Chakrabhand Posayakrit relies on the sunlight that pours through the high glass windows of his Bangkok home to create the traditional Thai art that won him the coveted status of National Artist.
For four decades the 65-year-old has lived and worked peacefully in his wooden downtown house, producing mystical paintings and delicate, intricate puppets which perform at theaters across Thailand.
He has even opened his home up as a museum, school and meeting place for fellow artists to share his passion for the kingdom’s creative history.
Bangkok developers, however, rarely think twice about cultural heritage when they throw up skyscrapers, and now a 32-story condominium is threatening to dwarf Chakrabhand’s house of cultural treasures in the up-and-coming Ekkamai area.
But like a growing number of individuals, Chakrabhand is determined to fight the rampant development that many say is threatening the city’s character.
“If they go ahead with their plan to construct that big building, I will have to move out because I will not be able to do my job,” says Chakrabhand.
The artist has submitted a petition against the project to the Thai king, while his supporters are piling pressure on the developers, trying to convince them of the social impact of their project.
Chakrabhand has also consulted lawyers, architects and engineers, most of whom tell him that Singapore-based developer Dalvey Residence — who did not respond to telephone queries — was following the law.
“The more I hear about how little Thai laws and authorities support the general public, the more I lose my faith in fairness in our country,” Chakrabhand said.
Sukanya Panthajak, who works with the environment ministry’s policy and planning department, says laws exist to protect buildings or areas of historic or natural significance, but many structures fall outside that definition.
“Chakrabhand’s place is precious mainly in terms of culture and arts,” she said.
While Bangkok’s streets were once filled with shophouses and traditional wooden Thai homes, the skyline is now dominated by skyscrapers, mega-malls and plush hotels — pushing many long-term residents out.
Hundreds of small shopkeepers are currently locked in a legal battle to prevent Bangkok’s night bazaar, a hugely popular tourist attraction, from being razed and replaced with a mall.
Ordinary residents are also doing what they can to battle big business, only to find the rules and red tape are not on their side.
Sutdhya Vajrabhai, a retired businessman, has a modest plot of land in the Ploenchit area, another hot spot for development.
Construction of a 30-story hotel next door has caused cracks in his floors, while broken underground pipes have flooded his property.
“A large-scale construction project means hundreds or thousands of people coming to live or work there, with more cars, more traffic, more trash, more air pollution and many other issues in the long term,” he says.
He took his complaint to the National Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (NREPP) department, who halted the project, but Sutdhya says the developers have gone ahead regardless.
Buildings do not need an environmental impact assessment or approval from the NREPP as long as they are no bigger than 80 units, so Sutdhya says the developers simply revised their plan from 320 to 79 units, and will apply to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) later to add more.
An official at the BMA who did not wish to be named said that all the projects they approved went ahead according to the relevant building control laws.
For the moment, Boonyawat Tiptus, vice president at Thailand’s Council of Architects, warns that taking on large-scale development projects is tricky given the funds companies can ply into legal advice.
“Maybe the most practical solution is that Master Chakrabhand finds a new plot of land somewhere away from the city in order to carry on work peacefully,” he says.
But Chakrabhand is not planning on giving up the fight that easily.
“I still believe in the existence of fairness somewhere in our society,” he said.
“This is a battle for not only for myself, but also other people likely to suffer from large-scale development projects.”
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