'Sia Oud' kills himself
Flast note points to lack of 'virtue and truth' in people he helped
ONE of the country’s best-known amulet makers took his own life at the end of Buddhist Lent.
Sitthikorn Boonchim, 44, better known as Sia Oud, was found dead in his Phitsanulok hotel room on Thursday night. There were no signs of a struggle or an assault.
He left a suicide note.
“I have not found any virtue and truth in the people to whom I have lent a hand,” he wrote.
Sitthikorn also wrote that he planned to overdose on sleeping pills at the end of Buddhist Lent.
Several empty packs of sleeping pills were found in the hotel room along with cancer medication.
A friend of Sitthikorn asked hotel staff to check on the amulet maker on Thursday night when he could not contact him.
“During the past week we ate out together every day. So it was suspicious that he abruptly stopped contacting me,” the friend said.
He said Sitthikorn arrived in Phitsanulok on October 21 and they met every day. Their last meal was on Tuesday.
“We have been friends since 2013,” the young man said.
Born on April 3, 1971, to a poor family, Sitthikorn described himself as a self-made man.
He was once a high-profile and tremendously rich amulet maker.
At the height of his career, he appeared in news reports after he offered overseas sightseeing trips and a Mini Cooper to a famous actor and singer. News reports suggested he might have dated several other heartthrobs too.
Sitthikorn’s life began to spiral out of control after several amulet buyers complained that his company wrongfully advertised that the production and distribution of amulets had been backed by the Palace since late 2007.
In late 2008, the Criminal Court sentenced Sitthikorn to five years in jail for public fraud related to the use and imitation of an official emblem without permission.
In mid-2013, Sitthikorn completed his jail term. As he walked out of jail, he said: “I will strictly stick to the principles of virtue and righteousness from now on.”
In the suicide note he donated a large sum of money from an amulet-making project to be used to construct an elderly care facility at Chiang Mai University’s faculty of medicine. He also encouraged Thais to donate money for this good cause.
In the note, Sitthikorn asked his younger brother not to hold funeral rites for him but simply to cremate his body.
