Besides serving as a gathering site for the rallies, the temple
grounds were also the place where ceremonies for the assassinated
leader Charoen Wataksorn were held. A whole room inside the
temple has been permanently dedicated to him, containing his pictures
and texts from his speeches. In addition, a small resource
centre and seminar room were built, where groups come together
to learn about the actions of the movement in Bo Nok and plan new
activities and strategies (Fig. 3). The main material object on the
temple grounds, however, is a 3.5 m bronze statue of Charoen,
which was erected close to the place this leader was shot in
2004. It stands adjacent to the Southern Highway – which was
blocked during the protest movement – which means that every
day tens of thousands of people are confronted with the events
that happened in Bo Nok when they drive past. The fact that it is
a statue of a ‘‘normal’’ citizen – as opposed to someone from the
royal family – as well as its non-realist artistic style, are exceptional
for Thailand. Usually, statues in Thailand are realistic in
style, reserved for members of the royal family or Buddhist monks,
and linked to projects of nation building (Evans, 2002).