SPOTLIGHT
The final message went out from the General Post Office last Wednesday, and with it a lot of history, writes Piyaporn Wongruang
Thongchai Pathumvit and Kanissorn Tongsub had already worked more than eight hours handling telegram message slips, but people continued to line up at the General Post Office to send their final telegram last Wednesday.
CAT Telecom officially closed the service after 133 years, citing a decline in its popularity and a lack of profit.
While the telegram service is now a thing of the past, quietly gone with it is the knowledge and expertise associated with the country's first modern public communication service. It was nurtured and passed on to many postmen over the years, and many are sorry and disheartened it has ended.
"We are feeling hollow and sorry because the thing we have been familiar with the most is over. Some of us still cannot get over what is happening," said Mr Kanissorn, head of the telecommunications office supervising nine telegraph clerks at the central office.
The telegraph was the first modern form of public communication for Thai people and was introduced during the reign of King Rama V. It was put in service about eight years before the postal service, another public communication means introduced as part of the country's modernisation.
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| A team of nine telegraphers at the General Post Office works from dawn till late at night as people flock to send telegrams before the service closed down last week. — PHOTOS BY SOMCHAI POOMLARD |
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| People flock to send telegrams before the service terminates. |
During its first years of operation, the telegraph service was largely based on Morse code, comprising a series of dots and dashes to form words.
Telegraph officials normally spent about two years in postal schools, learning postal related businesses with the stress on telegraph related businesses, including Morse code.
They also had to learn the nation's postal codes, memorise and use them accurately.
Good telegraph officials, Mr Kanissorn said, also had to be good at keeping people's secrets. This was particularly important at a time when the telegraph was still popular among business owners.
Officials at the central post office saw the peak of the service's popularity about 30 years ago, when they were required to work around the clock in three separate shifts.
During that period, Morse code was still in use, and there were only a few communication channels, including telephones, available to the general public, Mr Kanissorn recalled.
However, the service started to decline in popularity during the last 10 years, when the use of telegrams dropped sharply.
According to the records of Thailand Post Co Ltd, telegraph counters nationwide accepted some 2.9 million telegrams in 1999. The number dropped to only about 800,000 four years later.
This year, Mr Kanissorn and his team handled only about 100 telegrams a day, mostly containing debt-collecting messages.
This was because telegrams could be used as evidence in court, and that was the reason some sectors kept using the telegram, he said.
"If you asked me whether the service is necessary, I personally would say it still is," said Mr Kanissorn. "Besides some banks, I still believe there still are people in remote areas where even phones are not there for them."
Since the service has been closed, most of the 100 telegraph officials will be transferred to other departments in Thailand Post, according to Thailand Post board member Omsin Chivapruek. The telegraphic equipment would be kept in a museum, he said.
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| Kanissorn Tongsub, head of the telecommunications office. |
People flock to send telegrams before the service terminates. |
Mr Kanissorn said he has not yet decided what he would do next.
Mr Thongchai, meanwhile, has decided to keep on working for Thailand Post for another six years in the accounting department until he reaches retirement.
Min Kolkijkamjorn, a 72-year-old former naval officer who was also familiar with Morse code, said it was a pity the country did away with the telegram service because of a loss in profits.
He said the knowledge and expertise in the telegraph service should be maintained as it could be useful in case digital communications collapsed.
Instead of closing it, he said, relevant agencies should consider reforming it.
"I used the telegraph service regularly and I am sorry to see it is closed," he said.
"We may have to ask ourselves whether we should allow this service to die just because we are too concerned with losses and profits."
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