Possibly the most controversial statement that could be made when discussing one of Thailand’s oldest and most violent school rivalries is that the remedy should not be controversial at all.
Higher Education Minister Yodchanan Wongsawat confirmed this week that plans are under way to relocate Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-ok, Uthenthawai Campus – commonly referred to as Uthenthawai – from its current site in the Pathumwan area of Bangkok.
Students, faculty and alumni of the technical college have expressed strong disagreement with the move, going as far as staging public protests.
One of their key arguments is that the relocation is motivated less by aims of social betterment and more by a desire to repurpose the land for alternate, possibly commercial use by Chulalongkorn University, one of Bangkok’s biggest landlords.
The implication is that Uthenthawai is the victim of investor interests, and that the desire for better financial returns trumps the needs of students.
The university this week reiterated that the land on which Uthenthawai sits will not be put to commercial use but will be a space devoted to lifelong learning.
Even if the site were to be turned into a shopping mall, it does not provide a sensible argument against moving the school elsewhere. In actuality, moving the school is entirely sensible given its history in the area.
BTS brawl
Just last month, Mr Yodchanan issued an order for Uthenthawai and Pathumwan Institute of Technology, a rival school located within walking distance, to close for three months. Students and faculty were barred from entering or engaging in any activities at their respective campuses for the 90-day period.
The order was a direct response to an all-out brawl involving students from the two institutes that spilled onto the platform of the BTS Siam station on Sept 7, endangering innocent bystanders and projecting a damaging image of the country at one of its busiest transport hubs.
That incident was just one of many involving students from the schools, which have a decades-long history of rivalry and violence dating back to 1952. Even that year is only cited because it marked one of the first recorded clashes between Uthenthawai and Pathumwan; it is generally accepted that the animosity began even before then.
While it is unclear how the enmity began, or what has sustained it through multiple generations of students, the results of the hostility are very apparent.
Not only has the fighting maimed and killed members of both schools, it has had dire consequences for completely innocent bystanders.
In November 2023, computer teacher Sirada Sinprasert was taking money from an ATM before going to work at the nearby Sacred Heart Convent School in Klong Toey when she was struck and killed by a bullet fired from a motorcycle. The gunman’s target was a 19-year-old Uthenthawai freshman, who was subsequently hit and died later in hospital.
Now, responding to the prospect of having to leave central Bangkok for far-away Lat Krabang, one group of Uthenthawai students has sworn to end the fighting with Pathumwan, promising to bring an end to generations of violence so that their school can remain where it is.
No clear plan of action was outlined as to exactly how the students were to make good on their promise. Even if a plan were laid out, it would not address the larger conversation about why the Thai public should continue to entertain a problem that has grown far beyond being a nuisance.
That the Uthenthawai demonstrators have remained focused on their connections to the existing campus and their relationship with Pathumwan only underlines the fact that further leniency would not be advisable.
We must concede, though, that the move might not eliminate the rivalry, and those determined to continue fighting may find other ways to do so.
But the possibility that a measure might fail is not a compelling reason not to attempt it, especially in a case where the alternative is to risk deadly violence in a densely crowded area.
If separating the two institutions reduces opportunities for confrontation, then that alone would be a worthwhile outcome.
More importantly, there is only so much sense to be found in a rivalry that has outlived any meaningful justification for its existence.
Beyond reason
The enmity between Uthenthawai and Pathumwan is by almost all measures completely irrational and it should not require thorough reasoning to propose a solution.
Irrationality cannot be reasoned with indefinitely. At some point, the response must stop being an appeal for those involved to see reason and become an attempt to change the circumstances in which their unreason manifests itself.
Uthenthawai and Pathumwan have had decades to prove that their proximity does not need to be a danger to those around them. They have done the opposite. Their students may prove that the future can be different, but Thai society should not be expected to stake more lives on that possibility.
Relocation may not be a perfect solution, but it does not need to be. After decades of conflict, the question is no longer whether moving Uthenthawai will guarantee peace. It is why the public should be asked to tolerate this issue for even one more generation.