Exorcising ghosts at Bangkok’s airport

BANGKOK: A religious rite organised over the weekend to quell fears that Bangkok's new $3.8 billion airport was haunted by dissatisfied ghosts apparently failed to achieve its purpose.

The rite, involving 99 Buddhist monks, was interrupted mid-prayer Saturday by an unidentified man who claimed to be “Phu Ming”, or “Grandfather Ming”, who demanded that a proper “spirit house” be built to assure the smooth operation of the airport, the Bangkok Post reported on Sunday.

The man reportedly passed out after delivering his message. When he awoke, the spirit had left him. “Spirit houses” are part of Thailand's traditional belief system. The small shrines are meant to show respect to the spirits that inhabited a plot of land before the new owner. Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi Airport will officially open Thursday at 3 a.m. when the old airport at Don Muang will be closed to commercial traffic. The new airport was built on land bought by the government four decades ago in an eastern suburb of Bangkok that was previously called Nong Ngu Hao or Cobra Swamp.

Ghost sighting by superstitious workers were common during the construction period. The project has proved an unlucky one for former PM Thaksin Shinawatra who planned to preside over the opening of the billion-dollar infrastructure project as one of the crowning successes of his five years in power.

With Thaksin’s government out of the way, several investigations into corruption, including for equipment purchases at Suvarnabhumi Airport, are expected to reveal skeletons in the closet.