Tarutao, an Evil Smile
Know more about the island through the description of Paul Adirek in The Pirates of Tarutao
Hello, readers, it is my first time writing a blog. So, any comment or advice is welcome. This blog will introduce you to a paradise on the Earth — Tarutao — and The Pirates of Tarutao.
The creation of Paul Adirek would take you into another world of adventure and crime fiction. However, the story is instead real enough to be true with historical facts. FORGET your thick textbook at school, including a teacher, (always preaching and retelling unfathomable words). For the whole book, even each line, it is almost unbelievable that the confusing (or maybe boring) detail of Southeast Asian history can be such a sweet. His narration for scenes is clear and succinct with short words. So, the novel is suitable for intermediate English learners.
Dark History
According to Adirek, in 1937, an exploration team under the order of the Department of Corrections prepared Tarutao as a prison for three thousand convicts, together with officials and guards from Bangkok. It was ready for accommodating within the next year. Inmates on the island were both general and political criminals. After the Siamese Revolution in 1932, many loyalists, especially members of the Royal families and high-ranking military officials, attempted to counterrevolt in 1933, but they were instead defeated. They were known as the revolutionary Bowondet coup group. Some of them were sentenced to death, but some were later imprisoned on the isolated island.
When World War II broke out, Thailand was invaded and occupied by the Empire of Japan, so supplies and medicine from the mainland — Bangkok — were not cut off. The inmates and officials suffered from starvation and malaria. The number of deaths was increasing, so the residents raided merchant ships around the island to survive. And, this was the origin of the pirates of Tarutao.
The Curse Island
Adirek said, “Tarutao means old and mysterious.” It was surrounded by harsh natural barriers. For instance, its distance isolated the outside world. It was impossible for the prisoners to escape as the sea was both too deep and infested with hungry sharks. The island also faced the unpredictably severe southwest monsoon; storm winds, high waves, and heavy rains could harm even big ships. Its terrain was mountainous and full of dense tropical rain forests. The weather was both rainy and humid enough for mosquitoes to breed, and allowed malaria and to thrive. The inner land is still the home for ferocious crocodiles.
Nonetheless, the island is now a tourism destination. Just take a glance at https://www.thainationalparks.com/tarutao-national-marine-park for a vacation.
“The wide expanse of fine white sand extended straight out, ending at the foot of a distant sizes mountain … Crabs of different sizes scuttled into their holes, and hermit crabs took refuge in their shells when their keens senses …”
The Pirates of Tarutao
The novel by Paul Adirek was firstly published in 1994. It is a fiction based on historical facts regarding the notorious group of pirates on Tarutao in the late 1930s. For the summary, you may visit http://www.t-globe.com/books-about-thailand-the-pirates-of-tarutao
The issues I would like to discuss are the origin of the pirates on, their operations
Origin
Let’s start with the origin of the pirates. There were two main characters heading the gang of pirates as follows. The first one is Collin Cunningham an American ex-military in the Philipines. He was interested in seeking affluence on Langkawi. However, he failed to attain the goal and lost his asset to Japanese soldiers. As an American, he was capture on Tarutao. Later Cunningham associated with Khun Apipat — the new director of Taruto Vocational Training Settlement (TVTS).
Our second character was an honest senior official appointed to manage the prison. Nevertheless as mentioned, the island was abandoned when the great war began. Cunningham joined the pirates to pave the way to Langkawi by accumulating loots. For Khun Apipat, his petition to the mainland was refused. Even the Director-General whom Khun Apipat respected the most still left him in a hard time. Adirek described the anger under the silence of the official: “Khun Apipat stood without saying a word and left the room.”
DG said, “… ‘Don’ t ask for pity from anyone, we ran out of pity a long time ago. … Go back to Tarutao, and solve your own problems.’ ”
Khun Apipat usually felt so guilty of his wrongdoing that this annoyed greedy Cunningham. He was not a cruel pirate at all, for his action was to feed his subordinates and prisoners.
When Cunningham knew how Karn — a right-handed man of Khun Apipat — brought the supplies, he came with a plan. Khun Apipat hesitated to do so, but Cunningham convinced him successfully. So, Khun Apipat assigned Karn and the prisoners to collect supplies from ship again. We would, in my opinion, learn from the story that none was born with sin. It is the world forcing to go on surviving among conflicts and competition.
Way of Pirate
The next point is the operation of the pirates. The gang was led by the big — Khun Apipat and Cunningham. Before we learn about the piracy operation, I would like to trace back to some background of the story. The gang didn’t intend to kill crews. They, in fact, begged for some supplies from merchant ships. The missions would be complete at first but not for other times. Khun Apitpat instructed his subordinates not to take weapons unnecessarily; some ships would have been spared if her crew had not harmed the pirates. Crews were murdered and disposed of their corpse in the sea. Lastly, the pirates hid the robbed ships in nearby bays. Loots will be transferred to a cave that Cunningham discovered, and the merchandise was later shipped by boat to Langkawi.
We will continue the operation. The pirate was am informal organization; the heads included Khun Apipat Cunningham as a strategist. Khun Apitpat influenced the local police to eliminate a witness. Moreover, he confronted with the inspection by Colonel Banchongsak.