Angry Phuketians slam professor

PHUKET: A university professor in Bangkok has so angered some people in Phuket with his remarks to a magazine that a petition is being raised to try to pressure the professor to withdraw his remarks and apologize. The professor, Dr Poowadon Songprasert of Kasetsart University, made the remarks about Luang Por Cham, the much-revered abbot of Wat Chalong at the turn of the last century, in an interview with the magazine “Thaicoon”. Songwut Hongyok, a member of the Pattana Tongtin faction in the Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), slammed Dr Poowadon for calling the Luang Por “an example of dubious figures in Thailand”. He told the Gazette, “[Dr Poowadon] said that after the ‘investigation’, he doesn’t see why the Luang Por should be respected; that he was only a Pra Karn Muang [a political monk]. Investigation? What investigation was he talking about? “I don’t see how that could be. Look at it this way. If he was not really a good person, how could he have been given the title of Pra by the Royal Court? This could get [Dr Poowadon] in trouble if the Court knew about it. “If you don’t believe or agree with something [that others strongly believe], the least you can do is not to talk ill about it,” he added. K. Songwut and his supporters want Dr Poowadon to come to Phuket and ask forgiveness from the Luang Por himself and to apologize to the people of Phuket. The location for signing the petition will be announced some time tomorrow, K. Songwut said, adding that it will be in Phuket Town, either at the Lan Nawamin park on Phuket Road, or at Saphan Hin. The signed petition will be sent to the Ministry of University Affairs.