Protect ancient pagoda: protesters

The protesters comprised a large number of elderly people.

"I step forward today because I think this movement is right. We have to protect the pagoda," Sopa Chusua-heung, 61, said.

The pagoda is considered one of the best places to consecrate Jatukam Ramathep amulets, as it is said to house Buddha relics.

Locals have complained that the pagoda has started to lean as a result of vehicles arriving at the temple each day with the amulets.

"We have to protect the heritage our ancestors built for us," protest leader Paitoon Intasila said yesterday.

Wichit Chartpaisit, the deputy governor of Nakhon Si Thammarat, met the protesters and explained that the provincial government was tackling the problem.

Meanwhile, Fine Arts Department director-general Arak Sunghitakul yesterday urged the abbot of Mahathat Woramahawiharn Temple to stop allowing trucks near the pagoda.

"Vibration could cause more damage to the pagoda," he said.

However, he said the pagoda had been leaning the last time his department inspected the site.

"But we are going to check if it has shifted further. If so, we have to reinforce the base of the pagoda because its foundation was built on soft soil," Arak said.

Fine Arts Department deputy director-general Khemachat Thepachai said engineers from the Asian Institute of Technology would urgently inspect the pagoda.

"Then, we will be able to compare the latest inspection findings to the information we gathered in our last inspection," Khemachat said.

Former Nakhon Si Thammarat MP Apichart Sakdiseth urged everyone to help preserve the sacred pagoda. "The provincial government, in particular, should take an active role," he said.

He called for urgent measures to be imposed, among them, a ban on trucks going near the pagodas.

"There should also be a weight limit for vehicles that can use roads in front of and behind the Mahathat Woramahawiharn Temple [where the pagoda is located]," he said.