The Bangkok Post marked its 80th anniversary yesterday having been established on August 1, 1946. Over the years the newspaper has witnessed tumultuous times and the fact it has survived more than a dozen coups and several major political upheavals, is quite an achievement.
Having been associated with the newspaper for many years I would like to offer a few reflections on my early days with the Post. It was a very different era. There were plenty of dramatic stories, some of them quite painful, but today’s column will stick strictly to the lighter side.
I joined in November 1969 when the office was located on Ratchadamnoen Avenue, close to the Democracy Monument. The Post later moved to the U-Chuliang Building opposite Lumpini Park and the present location in Klong Toey.
The editorial department at Ratchadamnoen was small so you soon got to know everybody very quickly. It was a cosmopolitan work force almost rivalling the United Nations. In addition to the Thais who were mainly reporters we had Aussies, Americans, British, Burmese, Canadians, Filipinos, Indonesians, Indians, Kiwis, Pakistanis and one Egyptian. Each person had a fascinating tale to tell. Despite this melting pot of cultures everyone got on quite well.
The newsroom was much noisier in those days with a non-stop soundtrack of clattering teleprinters and typewriters. I loved watching the teleprinters burst into action especially when the English football results were coming in. Adding to the busy feel to the newsroom were the copy boys who were on hand to take the edited stories to be typed. They would be alerted by the senior sub-editors with shouts of ”copy!”. One Thai reporter told me he thought the sub-editors were a thirsty lot because they kept calling for “coffee!”.
The more things change…
That was of course in pre-internet days and with the local television news being very unreliable the English-language newspapers were a vital source of news particularly for businessmen and diplomats.
There were regular stories concerning corruption, malfeasance, gambling dens, dark influences, exam cheats, illegal vendors, potholes in pavements and traffic mayhem. Another major story was the Kra Canal (currently masquerading as the Land Bridge). So in many ways things have not changed too much over the past four decades.
Actually the most talked about story featured the wife of a leading western businessman working for an international company, who left her husband and ran off with a tuk-tuk driver to Korat. Alas it didn’t have a fairytale ending.
The horseshoe desk
I began with a brief but invaluable stint as a proofreader which proved just the right job for providing an insight into Thailand. Many of the other proofreaders were from Burma and it soon became apparent they had a better command of English grammar than myself although admittedly that wasn’t too difficult. However proofreaders always seemed to get the blame if an error appeared. I made my fair share of mistakes especially with those long Thai family names.
After a couple of months I graduated to sub-editor which entailed the terrors of having to write meaningful headlines in a very tight space. It also involved making sense of some of the convoluted local political stories. We sat at a traditional horseshoe-shaped desk with the chief sub-editor in the middle. There was plenty of good-natured banter especially when the Aussies, Poms and Kiwis got together.
Those early days were exciting and I actually enjoyed going to work. You can’t ask more than that from a job.
Paste-up party
Something I loved about those early days was the interaction with the Thai paste-up men with whom we worked closely on page design. They were a constant reminder that you were in Thailand and not some operation in Fleet Street. At Ratchadamnoen they were also physically close, working right next to the newsdesk.
The paste-up guys were all characters and one in particular, who I have written about before, was Chalie. He hailed from Borabue in Maha Sarakham and had a strong Isan accent. Chalie loved singing and it was not unusual for him to suddenly burst forth into song in the middle of work. Chalie sang a host of plaintive Isan songs on the lines of “I left my heart in Borabue”.
He also loved having a bash at western pop songs and was particularly fond of Kung Fu Fighting and Guantanamera which were big hits in Thailand. The fact that he didn’t know the words did not bother him and he simply made up his own lyrics.
At New Year or any other celebration Chalie and the crew really knew how to party as long as there were adequate supplies of Mekhong or even better, the odd bottle of Scotch.
Matter of opinion
Since those early days the Letters to the Editor have always been an important ingredient of the newspaper. It is said that the number of letters is inversely proportional to the importance of the topic. That’s why they can be fun to read because people get excited over the strangest things. Over the years the Post has received passionate letters over the price of doughnuts, stuffed squirrels, noisy chickens, fake crocodile shoes, spoilt rich kids, smelly durian and the first hearing of Jingle Bells.
Anyway a happy anniversary to the Post and everyone who has worked for the paper over the years.
