would allow developed nations to look down on it.

- Thai athletes had swept almost all the gold medals in the recent Olympics, which Thailand had hosted in 2002, and our national soccer team had won the World Cup three times.

- Every Thai farmer was a millionaire; each owned an average of 1,000 acres of land as well as tractors and private jets or flying cars.

- There were around-the-clock entertainment venues, some where all the staff, from chefs to waitresses and cashiers, wore practically nothing and had "attractive body with clean smell".

- The country had been free of war for more than 50 years: "The soldiers and policemen are brothers ... our country could advance this quickly because we Thais all share in our love and unity."

- The prowess of our defense was second-to-none: "In 2004, following a skirmish along the Thai-Cambodian borders, the three armed forces from Thailand placed Cambodia under siege within two days, but the United Nations as mediator asked us to pull out."

At Saturday's talk, historian Charnvit Kasetsiri was quick to note the lighthearted humour that can be found in going through the list of what Por the writer "did not [fore]see" in his Samgler adventure and pointing out what has actually occurred.

"Intriguingly, Por Intarapalit's dream was quite close in the timing: [the conflicts between Thailand and Cambodia flared up in] 2003 and not 2004. He probably never dreamed that there would be an 'actual' event of the torching of the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh on January 29, 2003. The Thai government, under Khun Thaksin, could do nothing except send Royal Air Force planes to transport Thai residents out of Cambodia in a hurry.

"What our 'time travellers' could not see," Charnvit continued, "are the extravaganza celebrations of 2007. They did not see the masses of people wearing yellow, or other colours depending on the day of the week. They did not see the phenomenon of Sonthi/Sondhi [the top army officer and the media mogul who share the same first name and mission to oust Thaksin]. They did not see the strife, conflicts, political struggles and social divisiveness. They did not perceive the economic malaise following the tom yam kung crisis [the Asian financial collapse of 1997 that resulted in a drastic devaluation of the baht].

"For Por Intarapalit, the future world, in 2007, is a world of dreams!"

It remains unclear, however, whether or not the writer would aspire to live in such a world himself. Aside from the portrayal of unimaginably luxurious lifestyles, Por seemed, in several spots, lament the new face of Thailand.

"My name is Veera-Smith," said one taxi driver to Phol and his friends.

"Is your family name Smith?" asked Dr Direk.

"No. My last name is Nararat. But every Bangkokian now has an English name connected to their first names. For example, we have Udom-Robinson, Chatchawal-Crawford, and so on. To make it short, we have improved ourselves, and our customs and traditions, to be like our great friends the Americans. We have abandoned the use of Thai language to show that we are now a superpower like America. Hmm ... It's been a long time since I last spoke Thai, and I feel a little uneasy. I have difficulty thinking how to say certain words in Thai."

Phol looked sadly at the taxi driver ....

Indeed, the creator of Samgler was a master of double-edged satire. A number of his stories subtly 'play' with concepts that dictatorial regimes attempted to impose on the Thai people - from seemingly democratic efforts to introduce free speech or hyde-park to promotion of the rattaniyom (civilised) mode of living and economic nationalism as well as the celebration of peace following the close of World War Two. Charnvit noted that the popularity of Por's works stemmed partly from the "contemporary" feel and flavour of his stories. Thus, whenever there was a new social phenomenon or state-initiated programme, the Samgler characters would be among the first to try it out and from their efforts would spring the stories' comical, verging-on-ridiculous plots. It worked several decades ago and it still works today.

But how should Thailand read Por Intarapalit and his Samgler series today?

Economist Vichitvong observed that more and more educated Thais are re-reading Samgler, both as a historical record and to analyse the books' between-the-lines messages. A web site has been set up (http://www.samgler.com) where a few hundred Samgler titles are available free of charge and where over six thousands people have signed up as regular readers.

Rompo Udol, an aficionado of the Samgler series (he won the Fan Phan Thae award from a TV quiz show for his knowledge of the books a few years ago), said the stories are like a "store of invaluable jewels" that await the younger generations. Ironically, Rompo added, a new hobby has emerged among the well to do of collecting early Samgler editions and keeping them to themselves.

Some very rare copies, he said, sell for up to 40,000 baht. Por Intarapalit himself might have raised an eyebrow at such a price being paid for his literary works.

When he was alive, Por always humbly considered himself a writer of popular fiction, well below the ranks of classic-styled, ideology-driven writing of his contemporaries. Yet as the years have passed, Por's titles have continued to entertain readers both young and old through their half-serious, half-playful observations on Thai life. This continuing relevance could be viewed as helping to keep the Thai populace in stable mental health, be it in 1967 or four decades later.

At the end of the Saturday's programme, a stage adaptation of Pai Su Anakhot by Wat Wallayangkul captured the timelessness of Por's books. In the play, Wat changed the time of the Samgler crew's arrival in Bangkok to September 19, 2006. Thus, instead of catching up with Phol's ageing son, a senior army officer, the men from the past were greeted by a radio announcement about the coup staged by the army. Then, in their attempts to return to their own time, the characters visited a series of coups - 1957, 1971 and so on. Ai Haew, the Samgler gang's sidekick, delivered the final line: "So where is that law of impermanence, the law of time? Or is it that such a law does not apply to this country? Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Such a warped sense of humour is certainly what everyone can use, both then and now.

A prolific writer, a prodigious legacy.

His was a life full of ironies. When alive, Preecha "Por" Intarapalit (also pronounced as Inthapalit) penned thousands of books; by one account the famous Samgler series alone ran to over 1,000 instalments of varying lengths. According to economist and columnist Vichitvong na Pombhejara, between 50 million and 100 million copies of series starring Phol, Nikorn and Kim-nguan are in print, "an unsurpassed record for book printing in Thailand", he noted.

Despite such a prolific output, Por took a casual, nonchalant attitude toward copyright and his own financial security. At a recent gathering to discuss Por's Samgler book Pai Su Anakhot (Toward the Future), Parinya Intarapalit, the author's grandson, related how Por never sought to reap the profits from reprints of his works. Looking at some of his grandfather's publishing contracts, Parinya felt Por was "a literally daring writer". He noted that Por sometimes signed contracts that forfeited the author's rights to his works forever.

"My grandfather did not think much. He believed that he could always write another book," said Parinya.

Thus, until his death on September 25, 1968, Por continued churning out stories from his old typewriter at a rented house or the home of a relative. Most of the books and articles he wrote were upbeat in tone (with few moving narratives about the poor) - but his writing may have masked personal reality. In his biography of Por, Rerngchai Phuttaro described him as "a great dream seller" who entertained millions but whose own life was very sad. Por himself once said "I don't have any other job. [If I did] I wouldn't be as good at it as writing. So I have to write until I die."

Now, a group of Thai writers and academics are honouring Por in various ways. It has been proposed that Por's works should be proscribed as extra-curricular reading by the Ministry of Education. Presiding over a recent event paying tribute to the late writer, Culture Minister Khunying Khaisri Sri-arun expressed a wish to see a Por Intarapalit Room created at the National Library. For the upcoming centennial of his birth in 2010, an effort is underway to have Por's name cited by Unesco on its prestigious anniversaries events calendar.

Such commemorations would not be undue. Por Intarapalit has influenced Thai society for decades - in its use of language, its sense of humour and its worldviews. SEA Write laureate Naowarat Pongpaibool said Por coined many Thai words and expressions that remain in use today. The term choey, for example, which was the name of one of Por's country-bumpkin characters, has since come in to common use to mean old-fashioned or out of style. Veteran actor Suprawat Pattamasut noted that the first Samgler TV production in the early '70s was an instant success, and numerous sitcoms have followed suit.

Vichitvong said Por deserved to be recognised for his prodigious contribution to Thailand - for encouraging reading among people from all walks of life (Naowarat said "[Por] has built up a library in our heart"), for chronicling social changes that affect the daily lives of the masses, and last but not least, for imparting a benevolent philosophy of how to live in harmony with others and oneself.

For Vichitvong, Por Intarapalit is an artist who cherished democracy, freedom, equality and fraternity.

After all, being able to laugh is a blessing - and to view everything around us as illusory enables us to accept life as it is. And these are most clearly Por Intarapalit's legacies.

Bangkok Post