Bangkok Undertaker Arrested

[PigDogg]

Undertaker arrested for hiding some 200 fetuses in temple

An undertaker has been arrested for allegedly assisting five abortion clinics to dispose some 200 aborted fetuses.

Suthep Cha-bangbon, 46, an undertaker of Phai Ngern Temple on Soi Trokchan 20 in Bang Kholaem district, has been arrested, a police source said.

Initially, Suthep claimed that he was the one who spotted the aborted fetuses and alerted police.

He claimed he did not know how the fetues had ended up being hidden in one of temporary body storage of the temple pending cremation.

But after he was taken to Wat Phayakrai police station for questioning, he admitted that he was hired by five abortion clinics to dispose the fetuses.

[guydesavoy]

At least they had a decent resting place

[manarak]

a crime without victim

[richmond]

That depends on your atitude towards abortion.

[manarak]

well, no...
the alleged crime here is not the abortion itself but rather the unlawful disposal of the foetuses.

he didn't do the abortion and he did'nt push the women to abortion.

plus, for the posted text, it is not clear whether these foetuses came from illegal abortions, or if he just disposed of them in a different way than the law prescribes.

[Steff]

Whatever. It is all conjecture and speculation from those of us not directly involved or in the know, so for a topic bending towards the abortion issue I would respectfully advise all to avoid this thread. Just let it go or I fear it will turn nasty. Just let it go.
PigDogg, perhaps unwittingly you've started a double-wicker-fire-cracker. Help the comrades retreat.

[manarak]

I'm always happy to know the opinions of everyone.
There won't be name calling from me.
:-)

[Jake_Sully]

Well its gross! The guy who collects fetuses clearly has issues!

[manarak]

I think it was just a matter of money.

[Rocket J. Squirrel]

What I find most interesting about this story is the discussion of amulets called "Gumantong" that could possibly contain fluids that can be made from fetuses. Today at work I was speaking  with a Laotian guy who says that back in the war soldiers would wear these amulets when they needed serious protection.  I guess that this can get pretty serious once it gets past the plastic baby phase.

I hate to recommend it but the thread about this on Thai Geezah today was pretty interesting.  Take a look and watch the topic grow over there...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum....-temple


LivinLOS's quote there gives a bit of an intro to this:

It's pronounce as "Gu Man Thong", but there is a few variance to his name. Some ppl call Gumantong, Kumantong & Gumanthong. Also some ppl just use the word GMT or KMT to represent. More ppl name it as Gumantong.

Gumantong is a Thai amulet (yin amulet) created in the form of a lovely young child, but it's really a ghost. It's was first created in the early of Ayuthaya era or some 500 years ago during Khun Paen's life period. It can be said that Khun Paen was the first who created Gumantong. He brought the dead baby from the womb of the dead Bua Klee, one of his minor wife, to the Bosth's outer area within Pathasima marking boundary pillars for ritual processes. Bosth is the major chanting hall where the main Buddha image of the temple is placed. Bosth and its outer area are so sacred place that no mighty ghosts or spirits can enter to make any harassment. By the legendary descriptions, Khun Paen was chanting some important Mantras to activate the spirit of Gumantong while baking the dead baby on the fire. Khun Paen was a military general in the early Ayuthaya era.

It's Thai belief that a mother who died with her baby in the womb may become a very mighty ferocious ghost, Thai people call such the ghost PHI TAI TONG KLOM. By Thai traditon, any pregnant lady who died in that manner will not be cremated immediately in all cases, believing that it will make the spirit of the dead unhappy and may activate her to become the vicious ghost. Creating Gumantong in the ancient time was very thrilling. The master had to go to the graveyard alone in the night, dig up the corpse, cut the corpse's abdomen bringing the dead baby out, and then rush directly to the nearest Bosth's outer area for baking processes.That's the safe place to protect the ghost mother from trying to bring her baby back. So only the strong-mind person who possesses the advanced magical knowledge to fight the ghost could do this. If the ghost child is very fierce (can€™t rest in peace), the monk or master will have to chant daily for years till the hatred & sin is cleansed.

The original form of the Gumantong is actually a dead infant, but it is traditionally created in the form of a young child in different shapes, sizes & forms with various materials, such as wood, bronze, ivory tusk, plaster,etc. The main purpose of creating Gumantong in the ancient time is for protecting the owner. The young child ghost could be activated with Mantra to fight the owner's enemies or to protect the owner's treasures.

In the present day the monks or masters seldom uses the dead infants to create the Gumantong. But more commonly they create it with varies material including things like corpse soil (死尸泥), corpses oil & activate their lives by holy Mantras. They are uses for various purposes, including for black magic, winning in gamble, guarding the house, protecting the owner's house or personal protection, etc.

I knew that there are some very evil Gumantong are create by black magic monks, guru or master, those Gumantong are uses to do bad things. That will add on the bad karma to the person owning it. Some Gumantong are very difficult to tame & they even need to be feed on blood. It's easy to have them as your ghost child but not so easy if you decided not to want it anymore. Must bring to Thai temple & let the monks keep it in the temple.

Any one who wants to worship Gumantong should be acknowledged with some important practices :

1. Food offering must be presented at least once a day.

2. Toy offering must also be presented occasionally, it's just because Gumantong is a young child(spirit), he likes playing toys as another human child.

3. The worshiper should love Gumantong as his/her son. For the 1st personal pronoun you call yourself "father" or "mother"; for the 2nd personal pronoun you call him "my son" ; and for the 3rd personal pronoun you just call his name Guman Thong.

4. Any house that has small child/children, it's recommended that should not bring in and worship Guman Thong because he may envy your child/children whom you pay all love to.

Worshipping Guman Thong needs deliberate practices. But if you can do it completely as recommended, he will be a good great fortune bringer.

[PigDogg]

Freakenomics 101:

Roe v Wade affected the crime rate in America 20+ years later.

If abortion was completely legalized and also destigmatized in the LOS it would reduce the number of bargirls in Pattaya. I find it somewhat sad when a bargirl says she has a young child and as a result she is sleping with smelly falangs, and yes I know she has other options.

I think abortion is only legal in Thailand if the health of the mother would be impacted and in cases of rape or incest.

[kahuna]

(PigDogg @ Nov. 17 2010,12:24) I think abortion is only legal in Thailand if the health of the mother would be impacted and in cases of rape or incest.

The mental health of the female as well as physical health...Appartently it's a kinda up to the doctor thing...

[manarak]

it is always up to the doc...
who would dare to challenge a medical certificate?
Certainly not a little government employee!

[PigDogg]

They just found another 1000 fetuses.

If you were wondering why they weren't cremated here's the answer:

They would normally have disposed of the corpses by placing them with the remains of people being cremated, but the furnaces had broken and the number of stored bodies had built up while repair work was carried out.

A typical Thai reaction by Abhisit when asked about abortion law.  

"This reflects the severity of the problem," said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, although he rejected suggestions that the abortion law be amended, saying it was "flexible enough".