Thai Internet wunderkind captivates audiences from behind bars
| Samut Prakan, Thailand
For Thailand鈥檚 most famous blogger, who launched an online diary at age 12, the current method of updating his website seems rather anachronistic.
From behind wire mesh and plexiglass, Panrit Daoruang 鈥� or 鈥淕or,鈥� as he鈥檚 popularly known 鈥� dictates to his former English teacher, Richard Barrow. Mr. Barrow takes notes and uploads the new entries for him on a laptop.
Though his autobiographical blogs remain extremely popular, Mr. Panrit, now 22, hasn鈥檛 touched a computer in two years. He is serving a three-year sentence for drug possession, and inmates like him at Samut Prakan Prison, near Bangkok, aren鈥檛 allowed access to the Internet (or even newspapers and TV).
At night, he shares a small cell, initially planned for 25 inmates, with as many as 65 other prisoners. For recreation Panrit plays chess and writes letters. The focus of his blogs has changed from the life of a troubled teenager to crusading about prison issues and being an electronic nanny to fellow inmates. 鈥淩ichard,鈥� Panrit says to Mr. Barrow at one point, 鈥渨rite down this number.... Tell Yui she must call Phi Ple [elder brother] more often because he misses her.鈥�
An olive-skinned man with boyish features, Panrit is a popular inmate: He often translates for guards and foreign prisoners, one of whom had been reading his blogs before he wound up in the same prison.
鈥淚 want people to know we鈥檙e not all criminals and bad guys,鈥� Panrit says of his reason for continuing to blog from behind bars. 鈥淚t [also] helps prisoners鈥� families to know they鈥檙e doing well.鈥�
Panrit and Barrow now run , a popular website (it鈥檚 ranked first on Google) about life inside Thailand鈥檚 notoriously overcrowded prisons. They also campaign against drug use and warn foreigners about the country鈥檚 draconian narcotic laws.
Panrit鈥檚 own misadventure with the law occurred three years ago, when a random search by police revealed 鈥測aba,鈥� or 鈥渃razy medicine,鈥� amphetamine pills hidden under his belt. By then, the youth had been battling drug addiction for years, narrating his struggle on 鈥淐onfessions of a Young Teenage Addict,鈥� a blog, in English and Thai, that he started when he was 15.
Panrit gained a devoted following as thousands of readers, from kids to Vietnam War veterans, became attracted to his tale of transformation from precocious schoolboy to teenage addict to prisoner.
鈥淎s his story developed, I became hooked,鈥� says David Millar, a technology manager in Manchester, England. 鈥淚 had come to think of Gor as a personal friend. His honesty about his drug problems and troubles in his life really touched me.鈥�
Today Panrit鈥檚 online diary is widely used for English educational classes in Thailand and abroad. He鈥檚 featured in an English textbook published by Longman, a leading British firm. 鈥淚 want kids to know that nothing good will come out of drugs,鈥� Panrit says.
Readers of his blog from as far away as the US have visited him in prison and looked up his primary school. 鈥淗e has made our school famous around the world,鈥� says Seesagoon Krishanachinda, the principal of Sriwittayapaknam School in Samut Prakan. 鈥淎lthough he left 10 years ago, he still inspires our students.鈥�
鈥⑩赌⑩赌�
An avid comic-book collector who was best in his class for gifted students, Panrit began to hang out with a bad crowd in seventh grade. He started experimenting with drugs and stealing money from his working-class parents 鈥� and blogged honestly about it.
He was just 16 when The Bangkok Post invited him to write a weekly column in the newspaper鈥檚 student supplement. In 鈥淕or鈥檚 World,鈥� Panrit chronicled the ups and downs of his life, including his parents鈥� financial troubles and his teenage girlfriend鈥檚 unplanned pregnancy.
The young columnist never lacked for material: He soon became a doting father, got married, divorced, and dropped out of high school. To atone for his mistakes, he became ordained as a Buddhist monk before landing in prison.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a real-life soap opera and people have constantly kept asking for updates,鈥� says Barrow, a former BBC editor who teaches computer science in Sriwittayapaknam School. 鈥淕or has a talent for telling a story, and he has a story to tell.鈥�
In 1997, Barrow helped Panrit, then a sixth-grader, launch his career as the country鈥檚 youngest blogger when he assigned students a project to create their own websites. The 12-year-old called his 鈥淕or鈥檚 Secret Diary.鈥�
He soon progressed from entries like, 鈥淢y favorite color is blue,鈥� to intensely personal accounts of the life of Thai teenagers. School, puppy love, motorcycle drag races, and traditions like walking under an elephant鈥檚 belly for good fortune were all documented. 鈥淚 just wrote about my life,鈥� Panrit says. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 think so many people would be interested.鈥�
They were 鈥� sometimes in unlikely things.
鈥淥ne of the most popular pages on the site,鈥� Barrow recalls, 鈥渨as Gor鈥檚 photographed list of 鈥榯hings in my pocket鈥� when he was 14.鈥� It included a bus ticket, a snapshot of his girlfriend, a school ID, a Valentine鈥檚 card in Thai, and a discount coupon for KFC.
Panrit also began to write about Thai culture on a new blog and offered his foreigner readers free Thai language lessons on another. Both sites still get a lot of hits even though he hasn鈥檛 updated them since he went to prison. The Thai press has called him the country鈥檚 鈥測oungest ambassador鈥� and its first 鈥済lobal citizen.鈥�
鈥⑩赌⑩赌�
After visiting Panrit in prison, Barrow returns to the school to wait for Nong Grace, Panrit鈥檚 young daughter, to finish her kindergarten classes. He lets the girl play in his office and teaches her English until her grandmother arrives to take her home.
A bubbly 5-year-old, Grace can鈥檛 yet write, but, thanks to Barrow, is already blogging. Using a digital camera he gave her, she takes pictures of trips to the mall and zoo. Her online albums show her feeding a tiger cub and riding an elephant. 鈥淭his way,鈥� Barrow says, 鈥淕or will have a record of Grace鈥檚 life while he is in prison.鈥�
Although he claims no credit, Barrow has been instrumental in his former student鈥檚 online fame. A publicity-shy man, Barrow is a prolific blogger himself, whose home-based Internet company runs a mini empire of blogs and websites (115 in all). They include Thailand鈥檚 most popular school website, as well as blogs on culture, food, and politics. He drives a clanking Toyota, lent to him by the school, which he uses to take older students on educational and sightseeing trips.
鈥淲ithout Richard, I鈥檇 have ended up a lot worse,鈥� Panrit says of his mentor. 鈥淗e鈥檚 been like a father to me.鈥�
A local company plans to publish Panrit鈥檚 prison diary after his release next September. The working title is 鈥淎ddicted to Chaos.鈥� In his new life, though, Panrit professes to want no more chaos. 鈥淭hat episode is behind me,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 have a little daughter to look after.鈥�
And he鈥檒l be blogging again: He has plenty of tales yet to tell.
