Democracy group calls for plaque, monument return

Democracy group calls for plaque, monument return

A pro-democracy group yesterday called on the House committee on religious affairs, arts and culture to help locate the missing Khana Ratsadon plaque and the Constitutional Defence Monument.

Saharat Chanthasuwan, representative of the Silpakorn Community for Democracy, yesterday submitted a petition to Sutthawan Suban na Ayutthaya, deputy chairwoman of the panel, urging the committee to investigate the disappearance of the item and the monument.

The 1932 revolution memorial plaque, which was embedded near the equestrian statue of King Chulalongkorn at the Royal Plaza, disappeared in 2017.

Meanwhile, the monument, which marked the victory over the royalist counterrevolution in 1933, was removed to make way for the construction of the Green Line electric train. It was a registered historical site.

According to the Silpakorn Community for Democracy, the group asked the Fine Arts Department to locate the plaque and the monument in late September and gave the department two weeks to respond. Two months have passed and the group has not received a reply.

The group said the brass plaque and the monument were of historic significance as they were symbols of people's fight for democracy and represented major changes to the country.

It claimed the department was in charge of safeguarding cultural heritage and the lack of progress in finding the item and the monument could be seen as inaction that might undermine the country's historical values.

Ms Sutthawan, a Move Forward Party MP for Nakhon Pathom, said yesterday she would ask the panel to consider summoning concerned parties to clarify facts about the disappearance of the plaque and the monument.

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