A History Of Thailand

by Baker Chris

  40 Barmé, Man, Woman, Bangkok, p. 234.

  41 Copeland, ‘Contested nationalism’, p. 232.

  42 J. A. Stowe, Siam Becomes Thailand: A Story of Intrigue (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1991), p. 84.

  43 MC Subha Svasti Wongsanit Svasti, 1 sattawat Supphasawat (Subha Svasti Centenary) (Bangkok: Amarin, 2000), p. 511.

  44 Kobkua Suwannathat-Pian, Thailand’s Durable Premier: Phibun through Three Decades, 1932–1957 (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 83.

  45 Saichon Sattayanurak, Chat Thai lae khwam pen Thai doi Luang Wichit Wathakan (Thai Nation and Thai-ness according to Luang Wichit Wathakan) (Bangkok: Sinlapa Watthanatham, 2002), p. 137.

  46 Saichon, Chat Thai, pp. 40, 54.

  47 Saichon, Chat Thai, pp. 63, 122.

  48 Barmé, Luang Wichit, p. 125.

  49 Saichon, Chat Thai, p. 49.

  50 Saichon, Chat Thai, pp. 78, 81, 82.

  51 Eiji Murashima, Kanmueang Jin Sayam (Siam Chinese Politics) (Bangkok: Chinese Studies Centre, Chulalongkorn University, 1996), p. 168.

  52 Nakharin, Khwam khit, pp. 346, 358.

  53 C. F. Goscha, Thailand and the Southeast Asian Networks of the Vietnamese Revolution, 1855–1954 (London: Curzon, 1999), p. 116.

  54 Saichon, Chat Thai, p. 31.

  55 Saichon, Chat Thai, p. 31.

  56 Kongsakon Kawinrawikun, ‘Kansang rangkai phonlamueang Thai nai samai Jomphon Po Phibunsongkhram pho so 2481–2487’ (Constructing the Bodies of Thai Citizens in the Era of Field Marshal P. Phibunsongkhram, 1938–1944), MA thesis, Thammasat University (2002), p. 24.

  57 Kobkua, Thailand’s Durable Premier, p. 113.

  58 Saichon, Chat Thai, p. 135.

  59 Dr Yong Chutima, quoted in Davisakdi Puaksom, ‘Modern medicine in Thailand: germ, body, and the medicalized state’, unpublished paper (2003).

  60 Kobkua, Thailand’s Durable Premier, p. 102.

  61 E. B. Reynolds, Thailand and Japan’s Southern Advance, 1940–1945 (New York: St Martin’s Press), p. 110.

  62 Reynolds, Thailand and Japan’s Southern Advance, p. 140.

  63 J. B. Haseman, The Thai Resistance Movement during World War II (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2002), p. 49.

  6 The American era and development, 1940s to 1960s

  1 From a memo dated 20 June 1947 in Subha Svasti, 1 sattawat, pp. 514, 533.

  2 Seni’s memoir in J. K. Ray, Portraits of Thai Politics (New Delhi: Orient Longman, 1972), p. 171.

  3 Tran van Giau, quoted in Goscha, Thailand and the Southeast Asian Networks, p. 186.

  4 Thak Chaloemtiarana, Thailand: The Politics of Despotic Paternalism (Bangkok: Social Science Association of Thailand, Thai Khadi Institute, Thammasat University, 1979), p. 31.

  5 Kobkua, Thailand’s Durable Premier, p. 23.

  6 Kobkua, Thailand’s Durable Premier, p. 39.

  7 D. Fineman, A Special Relationship: The United States and Military Government in Thailand, 1947–1956 (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997), p. 117.

  8 Fineman, Special Relationship, p. 89.

  9 Fineman, Special Relationship, p. 173.

  10 Saichon, Chat Thai, p. 151.

  11 The film, based loosely on the memoirs of Anna Leonowens as tutor to King Mongkut’s children in the 1860s, is a classic of American pop orientalism. Hollywood inserted a romance between the king and governess and much else not present in the memoirs.

  12 Fineman, Special Relationship, p. 257.

  13 Surachart Bamrungsuk, United States Foreign Policy and Thai Military Rule, 1947–1977 (Bangkok: Editions Duang Kamol, 1988), p. 114.

  14 Thak, Thailand, p. 229.

  15 F. W. Riggs, Thailand: The Modernization of a Bureaucratic Polity (Honolulu: East–West Center Press, 1966).

  16 Said by the patriarch, Tan Suang U, in the 1969 novel that captures the strains of this transition: Letters from Thailand by Botan, tr. Susan Kepner (Bangkok: Silkworm Books, 2002).

  17 Takashi Tomosugi, A Structural Analysis of Thai Economic History: A Case Study of a Northern Chao Phraya Delta Village (Tokyo: Institute of Developing Economies, 1980), pp. 43–4.

  18 ‘Setthi mueang Suphan’ (Suphanburi Millionaire), sung by Phumphuang Duangjan on the album Chut jup kon jak (Kiss Before Leaving).

  19 Mani Siriworasan, Chiwit muean fan (Life Like a Dream) (Bangkok: Kwanphim, 1999).

  7 Ideologies, 1940s to 1970s

  1 Thak, Thailand, p. 157.

  2 C. F. Keyes (ed.), Reshaping Local Worlds: Formal Education and Cultural Change in Rural Southeast Asia (New Haven: Yale Southeast Asian Studies, 1991), p. 112.

  3 N. Tapp, Sovereignty and Rebellion: The White Hmong of Northern Thailand (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1989), p. 37.

  4 Prince Dhani Nivat, ‘The old Siamese conception of the monarchy’, Journal of the Siam Society 36, 2 (1947), p. 95.

  5 Prince Dhani and Phraya Siwisanwaja, quoted in Somkiat Wanthana, ‘The politics of modern Thai historiography’, PhD thesis, Monash University (1986), pp. 325, 326.

  6 According to the British ambassador, quoted in Kobkua Suwannathat-Pian, Kings, Country and Constitutions: Thailand’s Political Development, 1932–2000 (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003), p. 155.

  7 Thak, Thailand, p. 150.

  8 Kobkua, Kings, Country and Constitutions, p. 12.

  9 Thak, Thailand, p. 156.

  10 Phya Anuman Rajadhon, Essays on Thai Folklore (Bangkok: Thai Inter-religious Commission for Development and Sathirakoses Nagapradipa Foundation, 1988), p. 406.

  11 Kasian Tejapira, Commodifying Marxism: The Formation of Modern Thai Radical Culture, 1927–1958 (Kyoto: Kyoto University Press, 2001), p. 52.

  12 Siburapha [Kulap Saipradit], Behind the Painting and Other Stories, tr. and ed. D. Smyth (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 170.

  13 Somsak Jeamteerasakul, ‘The communist movement in Thailand’, PhD thesis, Monash University (1993), p. 278.

  14 ‘An internal history of the Communist Party of Thailand’, tr. Chris Baker, Journal of Contemporary Asia 33, 4 (2003), p. 524.

  15 Saiyud Kerdphol, The Struggle for Thailand: Counter-Insurgency, 1965–1985 (Bangkok: S. Research Center, 1986), p. 226.

  16 Sulak Sivaraksa, When Loyalty Demands Dissent: Autobiography of an Engaged Buddhist (Bangkok: Thai Inter-religious Commission for Development, 1998), p. 80.

  17 Christine Gray, ‘Thailand: the soteriological state in the 1970s’, PhD thesis, University of Chicago (1986), p. 692 (in online edition, Vol. 2, pp. 120–1).

  18 Kobkua, Kings, Country and Constitutions, p. 161.

  19 D. Morell, ‘Thailand: military checkmate’, Asian Survey, 12, 2 (1972), p. 157.

  20 Quoted in the script of the VCD, 14 Tula bantuek prawattisat (14 October [1973], a historical record) by Charnvit Kasetsiri, tr. Ben Anderson.

  21 Craig J. Reynolds, Thai Radical Discourse: The Real Face of Thai Feudalism Today (Ithaca: Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University, 1987).

  22 Somboon Suksamran, Buddhism and Politics in Thailand (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1982), pp. 105–7.

  23 K. A. Bowie, Rituals of National Loyalty: An Anthropology of the State and the Village Scout Movement in Thailand (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997), p. 283.

  24 D. Morell and Chai-Anan Samudavanija, Political Conflict in Thailand: Reform, Reaction, Revolution (Cambridge, Mass.: Oelgeschlager, Gunn and Hain, 1982), p. 236.

  25 Somboon, Buddhism and Politics, p. 150.

  26 Gawin Chutima, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Thailand (1973–1987) (University of Kent at Canterbury, Centre of South-East Asian Studies, Occasional Paper No. 12, 1990), p. 31.

  8 Globalization and mass society, 1970s onwards

  1 M. K. Connors, Democracy and National Identity in Thailand (New York and London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003), p. 91.

  2 By Sakda Jintanawijit, quoted in Kasian Tejapira, ‘The postmodernization of Thainess’, in Shigeharu Tanabe and C. F. Keyes (eds), Cultural Crisis
and Social Memory: Modernity and Identity in Thailand and Laos (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2002), p. 204.

  3 Yos Santasombat, ‘Power and personality: an anthropological study of the Thai political elite’, PhD thesis, University of California, Berkeley (1985), p. 196.

  4 Thanawat, Tamnan chiwit jao sua: 55 trakun phak 2 (Legendary Lives of the jao sua: 55 Families, Part 2) (Bangkok: Nation, 2001).

  5 Kasian Tejapira, Lae lot lai mangkon (Looking Through the Pattern of the Dragon) (Bangkok: Khopfai, 1994), p. 16. The translation below of the drama’s anthem is by Kasian from the same book.

  6 Sawat Horrungruang in The Nation, 7 April 2003.

  7 M. B. Mills, Thai Women in the Global Labour Force: Consuming Desires, Contested Selves (New Brunswick, NJ, and London: Rutgers University Press, 1999), p. 4.

  8 Ban by Phongsit Khamphi on the 1997 album of the same name.

  9 E. W. Gohlert, Power and Culture: The Struggle against Poverty in Thailand (Bangkok: White Lotus, 1991), p. 143.

  10 Wiraphon Sopha, quoted in Praphat Pintoptaeng, Kan mueang bon thong thanon: 99 wan samatcha khon jon (Politics on the Street: 99 Days of the Assembly of the Poor) (Bangkok: Krirk University, 1998), p. 150.

  11 Claudio Sopranzetti, Red Journeys: Inside the Thai Red-Shirt Movement (Bangkok: Silkworm Books, 2012), p. 12.

  12 P. A. Jackson, ‘The enchanting spirit of Thai capitalism: the cult of Luang Por Khoon and the postmodernisation of Thai Buddhism’, Southeast Asian Research 7, 1 (1999), p. 49.

  9 A political society, 1970s onwards

  1 Connors, Democracy and National Identity, p. 136.

  2 Connors, Democracy and National Identity, p. 140.

  3 National Identity Office, Office of the Prime Minister, Thailand in the 1980s (Bangkok: Muang Boran Publishing House, 1984), pp. 136–7.

  4 Prajak Sawangjit, quoted in Chai-Anan Samudavanija, The Thai Young Turks (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1982), p. 62.

  5 Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, quoted in Chai-Anan Samudavanija, Kusuma Snitwongse, and Suchit Bunbongkarn, From Armed Suppression to Political Offensive (Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University, Institute of Security and International Studies, 1990), p. 211.

  6 Suchit Bunbongkarn, The Military in Thai Politics, 1981–86 (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1987), p. 69.

  7 Chai-Anan et al., From Armed Suppression, p. 198.

  8 Bangkok Post, 1 September 2002.

  9 Royal Speech: Given to the Audience of Well-Wishers on the Occasion of the Royal Birthday Anniversary, Wednesday, 4 December 1991 (Bangkok: Amarin, 1992), p. 19.

  10 D. D. Grey (ed.), The King of Thailand in World Focus (Bangkok: FCCT, 1988), p. 119.

  11 Office of His Majesty’s Principal Private Secretary, A Memoir of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, to Commemorate the Sixtieth Royal Birthday Anniversary (Bangkok, 1987), p. 7.

  12 Grey, King of Thailand, p. 54.

  13 Matichon, 27 August 1995.

  14 Tongnoi Tongyai, Entering the Thai Heart (Bangkok: Bangkok Post, 1983), p. 18.

  15 National Identity Office, Thailand in the 1980s, p. 139.

  16 King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rueang Phramahajanok/The Story of Mahajanaka (Bangkok: Amarin, 1999), p. 141.

  17 King Bhumibol Adulyadej: Thailand’s Guiding Light (Bangkok: Post Publishing, 1996), pp. 15–16, 97.

  18 Pramuan Ruchanaseri, Phraratcha-amnat (Royal Powers) (Bangkok: Manager Group, 2005), .

  19 Thai Rath, 12 May 1990.

  20 Gothom Arya, quoted in W. A. Callahan, Imagining Democracy: Reading ‘The Events of May’ in Thailand (Singapore: ISEAS, 1998), p. 114.

  21 Royal Speech…4 December 1991, p. 46.

  22 Callahan, Imagining Democracy, p. 56.

  23 The Defence of Thailand, 1994 (Bangkok: Ministry of Defence, 1994), p. 26.

  24 Chai-Anan Samudavanija, ‘Old soldiers never die, they are just bypassed: the military, bureaucracy and globalization’, in K. Hewison (ed.), Political Change in Thailand (London and New York: Routledge, 1997), p. 51.

  25 Chai-Anan, ‘Old soldiers never die’, p. 57.

  26 Thirayuth Boonmi, Sangkhom khemkhaeng (Strong Society) (Bangkok: Mingmit, 1993), p. 56.

  27 Anek Laothamatas, Song nakhara prachathippatai: naew thang patirup kanmueang setthakit phua prachathippatai (A Tale of Two Cities of Democracy: Directions for Reform in Politics and Economy for Democracy) (Bangkok: Matichon, 1995), pp. 91–2.

  28 Government of Thailand, The Eighth National Economic and Social Development Plan (1997–2001) (Bangkok: NESDB, n.d.).

  29 Phrathammapitok (P. A. Payutto), ‘Khwam romyen nai wikrit Thai: phutthawithi nai kan kae panha wikrit khong chat’ (Shelter in the Thai Crisis: A Buddhist Way to Solve the Problem of the National Crisis), in Phitthaya Wongkun (ed.), Thai yuk watthanatham that (Thais in the Era of Cultural Slavery) (Bangkok: Withithat Globalization Series 4, 1998), pp. 3–4.

  30 Our translation from the unofficial Thai transcript at: .

  31 Prawase Wasi, Setthakit pho phiang lae prachasangkhom naew thang phlik fuen setthakit sangkhom (The Sufficient Economy and Civil Society as a Way to Revive Economy and Society) (Bangkok: Mo Chao Ban, 1991), p. 59.

  32 Thailand Development Research Institute, Ekkasan prakop kan sammana wichakan prajam pi 2542 setthakit pho phiang (Papers from the 1999 Annual Seminar on the Sufficiency Economy, 18–19 December 1999).

  33 Narong Petchprasoet, Kham prakat chatniyom mai (Declaration of New Nationalism) (Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Political Economy Centre, 2000), pp. 13–29.

  34 .

  35 The Nation, 4 July 2006.

  36 Matichon, 24 March 2009.

  37 A 61-year-old northeastern woman, quoted in Pattana Kitiarsa, ‘From Red to Red: An auto-ethnography of economic and political transitions in a northeastern Thai village’, in M. J. Montesano et al. (eds), Bangkok May 2010: Perspectives on a Divided Thailand (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2012), p. 240.

  38 Quoted in Naruemon Thabchumphon and Duncan McCargo, ‘Urbanized villagers in the 2010 Thai Redshirt protests’, Asian Survey 51, 6 (2011), p. 1015.

  Reigns and prime ministers

  Late Ayutthaya

  Prasat Thong

  1629–1656

  Chaofa Chai

  1656

  Sisuthammaracha

  1656

  Narai

  1656–1688

  Phetracha

  1688–1703

  Sanphet (Sua)

  1703–1708

  Phumintharacha (Thaisa)

  1708–1732

  Borommakot

  1732–1758

  Uthumphon

  1758

  Ekkathat

  1758–1767

  Thonburi

  Taksin

  1767–1782

  Bangkok: The Chakri Dynasty

  * * *

  Rama I Phraphutthayotfa Chulalok 1782–1809

  Rama II Phraphutthaloetla Naphalai 1809–1824

  Rama III Phranangklao 1824–1851

  Rama IV Phrachomklao (Mongkut) 1851–1868

  Rama V Phrachulachomklao (Chulalongkorn) 1868–1910

  Rama VI Phramongkutklao (Vajiravudh) 1910–1925

  Rama VII Phrapokklao (Prajadhipok) 1925–1935

  Rama VIII Ananda Mahidol 1935–1946

  Rama IX Bhumibol Adulyadej 1946–

  * * *

  Traditionally, in his lifetime, a king was simply called the king. At death, he was given a regnal name. The sequence Rama I, Rama II, and so on was invented retrospectively in 1916. The kings from Rama IV to Rama VII have become better known in English by the names given to them as princes (Mongkut, Chulalongkorn, Vajiravudh, Prajadhipok). Since King Rama VIII, the regnal name has been conferred at accession.

  Prime ministers

  Phraya Manopakon (Mano) Nithithada

  June
1932–June 1933

  Phraya Phahon Phonphayuhasena

  June 1933–December 1938