MIB stood for Malaysians Indians in Bangkok — it all started during the COVID -19 pandemic years, late in 2021 – when so many people from Malaysian were stuck in Thailand and many Thais were in need of assistance because of all the business closures. A few Malaysians started a group called ‘Hands That Serve’ to collect funds from Malaysian Indians across Bangkok and started serving food on Silom Road near a vegetarian restaurant frequented by other Malaysians. As we went along giving away food to the poor and homeless, we had a sudden demand to deliver food via other charitable groups. We needed more volunteers and there was a group of Tamils in the Thailand, known as Tamil Sangam (TTS) , who asked if they could join us. It took off with 85 to 100 meals being handed out every weekend until 2022. The group then changed its name to Malaysians and Indians in Bangkok.
Once people were back to work post-Covid, they had money for food and the demand for those food handouts diminished. That was about the same time MIB decided to work on other projects. As a first generation son of an immigrant from India brought in by the British, my Dad always spoke about the WWII and also how he was taken to Thailand to work at Prachuap KiriKan [see Section 7.1 for his story] so I had an interest in the Thai-Burma Railway (TBR).
When members of the MIB represented the Asian Forced Laborers (AFL) to lay garlands at the Don Rak war graves cemetery on the 11th of November 2021, we were introduced by Prof Andy Barraclough to Dr. JJ Karwacki M.D., an amateur historian, who took us to see the obelisk at the adjacent temple cemetery. For a number of years, Dr. JJ had been researching the Allied POWs who worked the TBR and had come across the work of Prof David Boggett [see Section 13] relating to the AFL. Expanding Prof Boggett’s work, he had spoken with other researchers and local Thais and had drawn the conclusion that those buried in the grave that was named Chedi Niranam or grave of the anonymous could only be the remains of Asian Forced Laborers who had survived their time on the TBR and had died in Kanchanaburi in 1944-47.
After a series of meetings, MIB members sought the approval of the temple’s Abbot to renovate and re-dedicate that obelisk to the Tamils who had comprised the vast majority of the AFL.
Beginning in 2024, the MIB began to collect donations for those renovations and the addition of a Nadukal [see Section 26]. On 1 MAY 2024 a large ceremony was held to dedicate that stone. If you would like to contribute to this effort see Section 1.4 for bank account information.
authored by Dr. Silva Kumar Founder of MIB and the Chairman
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MAY 2026 Update
As we gathered for the Remembrance Day ceremony at Don Rak cemetery on 11 NOV 2021, I had made arrangements to connect with the members of the MIB. None of us had ever seen each other before.
I had been following the trail blazed by Prof. David Boggett to find the monument honoring the romusha who died in Kanchanaburi in 1944-47. I was now ready to share my findings. I had learned via a mutual friend that the members of the Malaysians and Indians in Bangkok (MIB) were looking for a place to remember the Malay-Tamils who died on the Death Railway. I believed that I had found that place. It was time to see if they agreed.
At the end of the Don Rak ceremony, I was also introduced to the Ambassador of Malaysia to Thailand. He, too, was an interested party. We made the short hop to the temple cemetery adjacent to the war cemetery. There I made my initial presentation of the facts and figures that I believed identified this one particular marker as the place to honor the memory and history of the Asian Forced Laborers.
Until just recently, I had no idea that they had recorded me. My presentation wasn’t smooth[1], I had no visual aids. I had more to learn and got a few of the facts wrong. In the end, I suppose I was convincing enough. They were aware of Prof Boggett and the work he had done a decade or so ago. It didn’t hurt my credibility when I gave him foundational credit for the pursuit of information. I often describe my role as fitting together the many puzzle pieces that already existed until a clearer picture emerged.
I post this video as a time stamp for our initial encounter that continues to bread fruit!
[place NOV 2021 vdo here]
[1] I even had my VFW cap on backwards!!!