For decades, some Thai parents warned their naughty children that if they didn’t behave, Si Ouey would come eat their livers.
If the threat of a ghostly visit from the executed child killer, long called a cannibal, proved ineffective, those children could always be taken to see Si Ouey. After all, his mummified corpse — gnarled and blackened — for years stood on display in a glass case in the Forensic Museum at Bangkok’s Siriraj Hospital.
In recent years, however, doubts were raised about whether the man called Thailand's first serial killer was given justice and a campaign was launched to at least give him a proper funeral. On Thursday, six decades after his execution, that finally happened.
Nine Buddhist monks at a temple north of Bangkok chanted prayers and paper flowers were placed in front of Si Ouey's coffin, which was then moved to the crematorium, where the head of the Corrections Department lit the fire. Hospital officials as well as residents of a town where he once lived looked on.
Si Ouey, a Chinese immigrant who worked as a gardener, was reportedly caught red-handed in 1958 in a forest in Rayong province burning the body of a 8-year-old boy who had disappeared on an errand.
Police were quick to pin on him at least five previous unsolved murders of children dating back to 1954, some in other provinces. Lurid newspaper accounts detailed how he supposedly relished eating their hearts, livers and intestines.
Si Ouey was said to have told police that he acquired a taste for human flesh during World War II, when as a Chinese soldier in a unit besieged by the Japanese he survived by eating the bodies of those killed in battle.
He was tried and found guilty of murder and executed by firing squad on Sept. 16, 1959. He was 32.
His body was then handed over to Siriraj Hospital for what was described as medical study. His story soon became a regular staple of horror books and B-movies.
The truth about Si Ouey's case, however, is difficult to confirm.
Police at the time had a reputation for beating confessions out of suspects, and popular newspapers dished out tabloid-style sensationalism.
Si Ouey was also at a disadvantage because he was a poor immigrant, arriving from China in 1946 at age 19. Thailand's military governments at the time were keen stir up anti-Chinese sentiment in the Cold War atmosphere and often blamed immigrants for crime and unrest.
Doubts about Si Ouey’s guilt only garnered much interest in the past decade, after several television documentaries pointed out discrepancies in the evidence, such one of his victims still having her organs despite Si Ouey’s confessing to eating them.
Pharaoh Chakkraphattranan, who heard the warnings about Si Ouey as a boy, saw one of those programs and it led him in 2018 to start an online petition asking that Si Ouey no longer be labeled a cannibal and that he be given a proper funeral.
“I went back to that museum and I felt different looking at him,” Pharaoh said. “Before I just thought I was looking at a man-eater, now I see a victim who was stripped of his rights and dignity. Whether or not he committed the crime, his body shouldn’t be displayed in the glass box.”
Siriraj Hospital reviewed the matter last year, removed the sign on his display case calling him a “cannibal" last June and then withdrew his body from public view last August. Officials finally announced this month that he would be cremated.
Wannapa Thongchin, whose parents employed Si Ouey, also embraced the cause and along with other residents of the town where he once lived lobbied for a proper funeral. She said her parents always told her Si Ouey was innocent.
“Even though he was not our family member, we counted him as one,” Wannapa said Thursday at Si Ouey's funeral. "Villagers spoke of him as a good person. It made me feel sorry for him. It was as if he was being tormented, so we had to find a way to bring him out from the glass box.”
AP Newsroom
Thu Jul 23 2020
The portrait of the infamous serial killer Si Ouey stands below his coffin in preparation for cremation at the Wat Bang Phraek Tai temple Nonthaburi province, Thailand, Thursday, July 23, 2020. - Photo/AP
Fasa pertama Litar Pasir Gudang dijangka siap dalam tempoh tiga tahun - Tunku Abdul Rahman
Tunku Panglima Johor Tunku Abdul Rahman Sultan Ibrahim menjangkakan fasa pertama 'Johor Circuit' di Litar Pasir Gudang siap dalam tempoh dua hingga tiga tahun.
MYStartup lancar program pemecut ketiga perkasa syarikat pemula niaga
MYStartup terus memperkasa syarikat pemula niaga di Malaysia dengan memulakan program pemecut ketiganya MYStartup Accelerator Kohort 3.
Perdagangan Malaysia meningkat 7.1% tahun ke tahun kepada RM690.59 bilion - MITI
Perdagangan Malaysia bagi Januari hingga Mac 2024 mengekalkan trend peningkatan, merekodkan pertumbuhan 7.1 peratus tahun ke tahun kepada RM690.59 bilion, dengan lebihan dagangan RM34.22 bilion.
Keselamatan makanan, perubahan iklim agenda utama Malaysia selaku Pengerusi ASEAN
Memperkukuh keselamatan makanan serantau dan menangani cabaran mendesak perubahan iklim adalah antara agenda utama yang akan diketengahkan Malaysia apabila memegang tampuk Pengerusi ASEAN.
Freedom Flotilla to Gaza: 'Konflik Israel-Iran bukan urusan kami' - FFC
Misi Break the Siege of Gaza Freedom Flotilla tetap akan diteruskan sekiranya konflik di antara Israel dan Iran terus meningkat.
KKR harap projek naik taraf 3 jalan di Johor dilaksana tahun depan - Ahmad Maslan
Kementerian Kerja Raya (KKR) berharap kerja naik taraf tiga jalan di Johor dapat dilaksanakan tahun hadapan susulan pertambahan kenderaan menggunakan jalan tersebut.
KDNK Malaysia suku pertama dianggar berkembang 3.9% dipacu sektor perkhidmatan - DOSM
Sektor pembinaan menunjukkan pertumbuhan yang signifikan sebanyak 9.8 peratus berbanding 3.6 peratus pada suku tahun sebelumnya, terutama dipacu oleh subsektor kejuruteraan awam.
MARGMA yakin permintaan sarung tangan getah global meningkat pada 2024
Persatuan Pengeluar Sarung Tangan Getah Malaysia (MARGMA) yakin permintaan global terhadap sarung tangan getah akan meningkat pada 2024.
Letusan Gunung Ruang: Kualiti udara di Sarawak tidak terjejas
Letusan Gunung Ruang di Indonesia tidak menjejaskan kualiti udara di Sarawak.
[LAPOR LANGSUNG] Freedom Flotilla to Gaza: Sah! Tiga kapal tetap berlayar, redah laut Mediterranean 24 April ini
FFC mengesahkan tiga kapal yang terlibat dalam misi Break the Siege of Gaza Freedom Flotilla akan memulakan pelayaran pada 24 April depan.
MPC tutup kempen di Bangkok dengan cemerlang
Dalam aksi peringkat terakhir, pelumba MPC berhasil meraih tempat kedua dengan mempamerkan kemahiran dan keazaman luar biasa.
Mohammad Rifdean idam kontrak ONE Championship, tali pinggang
Atlet dari Sarawak itu memerlukan 78 saat untuk menundukkan Pichai Lookbanmai dengan pukulan TKO dalam pertarungan ONE Friday Fights 56.
Kedutaan lancar kempen promosi produk Malaysia di Thailand
Kempen "Taste of Malaysia" merupakan program berterusan untuk meningkatkan identiti jenama produk Malaysia di Thailand.
Kecoh apabila dua kumpulan pondan bertempur di Bangkok
Polis bergegas ke tempat kejadian sejurus menerima laporan 20 wanita transgender warga Filipina menyerang dua wanita transgender warga Thailand.
Bangkok dilanda jerebu tebal, seluruh Thailand catat udara tidak sihat
Bangkok dan 66 wilayah di Thailand itu terus diselubungi jerebu dengan zarah tidak selamat pada PM2.5 direkodkan pada Khamis.
Bangkok diselubungi asap, pekerja bekerja dari rumah
Bangkok disebungi asap tidak sihat dengan zarah PM2.5 melonjak melepasi paras selamat pada 50 ug/m3, mencetuskan kebimbangan kesihatan awam.
Negara membangun perlu perkukuh sektor logistik dan rantaian bekalan - Ismail Sabri
Penekanan kepada tenaga kerja mahir dan mempromosikan inovasi juga menjadi antara faktor untuk memperkukuh sektor logistik.
Sekurang-kurangnya 20 maut kilang bunga api meletup di Thailand
Sekurang-kurangnya 20 maut dalam satu letupan di sebuah kilang bunga api di Suphan Buri, kira-kira 120 kilometer utara Bangkok pada Rabu.
Thailand rancang perkenal lebih banyak produk, perkhidmatan untuk tarik pelawat Malaysia
Warga Malaysia mendahului dengan 4.56 juta pelawat daripada jumlah keseluruhan 28 juta pelancong yang melawat Thailand pada 2023.
Jenazah Pegawai Kedutaan Malaysia di Bangkok selamat dikebumikan
Jenazah Fadzilah Abu Hasan selamat dikebumikan pada 9.50 malam di Tanah Perkuburan Taman Raudhatul Jannah Khariah, Kampung Limau Manis, Kajang.