The preface of the book, written by the Fine Arts Department of Thailand, states: The present book contains a poem, called Nirat Nong Khai, composed by a Siamese nobleman, Luang Phatthanaphongphakdi (Thim Suk-yang), narrating the warfare between the Siamese government and the Ho Chinese in Nong Khai in the year 2418 BE (1875/76 CE). First published in 2421 BE (1878/79 CE), the poem satirically criticises the then chancellor, Somdet Chaophraya Borom Maha Si Suriwong (Chuang Bunnak), who later brought a defamatory case against the composer. The composer was sentenced to imprisonment by a court, which also ordered all the copies of the poem to be confiscated and destroyed. But the original manuscript has survived and is now kept at the National Library of Thailand. The poem printed in this book is a version censored by the Department, as all the defamatory parts have been removed by the Department.
An uncensored version has just been published by the Department in 2016, as follows:
Phatthanaphongphakdi (Thim Suk-yang), Luang. (2016). Nirat Nong Khai. Bangkok: Krom Sinlapakon [Fine Arts Department], Samnak Wannakam Lae Prawattisat [Bureau of Literature and History]. ISBN9786162832567. (In Thai).