By the market's opening day, locally made soap, shampoo and detergent were ready for sale, priced partly in baht and partly in bia. The baht income allowed the group to recoup the costs of ingredients purchased from outside the community. While labour and profit were earned in bia which would recirculate in the community. Celebrated Thai social activist Sulak Sivaraksa attended the market's opening and spoke of the need for community self-reliance. Wealth does not mean that one owns many cars.
True wealth is community stability.
Self-reliance means a return to the precepts of Buddhism. This process must begin with the community. During the opening-day ceremony visitors from a farmers' group in Khemmarat asked about forgery. Spokesperson Kriengkrai Boontaworn said forgeries were unlikely 'because the bia can only be used within this community where everyone knows one another. We consulted a lawyer in Bangkok about this.