Bangkok bombing: Governor defends rushed reopening of Erawan Shrine

[webfact]

Bangkok Bombing: Governor Defends Rushed Reopening of Shrine
By Khaosod English


A small army of city workers power washed the scene of Monday night's crime on Tuesday morning.

BANGKOK — As the investigation into Monday’s bomb attack appears stalled, a multi-faith service was held this morning at the site, the rapid reopening of which has put Bangkok’s governor on the defensive over criticism authorities scrubbed and reopened the crime scene too soon.

Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra was present this morning as clerics and spiritual representatives of five religions made merit at the Erawan Shrine for the 20 souls killed at the site, the cleaning of which the next morning and reopening Wednesday raised alarms about the loss of evidence from the scene.

“If we didn’t clean, you would criticize me,” Sukhumbhand told reporters today after being asked if the clean-up operation was premature. “Now that I cleaned it, you think I my actions are suspect.”

The decision to clean the site was his, he said, saying that because no agency requested city hall to clean up the site, it was his duty to order it done.

“If the government did not order us otherwise, we had to do it,” he said. “Think about it: The government didn’t forbid us from cleaning the scene. If I didn’t clean, people will say that Bangkok’s administration is incompetent.”

Officials appear to be keen on restoring the blasted shrine to its original form as soon as possible. Yesterday city workers cut out the part of the shrine’s railings that were bent by the massive explosion, replacing it with a new one. The blast crater was also filled.

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1440137916


-- Khaosod English 2015-08-21

[Jingthing]

He's right that he would have been criticized for leaving blood and body parts in the streets ... but it seems to me a better priority balance could have been managed of collecting all possible evidence first and I also still don't get the wild rush to reopen so soon.

[taony]

Nobody asked you to do it because it shouldn't have been done.

[Mackie]

In my humble opinion he did the right thing. You've got to show to 'dark forces' that they cannot kill the spirit of the country and her people. The sooner the life gets back to normalcy the better. That will send a message to terrorists. You can't win. Life goes on.

[JHolmesJr]

As anyone who has worked or lived or even set foot in thailand for a short period of time will testify….thais have their own logic and you will give yourself an ulcer trying to figure their thinking out….best to just smile and walk on.

[Thian]

Cleaning: Yes.

Opening: Nope

Actually this would be a good moment to close this shrine forever and move it to another place where it can be much bigger. It is a strange place anyway for a very holy place, in between hotels at the most busy junction of a metropole.

Now it all looks like the business has to continue, no matter what happened.

And what's the difference anyway between opening or keeping it closed? People can also see it through the fence and maybe even light a candle there.

A huge huge pile of flowers, candles, last notes, pictures of familymembers would also look like this place is very important and nobody can stop us.

[Jingthing]

Human remains fell from a tree?

Ouch!

[Charlie Croker]

Best thing for the country is to carry on as normal. To show this threat is not likely to be repeated in a hurry.

Arrest the bombers and hang them high. Enhanced interrogation techniques should be used to ensure the find out exactly who is behind this and then persecute them too

[JHolmesJr]

…... two days after the attack and several hours after the site was reopened to the public, human remains fell down from a tree. They were later collected by police.

O my god….such muppetry.

[Strangebrew]

Damned if you do damned if you don't. But eitherway it had to be done.

[cumgranosalum]

He's right that he would have been criticized for leaving blood and body parts in the streets ... but it seems to me a better priority balance could have been managed of collecting all possible evidence first and I also still don't get the wild rush to reopen so soon.

Unlikely...if the place had been teated as a crime scene, it would have been cordoned off and screens erected whilst the place was given a through going over......

but this is par for the course - vis-a-vis Khao Tao, the police don't seem to have the fundamentals of how to set up and inspect a crime scene......

[Stocky]

He's right that he would have been criticized for leaving blood and body parts in the streets ... but it seems to me a better priority balance could have been managed of collecting all possible evidence first and I also still don't get the wild rush to reopen so soon.

Well he could only have cleaned up and reopened because the police had relinquished control of the crime scene, any issues with the incomplete collection of material and body parts is down to the police not the Governor.

He could hard leave it blood splattered and buzzing with flies!

[Katipo]

Cleaning: Yes.

Opening: Nope

Actually this would be a good moment to close this shrine forever and move it to another place where it can be much bigger. It is a strange place anyway for a very holy place, in between hotels at the most busy junction of a metropole.

Now it all looks like the business has to continue, no matter what happened.

And what's the difference anyway between opening or keeping it closed? People can also see it through the fence and maybe even light a candle there.

A huge huge pile of flowers, candles, last notes, pictures of familymembers would also look like this place is very important and nobody can stop us.

It is at the location for a reason. When they built the Erawan Hotel there were a few construction related deaths which lead people to believe the place was cursed. The shrine was constructed to appease whichever spirit they'd pissed off.

The popularity of the shrine came later when people started to claim it was fulfilling their prayers.

[MockingJay]

Whatever the governor would do or not after the blast in regards of securing or cleaning the site would have resulted in some people opposing to the decision. You simply can't make each and everyone happy...

Edited August 21, 2015 by MockingJay

[Traveller45]

All full of it. "Hey look do you think this is a toe?" In Dresden after the 1945 bombing, when it had cooled a little, people visited and stumbled over what looked like cut branches of a tree, like wood. Strangely there was no forest nearby...

[flyingdoc]

Fine, providing all the critical evidence needed has been collected ?

[yellowboat]

In my humble opinion he did the right thing. You've got to show to 'dark forces' that they cannot kill the spirit of the country and her people. The sooner the life gets back to normalcy the better. That will send a message to terrorists. You can't win. Life goes on.

You are partially correct, but by not allowing or rushing forensic teams to do their job, you may forgo capture and conviction. The families of those who were lost deserve better

[realenglish1]

Hats off to the Governor He is right that if he did nothing people would have complained. Without question he did the right thing

[Fat Haggis]

He's right that he would have been criticized for leaving blood and body parts in the streets ... but it seems to me a better priority balance could have been managed of collecting all possible evidence first and I also still don't get the wild rush to reopen so soon.

Body parts removal can be done by experts, without wiping out the entire place for evidence, don't forget, all these body parts are also "evidence", as soon as the human remains had been removed, the crime scene should have been slosed off and a finger tip, fine tooth comb search of the area conducted, 3KG's of explosive would give you a pretty good indication of a detonation zone, at least 100M's all around SHOULD have been cordoned off.. it wasn't.

Shades of Koh Tao here, in that they were/are far too concerned about the impact of tourism, over gathering up all the evidence piece by piece.

Don't forget, this Somyot bozo stated it was a "special bomb" that left no trace, and that's why the place was cleaned faster than a short time hotel room!! What complete and utter crap, there is no such thing as a bomb that leaves zero evidence!!!!

[grabitanrun]

Yes,

He did the right thing repairing it, maybe remaining closed for a short while as a sign of respect might have been good, but nonetheless as long as the police had gathered all the evidence then it was the right thing to do

[BlindMagician]

Shows a fundamental lack amongst senior officials of being able to think - surely he should check first with those responsible for "CSI" before ordering the site to be cleaned, confirm with CSI that there is a security ring around the site, put up visual barriers if needed to block out any gruesome view of body parts and blood, get CSI to do the job fully, then clean up. If he gets criticsm, simply state tihs process as the required proper response. Not difficult, is it?

[recom273]

Cleaning: Yes.

Opening: Nope

Actually this would be a good moment to close this shrine forever and move it to another place where it can be much bigger. It is a strange place anyway for a very holy place, in between hotels at the most busy junction of a metropole.

Now it all looks like the business has to continue, no matter what happened.

And what's the difference anyway between opening or keeping it closed? People can also see it through the fence and maybe even light a candle there.

A huge huge pile of flowers, candles, last notes, pictures of familymembers would also look like this place is very important and nobody can stop us.

It is at the location for a reason. When they built the Erawan Hotel there were a few construction related deaths which lead people to believe the place was cursed. The shrine was constructed to appease whichever spirit they'd pissed off.

The popularity of the shrine came later when people started to claim it was fulfilling their prayers.

Move the shrine .. Lol

The above post is totally correct.

To add that most of the prayers were to do with success in the casinos.

Edited August 21, 2015 by recom273

[MZurf]

Yes,

He did the right thing repairing it, maybe remaining closed for a short while as a sign of respect might have been good, but nonetheless as long as the police had gathered all the evidence then it was the right thing to do

The point is that the BIB hadn't collected all the evidence. If they had then reporters would not have found parts from the bomb and body parts would not have fallen down from trees.

[elgordo38]

He's right that he would have been criticized for leaving blood and body parts in the streets ... but it seems to me a better priority balance could have been managed of collecting all possible evidence first and I also still don't get the wild rush to reopen so soon.

Tourism, money comes to mind. The sooner they get this behind them the sooner tourists will flock? back. People have short memories and maybe a morbid curiosity.

[Bezdomny]

Somebody was in a hurry to clean the place of all evidence . Usually around the world investigation takes days or weeks don't you think?

[Thian]

Cleaning: Yes.

Opening: Nope

Actually this would be a good moment to close this shrine forever and move it to another place where it can be much bigger. It is a strange place anyway for a very holy place, in between hotels at the most busy junction of a metropole.

Now it all looks like the business has to continue, no matter what happened.

And what's the difference anyway between opening or keeping it closed? People can also see it through the fence and maybe even light a candle there.

A huge huge pile of flowers, candles, last notes, pictures of familymembers would also look like this place is very important and nobody can stop us.

It is at the location for a reason. When they built the Erawan Hotel there were a few construction related deaths which lead people to believe the place was cursed. The shrine was constructed to appease whichever spirit they'd pissed off.

The popularity of the shrine came later when people started to claim it was fulfilling their prayers.

Move the shrine .. Lol

The above post is totally correct.

To add that most of the prayers were to do with success in the casinos.

Yes if i was the CEO of Hyatt Erawan i would have moved or closed the shrine. Bombs on the premises of a 5* hotel aren't good for business.

I didn't know it belonged to the Erawan hotel though, i assumed they named the hotel to an ancient shrine which was there for century's.

Also i would have bought that whole cheap mall connected to the Erawan, they only sell B-choice products and i can't imagine 5* guests will buy anything there.

[allan michaud]

In my humble opinion he did the right thing. You've got to show to 'dark forces' that they cannot kill the spirit of the country and her people. The sooner the life gets back to normalcy the better. That will send a message to terrorists. You can't win. Life goes on.

So it's ok to clean the site before the forensics team has finished? The BBC correspondent managed to find numerous bits of shrapnel yesterday, which hardly inspires confidence in Thailand's ability to investigate this properly.

[SPB65]

They did it all too quickly. Not enough time to collect all the evidence which has resulted in the embarrassing situation with the BBC finding shrapnel yesterday. Everything the Thais do or don't do smacks of inexperience and the authorities pulling in different directions. Time and again we see the utter mess they make of just basic police investigation work and the departmentmental one upmanship that ensures thereafter. In a word "Thainess".

[SupermarineS6B]

Well done, it's the best response, show the culprits that Thailand's not phased by this evil terrorist act...... And when the culprits caught, hang him for all to see.........

[Jingthing]

Reading between the lines it seems clear there was no plan in place for a coordinated and logical response to a terror event of this magnitude. So in that sense this action is more defensible but it was also clearly not ideal in terms of evidence gathering and also international PR.

Edited August 21, 2015 by Jingthing