HM'S FRIEND FROM SAI BURI PASSES AWAY

Wadeng Puteh, His Majesty’s “friend” from Pattani’s Sai Buri district, passed away at his home yesterday afternoon. He was 96. 

 

Wadeng was first admitted to the Prince of Songkhla Nakarin Hospital last February for heart and kidney problems, and received a bouquet of flowers from Their Majesties a month later. 

 

Wadeng led a simple life with his wife, now that his five children have families of their own.

 

The much-talked-about friendship between His Majesty and Wadeng began in September 1992, when the King was working on a “monkey cheeks” project in Sai Buri district. His Majesty wanted to inspect the site in tambon Paen as well as speak to villagers and look at Ban Thung Ket, where a dam was going to be constructed. 

 

However, since the sun was setting and the route was off the beaten track, he was advised against visiting. Yet the much-loved monarch, determined to help his subjects, decided to make his way through the wilderness to get to the canal that was going to be used in the project. It was a long way away and His Majesty stopped often to look at his map with a torch, much to the worry of his already anxious guards. 

 

“I saw His Majesty but did not dare get close to him because I was only in a sarong. When I did get closer, His Majesty told me that he was coming to dig us an irrigation canal. We talked for a long while. 

 

“He asked me where the canal ended, and I explained that the canal bordered tambon Paen and ran up north to the Si Sakhon district [in Narathiwat province]. The King then asked me if the canal reached the sea and wanted to know how many islands there were. I said four, and His Majesty consulted the map and complimented me for being correct. Everything I told him was right there in his map,” Wadeng said as he recounted his first meeting. 

 

“His Majesty spoke to me in the Malayu language and we met several times, sharing common ideas until he accepted me as a friend. I explained to the King that I only spoke the truth because lying was a sin.” 

 

After the meeting, Wadeng offered his land to His Majesty so he could use it in the project. 

 

Wadeng became known as “His Majesty’s friend from Sai Buri” after the King mentioned him in a speech he delivered on the eve of his birthday on December 4, 1997. In the speech, His Majesty voiced concerns about the situation in the restive South, saying he had a friend in Sai Buri called Wadeng Puteh.

 

Pattani Governor Theera Mintarasak attended Wadeng’s funeral rite yesterday. 

 

Wadeng will be buried as per Islamic rites in a local cemetery near his home.