Thread: Famed ‘Death Railway’ stirs Thai debate on UNESCO World Heritage application

A train used by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II to transport munitions is displayed at the Arts Gallery and War Museum near the River Kwai Bridge in Thailand's Kanchanaburi province on July 24. | KYODO

Famed ‘Death Railway’ stirs Thai debate on UNESCO World Heritage application

BY PRANGTHONG JITCHAROENKUL
KANCHANABURI, THAILAND – As Thailand pushes for a notorious railway built by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II to become a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, local residents are debating whether its widely known nickname, the “Death Railway,” should be used in the campaign.
The debate is framed by a strong sense that future generations must be taught history for what it is, and on the other hand by a concern that using the popular name could cause a diplomatic rift with Japan, with which Thailand has built long-standing ties.
At a recent public hearing in Kanchanaburi, capital of the western province of the same name, nearly half of the 450 or so participants from four districts along the Thai-Burma Railway raised their hands in agreement when asked if they were concerned that using the name Death Railway could cause bad feelings and unnecessary friction with Japan.
Borvornvate Rungrujee, president of the Thai chapter of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS Thailand), has advised Thailand not to use Death Railway for the official heritage designation on the grounds that doing so would seem like directing blame at Japan.
“We will mention in the tentative list (of potential properties for nomination) that the railway can also be called Death Railway, but I do not recommend using it as an official one,” Borvornvate said at the July 22 hearing, adding that Japanese officials have expressed concerns.
The roughly 400-km railway connecting Thailand and what is now Myanmar was built to support Japanese forces in the Burma campaign of the war, using Allied prisoners of war and Asian civilians, including Thais, as forced labor.
Construction began in 1942 and was completed in slightly over a year. But harsh conditions and diseases like malaria took large tolls, with the undertaking thought to have claimed the lives of over 100,000 people, many of them POWs.
The sites envisioned for listing by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization include a dark steel bridge that was featured in the 1957 Oscar-winning movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai.”
Others include the Tham Krasae Bridge, a wooden viaduct that hugs a cliff along the Khwae Noi River; Hellfire Pass, a narrow stage completed quickly but with tremendous loss of human life; and the Chong Kai Allied War Cemetery, where many Allied POWs were buried.
Local authorities claim the proposed sites, which draw many foreign tourists to the region, present an outstanding example of human interaction with the environment and are associated with ideas or beliefs of outstanding universal significance.
A preliminary draft for World Heritage recognition is expected to be submitted to a government working group after September.
If recommended by the Thai government, the tentative list will be handed over to the UNESCO World Heritage Secretariat in English and French by early 2020.
Pisun Chansilp, Kanchanaburi Province’s chief cultural affairs official, said the main objective of pushing the railway for World Heritage designation is to have it serve as a reminder to mankind that war should not happen again.
Echoing the view of ICOMOS Thailand President Borvornvate, Pisun said the proposal is not intended to highlight how cruel the Japanese soldiers were. He instead suggests that an alternative like “Historical Railway — World War II” be used as the official title.
At the public hearing, however, half the participants seemed to view Death Railway as the most suitable title because it is the bridge’s most internationally recognizable name.
“I insist on using the same well-known name. I do not want to point out Japan’s past conduct, nor do I blame them, but it is the fact,” one participant said.
ICOMOS Thailand will hold a meeting to finalize the name later this year. If its application succeeds, the historic railway will become Thailand’s first World Cultural Heritage site in 25 years, according to the group,
“It is not about blaming each other now. It is the past and we can learn from it,” said Chutimon Sitthiwong, a 42-year-old tour guide who said visiting railway-related museums in Kanchanaburi would be an eye-opener. “The point is that the cruel war must not happen again.”

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20.../#.W3dcS-hKjIU

this is a TRUE REMINDER of how cruel certain soldiers where,their past conduct we can all learn from it say's a 42yr.old tour guide,start by getting certain groups of japans tourists to show some respect.the last time i visited the site,i saw them snearing at the gravestones and walking over the grave's.if the wife had not pulled me away i might not be writing this today.
LET THEM ALL REST IN PEACE. AND LEAVE WELL ALONE.

Hmmm. The Thais bending over backwards not to offend the Japanese. Where have we seen that before?

Oh yes - December 1941 until the end of WW2.

The sites envisioned for listing by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization include a dark steel bridge that was featured in the 1957 Oscar-winning movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai.”

Not the same as the one in reality...

Yes, that’s a bit of a snag.

Originally Posted by Chittychangchang

.......... how cruel the Japanese soldiers were.

Like dropping nukes on civilians or grid bombing an entire country with cancerous chemicals that caused mutated babies for generations to come?

Originally Posted by Klondyke

Not the same as the one in reality...

Nor is the real historic perspective and interpretation....
To be expected from the usual circles.

Originally Posted by HuangLao

Nor is the real historic perspective and interpretation....
To be expected from the usual circles.

Knee jerk reaction from the usual uneducated plebe.

Still, consider the source.....

Originally Posted by Klondyke

Not the same as the one in reality...

It keeps the racist happy to be able to relive and keep fresh in one's mind all the evil wars losers did and still do. Forgetting their own brave lads were equally brutalised and performed equally evil acts, quietly forgotten and unshown in the historic Hollywood renditions.

Originally Posted by OhOh

It keeps the racist happy to be able to relive and keep fresh in one's mind all the evil wars losers did and still do. Forgetting their own brave lads were equally brutalised and performed equally evil acts, quietly forgotten and unshown in the historic Hollywood renditions.

Indeed, all quite pathetic.
Real history is usually forgotten and manipulated within an Eurocentric-based realm.

Kinda reminds me when Singapore decided to make a new airport as the one at Payar Lebar was too small. They decided to call it Changi airport. You should have seen the uproar from Australians objecting to naming it after a Japanese concentration camp.
The Singaporean government commented that Changi is just a place name, that it still exists and that they were going to build an airport there.

Absolute drivel, there was no such umbrage unless it was limited to a bunch of drink-sodden ockers convening in some squalid Brisbane bar after watching Merry Christmas, Mr.Lawrence.

Changi was the name of the village near which the prison was sited, was the name of the subsequent British airbase that remained there until 1971/2 known as RAF Changi, was home to the RAF Changi Grammar School and the name given to the local yacht club in the 1950s.

Appeasing Japs and sparing the little yellow bastards' blushes over their savage butchery in the war is typical of Asian hypocrisy. Remember, half of the Thai were collaborators even though the Nipponese swine killed thousands of locals too.
The little fuckers gloss over the war and are trying to expunge it from their entire educational system.

Asians hate having their grubby little snouts rubbed into the mire of truth, especially if money is to be risked which is all the more reason for reminding them of harsh realities.

Originally Posted by foobar

Like dropping nukes on civilians or grid bombing an entire country with cancerous chemicals that caused mutated babies for generations to come?

Yesterday night I have been watching on NHK World (Japan) a (Japanese) film about the after war struggling in Tokyo.
Quite decently (and softly) spoken, showing interesting documentary footages with entries of American historians.

Enormous corruption on black market at both sides, discovery of a hidden huge Japanese golden fortune (and its disappearance) "entertainments centers" for occupation forces, involvement of Japanese military officers in preparation for subversive actions against other countries...

Just when typing this, seeing that it's just repeating - Tokyo Black Hole.

Unbelievable how the movie mixed the actor (narrating the film) inside the old documentary fottages.
E.g. : people steping down from train and he is among them...
Moving behind the people at market...

Originally Posted by Seekingasylum

it was limited to a bunch of drink-sodden ockers

So 80% of the population.

Originally Posted by Seekingasylum

Appeasing Japs and sparing the little yellow bastards' blushes over their savage butchery in the war is typical of Asian hypocrisy.

But missing from western narrative, eh?

Originally Posted by Seekingasylum

Remember, half of the Thai were collaborators even though the Nipponese swine killed thousands of locals too.
The little fuckers gloss over the war and are trying to expunge it from their entire educational system.

I presume western education systems also highlight their own evil deeds, eh?

A proud Oz bigot eh?

Originally Posted by nidhogg

Hmmm. The Thais bending over backwards not to offend the Japanese. Where have we seen that before?

Oh yes - December 1941 until the end of WW2.

so say all of us... so very true...seems thai know where their breads buttered.
is it poss that world heritage will/can insist on the name.

Originally Posted by foobar

Like dropping nukes on civilians or grid bombing an entire country with cancerous chemicals that caused mutated babies for generations to come?

oh dear jap lover are we. there aint no civilians in war. do agree ref nam tho

nicely put gent.

may i be so bold as to suggest u get out more ohoh.

(ICOMOS Thailand), has advised Thailand not to use Death Railway for the official heritage designation on the grounds that doing so would seem like directing blame at Japan.

But...But the Japs were directly to blame.

Attempting to muddy the water by bringing up other instances of atrocities is of no help.

Each needs to be treated as an individual case and blame laid where it falls not to do so is only obscuring history for the benefit of the guilty.