A bronze statue of socialist intellectual Jit Bhumisak will be unveiled early next month at the scene of his death.
The Jit Bhumisak Foundation will unveil the statue in Sakon Nakhon province on May 5 to mark the 47th anniversary of his fatal shooting.
The statue, which was sculpted and moulded by Sunti Pichetchaiyakul, will stand at the site where he was shot dead by villagers in Ban Nong Kung in Kham Bor sub-district on May 5, 1966.
Sculptor Sunti Pichetchaiyakulstands beside a bronze statue of socialist intellectual Jit Bhumisak, at his studio in Ramkhamhaeng area. The Jit Bhumisak Foundation will unveil the statue in Sakon Nakhon on May 5 to mark the 47th anniversary of his fatal shooting. The statue will stand at the site where he was shot dead by villagers in Ban Nong Kung in Kham Bor sub-district on May 5, 1966. (Photo by Apichit Jinakul)
The Foundation has raised some 1.5 million baht for the construction of the monument and the statute.
Jit was born in Prachin Buri on Sept 25, 1930. He moved to Bangkok to study philology at Chulalongkorn University, where was known as an unorthodox thinker.
During his student years, he published a controversial journal which enraged his fellow undergraduates to such a degree that a group of them threw him from the university's main auditorium stage.
The journal criticised the government and the exploitation of Buddhism by a group he called the phi tong lueng (ghosts of yellow leaves), a term he used to refer to Buddhist monks.
After he graduated, Jit wrote prolifically, including collections of poems and literary reviews, and his seminal work, Chom Na Sakdina Thai (The Real Face of Thai Feudalism), a Marxist history of Thai society.
His anti-nationalist writings, which included a Thai translation of Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto, landed him in trouble with the regime of Marshal Sarit Thanarat, the staunchly anti-communist prime minister of the time.
Jit was branded a threat to the state and he was arrested and jailed in 1957.
He was acquitted and released six years later.
During his prison term, Jit had produced other literature that reflected his studious research and passionate interest in the cultural heritage of other ethnic minorities including the unfinished writing ...Kwampenma Khong Kham Sayam Thai Lao Lae Khom Lae LaksanaThangsangkhom Khong Chue Chonchat (Etymology of the Terms Siam, Thai, Lao, and Khom, and the Social Characteristics of Nationalities).
He joined the Communist Party of Thailand in 1965 and based himself in Sakon Nakhon. He was shot dead by villagers in Ban Nong Kung on May 5, 1966. He was aged 35.
Over time, Jit's legacy has endeared him to left-leaning Thais, especially from the younger generation, who frequently liken him to Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara.
Artist Sunti, 40, was chosen to construct the statue of Jit by Jintana Niempradit, a foundation member who became the copyright owner of Jit's literary works after his last remaining family member, sister Pirom Bhumisak, died last year.
Sunti said he would like to present Jit in unconventional form, eschewing his typical bespectacled image, for a standing, cross-armed stance, wearing shorts and rubber slippers.
"An unwavering Jit, in a down-to-earth and peasant form, looking outwards without fear, should do justice to the legendary Thai hero," said Sunti at his studio in Bangkok. "I feel honoured presenting Jit to the public in this form."
The sculptor, in a manner of showing respect to the man he moulded, had reduced the price from 1.5 million baht to 600,000 baht.
Sunti's works include sculptures of Banharn Silpa-archa, Luang Pu Lim, Luang Pu Luen and Luang Ta Maha Bua. He is now working on a statue of Jesus Christ, to be presented to the Vatican later this year, and one of Lord Buddha.