This Time Must Be Different

There are facts that, by this time, are no longer new to Thai society. 

Thailand, despite supposedly strict gun control laws, still has high firearm ownership rates due to the illegal trade. Mass shootings are rare, but gun violence itself not particularly so. These facts are repeated in news articles every time there is a deadly episode of mass shooting in the country.

And that previous sentence alone illustrates the issue: in four years, this is the third mass shooting to have occurred in Thailand. The mass shooting at Terminal 21 mall in Nakhon Ratchasima happened in 2020, shocking a nation totally unused to such a horrific scene. Then, a year ago this month, the mass shooting at a nursery in Nong Bua Lumphu proved to be even deadlier.

Then came Tuesday’s shooting at Siam Paragon. The number of injuries and deaths, thankfully, are lower than the previous two mass shootings. But there is something about this shooting that will feel different to many Thais.

As Jonathan Head wrote for the BBC, Siam Paragon is one of Asia’s most-visited places. For Bangkok’s middle and upper class, many visit at least somewhat regularly. For many Thai Enquirer readers, I suspect, it is a place that is often used as a location for meeting up, or a destination for shopping. 

If nothing else, anyone who passes by the Siam BTS Skytrain station — and it is difficult indeed to ride the skytrain without passing through this most central of stations — will ride past it and see the mall. 

Many Bangkok-based readers will have never have visited the Terminal 21 in Korat. Very few will have previously seen the nursery in Nong Bua Lumphu. But when they read the chilling details of the Siam Paragon shooting, there will be something that feels different. 

When a journalist described hiding in the Boots at Siam Paragon and then having to run out of the Starbucks facing Siam Square One, many of us know exactly what that route is. We can almost place ourselves in his shoes and imagine what it would have been like.

This terrible episode played out, essentially, at the nation’s economic heart. It occurred, indeed, only a few minutes’ walk from the National Police Headquarters.

And now that we have seen this tragedy occur in a way that hits so close to home, we can only hope that the powers that be do not stay idle. It should not have had to come to this. 

It is not fair to say, of course, that nothing has been done since the previous mass shootings to address public safety. But has it been enough? And are appropriate systems in place to properly alert the public if one does occur, to limit further loss of life?

After the Nong Bua Lumphu shooting, we received official pledges to more stringently enforce gun control laws and to seize illegal firearms. Now would be a good time for a progress check on this matter.

There is no question: the government must take more action. Mass shootings cannot be allowed to become an annual episode. And we cannot just accept that people will have to senselessly die. This must be on the national agenda.

This time must be different.