The Story of Pornpet Muensri

On 31 May 2004, Pornpet Muensri was killed by an unknown assailant whilst walking on the land she had once tried to protect in a rural corner of Nakhon Sawan Province in central Thailand. She died instantly and alone, a tragic end to a woman who had famously fought for justice since the 1960s. This was a woman whose struggle had featured in scores of Thai and English newspaper articles, a rare occurrence at that time for a rural woman fighting for land rights. During the years of protest Pornpet had ridden a buffalo to the Office of the Prime Minister, led a 400-day protest in Bangkok sleeping on the street, and was seconds away from self-immolation. In total, her struggle spanned four decades before she finally got her land back, ultimately receiving a national award as a hero and champion of human rights. Despite her Bangkok fame, her death was announced as a small editorial afterthought in one Thai language newspaper, and then her memory began to fade — until the discovery of her archive by Thai professor Sinith Sitirat, who visited her home. For Pornpet had archived her life and struggle by keeping every document she had ever petitioned to the Government, diaries spanning decades, every newspaper clipping ever printed about her, hand-written notes, photographs, maps, and even an unpublished autobiography composed in eleven notebooks. Photographer Luke Duggleby and Thai journalist Nicha Wachpanich learnt of the archive, gained access and began piecing her life together, combining this with countless trips to the area to meet remaining relatives and those who had known her, in order to understand the true nature of her character. What they uncovered was much more complex than the official version. The archived legacy of Pornpet stood in stark contrast to the opinions of local villagers — those who had also been impacted by the same land issues and abuses of state power. To those in the capital Bangkok she was seen as a defiant rights defender, a feminist hero who had overturned the stereotypical rural gender roles. But to the villagers of Nong Bua, still fighting in the courts for the rights to their land, the story of Pornpet Muensri was far more complicated. The woman Bangkok celebrated as a hero was not quite the figure they recognised. Following years of investigation, Luke and Nicha have teamed up with UK-based Southeast Asia specialist book publisher Catfish Books and book designer Francois Langella to publish a book telling this story in full. More to come.