Bangkok Tourist Attraction Review: Bangkok Labour Museum

THAI LABOUR MUSEUM

is a single-storey red building near the Makkasan Railway Station. It was first the railway police station, then became the railway labour union office before it became a museum on 17 October 1993. Outside the museum is a monument, \"Dignity of Labour,\" showing a man and a woman pushing the huge wheel of history. (from Bangkok Post)

The Thai Labour Museum came into existence because labour leaders, NGO representatives, scholars and historians gathering at the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung viewed a museum to be established in dedication of Thailand's missing chapter of the history. It was agreed the museum would serve as an information centre and a showcase of the Thai labour movement.

A one-storied building, which was once home to railway police station and the Railway Labour Union Headquarters, was turned into the museum guarded by a stone sculpture of male and female workers pushing forward with all their might the wheel of history.

The main hall houses a souvenir shop and functions as a meeting room and a temporary exhibition room. There are six exhibition rooms.

Room no. 1 is devoted to illustrating the miserable life of the Thai slaves. On display are old utensils and accounts of the slave workers who were backbone of the feudal system.

Room no. 2 gives visitors an insight into the Thai workers' involvement in the modernisation of the Kingdom during the reign of King Rama V.

Room no. 3 shows the plight of Thai lobour prior to 1932 Political Reform. Anumber of documents show workers had already attempted to unite in the form of associations. A copy of leaflet distributed by workers demanding fair treatment and a copy of a labour newspaper, the first newspaper that spoke for the working people, provide firsthand information about the labour movement during this period.

Room no. 4 displays the labour movement after the Political Reform in 1932 up to the coup d'etat by Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat

Room no. 5 showcases photographs and accounts of the fate of labour leaders under the rule of Field Marshal Sarit. At that time, the labour movement was regarded as a threat to economic development and ruination of investment climate.

Room no. 6 shows the records on the recent Thai labour movement. On view are accounts of the rally for the Social Security Act, the rally for 90-day maternity leave and work of Thanong Phoarn, a union leader who challenged the dictatorial National Peace keeping council and mysteriously disappeard in 1991. In addition, there is a participation of the workers in the fight for democracy in may 1992. In one corner of the room stands a showcase of remains from the burnt down Kader factory where hundreds of workers died in a fire, caused by the greed for profit.

The room with bars is turned into the Prof Nikom Chandravitoon Library. He was a former directed scholar. The library offers a good collection of documents, books and research works on Thai labour and is open to the public.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Acually an article by Aladdin from 17th of February 2015 with information from www.thaifolk.com and Bangkok Post

Wednesday 18^th of February 2015 and let's hope that the Thai Labour Museum turns out better than the Rock Around Asia fiasco yesterday.

This would be the place for the idiots at the radio show Tankesmedjan on the Swedish Radio, Sveriges Radio P3. I used to like this show, quite intelligent. I was chocked when the show made fun of the slavery in the Thai fishing industry. Talk about a bunch of idiots trying to be funny, they just turn our pathetic and tasteless. The original people on the show have left and now it is only immigrants working on the show. And of course quota-based admission, female and immigrant and you can get any job. As soon as they come to Sweden they are Swedish.

And now they work for the Swedish “National Broadcasting Company” and they really are something. Yes, nice to sit with a Swedish passport (I wonder for how much longer the Swedish passport means anything at all) and now they make fun of other peoples hardship struggle to survive with hard work. No foocking benefits for the people on the fishing boats. But for these arses on the Swedish Radio this is something to make fun off.

And they really try hard to be liberal, making fun of everyone not homo or immigrant. And now making fun of the slavery in the world. I wish we could get these hardworking slave worker to Sweden instead. Well, we do during the blueberry season, always cheated and it goes on and on. And the Swedish Embassy hand out “blueberry” visas as there is no tomorrow. And that is even though it is well known that they get cheated and lose everything they have.

Here is also an interesting REPORT, “Forced Labour in Sweden? The Case of Migrant Berry Pickers” that you can read, but we know it all. But really not necessary to read, we know it all already. While all these people are flying in to Europe the Government have problem to put all the immigrants in to work. Of course, picking blueberries is not good enough for these people. When they can get quota-based admission in to the Swedish radio where they can make fun of the forced labour and slavery.

Sweden is full of Rumanian beggars and the feel so bad about the beggars that cannot find jobs. So living of begging, hand outs and God knows what instead of going North to pick berries. They are so desperate for work when they are interviewed on radio so they can DO ANY JOB! Of course, you're called a fascist if you tell them to get a job.

The Economist have an article that you can read HERE, Foreign workers in Sweden - Berrypickers, unite! Thai Berry Pickers Cheated Again & Again In Sweden, yes there are plenty to read.

I walked and I walked, and it was hot. I had walked to the Makkasan Road via Shirakarinwirot University. It was OK to walk until I reached Makkasan Road and the Makkasan station. But from the Makkasan station going to the Thai Labour Museum there wasn't very much to look at, and it was far and hot. I walked pass an old rail way bridge and it was a beautiful bridge, and the whole area could have been very beautiful. But there was a lot of garbage laying around and there was a faulty smell from the water. It was a bit of country side in Bangkok.

And it was interesting to go on the Airport Rail Link yesterday, it is a kind of sky train and we passed places reminding me of the country side on the way to the Suvarnabhumi Airport. But for how many more years?

I reach the Thai Labour Museum

I reach the Thai Labour Museum

The statue “Dignity of labour”

The statue “Dignity of labour”

Thai Labour Museum

Thai Labour Museum

Thai Labour Museum

Thai Labour Museum

I was happy to see the red house ahead of me and I was almost 100% sure that I had reached the Thai Labour Museum

I took a few pictures of the museum and I went to look at the statue “Dignity of Labour” And I have heard that this is the first ever statue dedicated to the working class in Thailand, maybe even in Asia.

I also read that this is the only monument where man and woman are doing a job together equally and that this was the only statue in Thailand showing equality between man and woman. I went to open the door and the door was locked. I was disappointed. I looked inside and it looked very dark. I was about to go home again when I saw a small note “RING THE BELL” and so I did.

I small lady came to open the door and we stepped inside. It was dark, but she went to turn on the light and she started the videos in the different rooms. The museum consists of 7 rooms. She handed me a brochure with some information about the museum and I started my tour in room #1.

Thai Labour Museum - Room 1 :
Corvee and Slave Labour in Ancient Thai Society / The Opening of the Country

Thai Labour Museum - Room 1 :
Corvee and Slave Labour in Ancient Thai Society / The Opening of the Country

Thai Labour Museum - Room 1 :
Corvee and Slave Labour in Ancient Thai Society / The Opening of the Country

Thai Labour Museum - Room 1 :
Corvee and Slave Labour in Ancient Thai Society / The Opening of the Country

Thai Labour Museum - Video Room 1

Thai Labour Museum - Room 2 :
Chinese Coolies : the First Generation of Wage Workers

Thai Labour Museum - Room 2 :
Chinese Coolies : the First Generation of Wage Workers

Thai Labour Museum - Room 2 :
Chinese Coolies : the First Generation of Wage Workers

Thai Labour Museum - Room 2 :
Chinese Coolies : the First Generation of Wage Workers

Thai Labour Museum - Video Room 2

Thai Labour Museum - Room 3 :
Labour and The Reforms of the Fifth Reign

Thai Labour Museum - Room 3 :
Labour and The Reforms of the Fifth Reign

Thai Labour Museum - Room 3 :
Labour and The Reforms of the Fifth Reign

Thai Labour Museum - Video Room 3

Thai Labour Museum - Room 4 :
Labour and the 1932 Change in Government

Thai Labour Museum - Room 4 :
Labour and the 1932 Change in Government

Thai Labour Museum - Video Room 4

Thai Labour Museum - Room 5 :
From World War to the cold War

Thai Labour Museum - Room 5 :
From World War to the cold War

Thai Labour Museum - Room 5 :
From World War to the cold War

Thai Labour Museum - Room 5 :
From World War to the cold War

Thai Labour Museum - Room 5 :
From World War to the cold War

Thai Labour Museum - Video Room 5

Thai Labour Museum - Room 6 :
Jit Phumisak Worker Cultural Room

Thai Labour Museum - Room 6 :
Jit Phumisak Worker Cultural Room

Thai Labour Museum - Room 7 :
From October Up Rising to the Economic Crisis

Thai Labour Museum - Room 7 :
From October Up Rising to the Economic Crisis

Model of the Kader Factory

Thai Labour Museum - Room 7 :
From October Up Rising to the Economic Crisis

The Kader Tragedy

The book Industrial Inferno: The Story of the Thai Toy Factory Fire

Can be bought at www.amazon.com

This is an extraordinary account of the worst factory fire in history - the 1993 blaze at the Kader Industrial Toy Company outside Bangkok, Thailand. One hundred and eighty-eight people - 174 women and 14 men - perished in the fire. Kader workers earned less than $1 an hour making toys for such corporate giants as Toys 'R Us, Hasbro and Tyco. Those who died were trapped in a building with no fire extinguishers or alarms and no fire escape; management had locked the exits. The Triangle Shirtwaist fire in New York City in 1911, which killed 146 workers employed in a garment sweatshop, provoked national and international outrage. The disaster at Kader went virtually unreported in the international and US media. Industrial Inferno, which includes dozens of pictures by photographer Richard Phillips, links the Kader tragedy to some of the crucial issues confronting contemporary society.

- Hmm, maybe something for the twats at Tankesmedjan P3 Sveriges Radio to read. Maybe they can try to get a few jokes out of it. Yeah, why not have the tax payers to pay for their trip to Bangkok, I'm sure they can get many jokes out of a visit to the Thai Labour Museum.

Thai Labour Museum - Room 7 :
From October Up Rising to the Economic Crisis

Thai Labour Museum - Room 7 :
From October Up Rising to the Economic Crisis

Thai Labour Museum - Room 7 :
From October Up Rising to the Economic Crisis

Thai Labour Museum - Video Room 7

I finished the visit and I had the two ladies to escort me to the door. I made a donation and the girls took plenty pictures of me. I had been the only visitor, and I asked if there had been any other visitors during the day. There had been 2 visitors earlier.

There are not many visitors coming to this museum as it is not a very well known museum. Well, I can recommend the place.

And the two girls was funny as Thai people usually are, relaxed and enjoy to have fun.

They gave me a VCD before I left and I asked if the videos was available on line. They informed me that the videos was not available on the internet and they were happy when I told them that I would put the video on the internet and they were happy and said thank you. You can see the videos above, room by room. And I'm sorry to say that the quality is not very good. And the quality was not any better on the monitors around the museum. But there are some interesting pictures from Thailand back in the time and it can be worth having a look. The sound is not very good. And sometimes the music is too loud to hear the narrator.

Time to leave

How to kill a day in Bangkok #13
Review: Thai Labour Museum

Fee: Free, but a small donation is appreciated
Web page: http://thailabourmuseum.org
Address:
พิพิธภัณฑ์แรงงานไทย ถ.มักกะสัน เขตราชเทวี กรุงเทพฯ 10400
503/20 Nikhom Makkasan Road (Close to the Makkasan railway Station) Bangkok
Tel: +66 (0)2 251 3173
Opening Hours: Wednesday to Sunday 10:00-16:30 If you wish to come as a group please contact them beforehand so that a tour guide can be arranged.

The museum consisted of 7 small rooms covering different time periods. There were some very interesting things on display. The videos they had on display was not of any good quality. And much of the information was hard to read as the text was printed on background pictures.

And that was a shame because the museum really wanted me to know more. But the Thai Labour is definitely worth a visit. Actually, I recommend a visit because there is a lot of Thai history, maybe presented in a wee different way than on the other museums.

Rated:

Yes, definitely a very good experience. And if the information had been easier to read, and the video on the monitors had been of a better quality this would have been an EXCELLENT experience. So don't miss this!

They gave me a VCD when I left and this CD contained all the videos on display in the museum, but the quality left a wee bit to wish for. But many interesting pictures7 videos from back in the days. And 100 year old video, we can't expect much of quality.

Visit Thai Labour Museum, it is free, but give a donation, and don't be a Cheap Charlie when you donate!

Review Man

I walked back home and I was very hungry, but wise from my SET BACK yesterday I didn't stop to eat. I had pineapple and papaya before i went to my Thai school. I have planned to go to celebrate the Chinese New Year in China Town tomorrow as my next “What to do for fun when you're too old for party - How to kill a day in Bangkok” adventure.

We have a Chinese girl in our class and I asked her about tomorrow’s festivities as I wanted to see the dragon. She thought the festivities was tonight. I called a friend when I came back home, she is Chinese and I asked her about the festivities. She was at a Chinese New Year party and I asked her tomorrow. She didn't know.

Well, I will go to China Town after the boxing tomorrow and by clicking HERE you will soon know if I got to see any Chinese dragon on the streets of Bangkok China Town. But before we go to bed: From The Guardian today - Thailand failing to tackle fishing industry slavery, says rights group Environmental Justice Foundation says progress on eliminating human trafficking in Thai fishing ‘wholly inadequate’

www.thailabour.org


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