The Bangkwang Executioner
Translated by Bert Bratoo
The first Corpse:
Looking back at that first time, now over 30 years ago, nobody thought that the young man was anything other that ordinary. He stood on the corner of the stage at Umporn Park Playing Guitar with the band performing that night ‘Mittra’ in ten years he would become the person who could shoot another man with ease.
The fingertips that strummed the guitar strings were to become those that released the trigger to kill a man. He was a man who had hopes of finding good employment just like the next man, but the ‘Winds of fortune’ would blow ’Bom’ Chaowarrj Jaruboonalong a path of employment that very few people wanted to follow. He was to become an executioner.
“I was playing music while I studied at Wat Rachatrirat. I was 18 or 19 years old and a friend persuaded me to join a band he called ‘Shadow’. There was a competition at Suan Umporn. I played the chord guitar. Ate the time there were many G.I.’s around who liked the band and we also went to play at the army base at Ubon Rachathanitoo. From then on I never studied again because I was making money playing music”.
Now in hid 55th year, Chaowarej says that at that time the money to be made from playing music was very good.
“I had never been earnest about playing but I thought that I could take care of myself and gather savings this way, but when the war finished (
But when the war in
The guitar was put away and exchanged for a soldier’s uniform and then, after a short period of conscription, returned to, to be played again.
Then ‘Bom’ went to work for an oil exploration company as a guide. After that his way of life was to change in the extreme when he decided to go and work for the department of corrections.
“When I left the army conscription I went and played music with my friends again, but this time only for a short period. Then I became a guide for the Union Oil Company exploring for oil in
The company stopped and he returned to
“At that time my elder brother worked for the Dept. of Corrections. He said that if I was to remain out of work my kids would suffer and so persuaded me to sit the test for employment with the department. He brought me books and tapes to study from and listen to and after about 7 days I went and took the entrance test”
After passing the test ‘Bom’ went to work at Bang Kwang as a regular prison officer prior to his days as ‘Executioner’. Over a period of time another officer would show him how to set up the gun for an execution, and the method for bringing the condemned prisoner to the execution chamber. He was shown how to approach and ‘zero’ the gun sight and later, how to pull the trigger.
“In 1972 many orders came from the Revolution Committee who had special laws and powers and so when there was an execution I went to watch because officers were expected to be ready. When we had seen an execution we then knew each person responsible for each task. The automatic rifle, it’s cleaning, checking and zeroing on the target.
After that, my name was added to the duty roster. I had to go and take the prisoner to the execution building. I had no idea what I should say to the prisoner or how to explain where I was taking him. Sometimes the prisoner would know what was about to happen and would speak to me about their life, their family, their children but I didn’t know how to answer them”
“My officer told me ‘never mind’ after a time you will get used to it”.
“Later the officer that zeroed the sights on the gun, who was very old said that his eyes were not so good and asked me to help him aim onto the target. It was like this: The prisoner would be tied to a pole with his back to the gun. Between his back and the gun would be hung a cloth and on this cloth a target would be pinned in direct line with the prisoner’s heart, so we had to aim the gun at the ‘Bullseye’ because the executioner did not take aim himself. He would enter, pull the trigger then leave. We had to make everything else ready”.
“Around 1984 one officer retired which left only one executioner. They needed to find a reserve. An announcement was made and there was a lot of talk amongst officers, and much ‘showing off’ but when it came to actually volunteering, they couldn’t do it. They were scared it was a ‘Sin’, scared it would play on their minds. It was not a fun job. It was work that could make evil dwell in their hearts which would make them very unhappy”.
“The Authorities tried reasoning that it didn’t happen very often, some years only 2 or 3 times. They said duty would not fall to us because we would only be in reserve; it was the number one executioner’s job to pull the trigger. They were offered the position but after that no body applied”.
“The first corpse on
“But the feeling, you know…I knew! And I could see the feet. The feet jerked. It wasn’t a very good situation. It was a pitiful situation”.
“We had a short time to prepare because the order of execution came fast. The department had sent the order at 11.am. in 3 hours we shoot!.... It’s that we had good training. We were trained to understand reality and feelings, sensitivity. We learned a lot. It was important not to misuse the power we felt; the feeling? People would ask what it felt like the first time. We did not want to do anything illegal. There are many laws concerning our actions. We have the power to control our feelings. We cannot go in hating when we go to kill a person. That would be breaking the law”.
Although it is killing it is done in abeyance with the law. However, for the people who had this duty their feelings would not be happy for sure”.
Bom says that the most important thing is the way the heart is feeling before the trigger is pulled.
“Is it a sin? It’s a normal situation you know but it’s not about whether it is difficult or not, it is in the intention. If your thoughts are bad, if your thoughts are evil, then it is an evil deed. The important thing is that we don’t go making judgments and thinking about the wrong he had done. We must not think of satisfaction. If we don’t cut this out it can become dangerous”.
“There are small rituals. A sprinkle of consecrated water can help. But really the most important is before the firing”
Many executions, many corpses taken away. Bom says that the thing that is very bad is when it is necessary for him to carry out his duty with a female prisoner.
“It is specialty work. When it is time for an execution there has to be specialized officers. There will be somebody who signals the firing of the gun, somebody who aims the gun and so on. Altogether 12 people. It’s not that there is an executioners section with capacity staff, and the executioners don’t call themselves that, they refer to each other as ‘shooting officers’”
“The feeling is always very bad, but is extremely bad when it’s a woman. I have shot 2 women. If it’s a woman all the officers feel reluctance. We don’t know what she has done to end up like this. They order execution, we must execute. Usually the details of the case come along as well although I never read them before I shoot. I never look at the name, whether I know them? Or who they are? And what they have done because otherwise I would falter or be swayed. We must have mindfulness to go and finish the job then return to do our duty once again”.
“But if we go and read that this person has killed a child, or raped, the heart it will start to agonize. It can create madness… evil thinking. It will only bring a painful heart; it will cause a lot of turmoil”.
Altogether 55 corpses over 29 years. Enough for ‘Bom’ who feels that now is a good time for changes in the method of execution to come about. A change in the law means that death by ‘firing squad’ (Marksman) has now been outlawed and replaced by lethal injection. This began on
“It is a good period for us. If the new law had not been introduced, we wouldn’t have been allowed to step down. If we had wanted to transfer to another prison they wouldn’t have let us go because nobody wanted to replace us. Everybody says that the job is easy, they show off and say things like ‘Bang Bang and go!’ But actually it is not that easy at all”
When asked why we have laws that allow us to kill people, he says:
“There are 90 countries or more that have capital punishment. Some of those countries outlawed the death penalty, and then later re-introduced it. The method of killing is not always the same. If you want to ask me should we have capital punishment I cannot answer, it’s up to you. Where do you stand?”
“If you were a relative of the victim, and the victim were murdered for their mobile phone or your daughter had just graduated from high school and was raped and murdered you would want the guilty party to die. The guilty party’s family would probably think differently and want their relative to live. Human rights organizations want something else. Criminal analyst’s say that punishing convicts should not include any form of physical retribution. Everyone thinks differently, has varying opinions based on a range of motives and thus there is no single answer, no real truth”
“If people in society know good from bad and don’t cause harm to each other the death penalty would not be necessary but in reality it is not like this”.
Translated from ‘Mars’
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