Hope Well and live better
Music will reverberate through the Hopewell pillars next Thursday as new generation people do some reinventing
The hopeless Hopewell chain of abandoned concrete pillars alongside Vibhavadi Road ought to look much more cheerful next Thursday night when Smirnoff hosts a party called “Reinvent Bangkok” with DJs, flashy lights and thundering music.
The Bangkok Elevated Road and Train System, commonly known as the Hopewell project after the Hong Kong firm hired to build it, left more than 1,000 cement abutments standing in a line from central Bangkok to Don Meuang Airport when work was halted in 1992. It was still only 10 per cent complete.
The notion was formally abandoned five years later amid much legal acrimony. Accusations of corruption flew but never seemed to stick where they landed. The government blamed the failure on the Asia-wide financial crisis, although that too began in Thailand.
The pillars will be demolished “soon”, officials keep telling us, though there are no immediate plans to end corruption, one of the country’s deepest-rooted vices. Still, DJ Suharit Siamwala doesn’t believe we should yield to despair.
A candidate for Bangkok governor in the last city election, Suharit sees hope in “them thar Hopewell pillars”. He’s optimistic about the nation’s future, not counting on any fresh God-sent political leader but expecting goodness to emerge from inside every citizen.
It’s Suharit who’s leading the pack of talented DJs at next week’s Reinvent Bangkok party. We pegged him down on policy.
HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THIS PARTY?
I liked the idea behind it, how everyone is invited to come out and “reinvent” themselves for our community, our city. And the location is such a great symbol that symbolises hope lost but waiting to be regained.
First and foremost, I don’t want you to look for something outside of yourself to reinvent. Reinvent yourself! We tend to put the burden on those who have the power or authority, blaming them for what goes wrong, but we forget that we can bring about the changes we want to see.
Reinvent yourself first and Bangkok will be reinvented.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF BANGKOK’S GENERATION Y THESE DAYS?
What I see is that they interact with each other less, instead expressing themselves more using the keyboard. I’m not saying that’s bad – something like that happens whatever generation you belong to. You get older and there’s another generation coming up.
But I say to everyone, right now, enjoy your life and make a change. Come together as a group to do something good. Find your passion and take action.
For example, if you like cycling, don’t just sit in front of a computer blogging about it. Gather up like-minded people, go out with the bikes and collect garbage off the street. That’s one example of trying to make a change, showing that you have a will and power to change.
LOTS OF PEOPLE JUST GIVE UP AND LOSE INTEREST IN PUTTING IN THE EFFORT.
That hopelessness does the greatest damage. If it expands, Bangkok will become stagnant. It’s disheartening to see what’s going on around us these days, but you can’t give up, because no one can save you and your city but yourself.
It’s easy to give up, but what good comes out of it? Tomorrow you’ll wake up in the same city, go to the same workplace and probably raise your family here. You might lose hope in the system, but you should never stop enjoying life and living.
HOW DO WE START?
Make your house a better home. We’re so proud that Bangkok is the world’s “top tourist destination”, but that’s for visitors. What about us? We live here. We should make it the “top city to live in”, somewhere we want to spend our whole lives.
Personally I think Bangkok is the coolest place in the world. There are some things we might not like, and we don’t need those things to keep attracting tourists. We can choose what to want to keep and what we want to get rid of, because this is our home.
Bangkok has a unique charm, but it doesn’t have to be this messy and disorganised. We can have both the decent balance and the charm.
SO WHAT ARE YOU WEARING TO THE PARTY?
I haven’t prepared it yet, but you can expect it to be extravagant and out-of-this-world, Suharit-style!
The “Smirnoff Presents Reinvent Bangkok” party is on Thursday at the Hopewell site on a byroad running parallel to Vibhavadi Road. Look for it out front of the Museum of Contemporary Arts.
DJs Nakadia, Rukkit, P7 and Chin7 and other entertainers will be joining Suharit.
The party starts at 8.30pm.
nGet more details at Facebook.com/Smirnoff.
