Police spokesman General Ajiravid Subarnbhesaj holds yesterday’s copy of ‘The Nation’ as he defends the police over embassy claims of misuse of tsunami aid. He blamed foreign committees that jointly managed the funds until May, when the remaining half of

Although former deputy prime minister Suwat Liptapanlop last year gave approval for Bt600 million to be spent on the construction of the "Tsunami Memorial Museum", the incumbent government has cut the budget.

Apinan Poshyanand, general director of the Office of Contemporary Art and Culture (OCAC) who is in charge of the project, said a screening committee of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) had rejected a Culture Ministry request for Bt3 million to conduct an environmental impact assessment (EIA).

"However the culture minister will again ask the assembly for money for the EIA," he said.

Apinan said the EIA was necessary as the project site was located in Khao Lak Lamru National Park and would extend into the sea. He said his office would have to wait and see whether the request would be decided in the current assembly sitting.

Apinan said after receiving the assessment budget, the ministry would then ask for additional funds to conduct a public hearing into the project.

Suspension of the memorial project was greeted as good news by those who did not support the Thaksin administration's idea of building such a "grand" memorial.

"It's good to have a memorial for relatives of the victims to commemorate their loved ones, but it should be small and simple, not a grandiose one," said a resort operator in Khao Lak, Phang Nga.

In the first year after Thailand and other countries were hit by the tsunami, which killed a quarter of a million people, the Thaksin government decided to construct a magnificent memorial, but it drew immediate condemnation from many Thais.

The cost of Bt1.2 billion was said to be too high, while the concept itself was criticised for being essentially a tourist destination rather a memorial for the victims of the tragedy.

The winning design, titled "Mountains of Remembrance", was created by a Spanish team and submitted by the Thai architectural firm Naga Concepts Company.

Selection of the design, led by the Culture Ministry's Contemporary Arts and Culture Office and the Architecture Association of Siam, took more than a year and cost almost Bt50 million.

The aim was to build a memorial that would act as a museum and an educational institute for learning about the disaster and a meeting place for relatives who lost love ones, while also being a new cultural tourism spot.

Though the museum project has not been finalised, OCAC is continuing with its public art project along the tsunami-affected beaches, using art as a solace for friends and relatives. Along Kamala and Pathong beaches in Phuket and Nopparat beach in Krabi, international and local artists are lining up sculptures and art pieces.

The latest bronze sculptures, "Hold Me Close" by Louise Bourgeois, will be unveiled today. Two huge installation pieces are located in Nopparat Thara National Park in Krabi. One piece depicts children's hands above a rippled water pond. Nearby is another sculpture moulded from the artist's hands and installed in a wooden pavilion.

"The artist aims to let the viewer contemplate her work as a form of mental healing," explained Apinan, adding the artist donated her work, which had been commissioned for Bt6 million, to the government.

Phatarawadee Phataranawik

The Nation