The admirable Thais

Richard West

Bangkok The bicentenary of the Chakri dynasty, and of the founding of Bangkok, is more than just an excuse for a party, or for a bout of self-praise. The Thais take a great interest in dates, anniversaries and, numer- ical coincidence, especially when these refer to births, marriages, deaths and royal af- fairs. Omens and prophecies have sur- rounded every dynasty in this part of the World; the English in Burma were dogged by the prophecy that their rule would last °MY a hundred years and that their expul- s,,inn would come from a people not Burmese (i.e. the Japanese). Nobody quite knows when it was first put about that Rama I of the Chakris said that his dynasty would last 150 years, that is till 1932. But so it happened. That was to be the end of the Chakris as absolute monarchs. The seventh and last Chakri to rule as a `Lord of Life', wielding the power of life ,and death, was King Prajadhipok t925-32), the first of his line who was not given the title of Rama, and the first of his kind anywhere who had been educated at Eton. 'Although he was by upbringing a soldier,' says Prince Chula, the Thai royal historian, ... the seventh king of the Chakris was more of a philosopher.' Perhaps Prince Chula intended to say that his royal relation, though righteous and highly principled, was insufficiently cunn- ing and tough to stay as an absolute king in a world of demagogues and dictators. He cut the civil list in order to save on public expenditure but only made enemies of the bureaucratic class. In 1931, when the economy of the world was in slump, King Prajadhipok kept his country on the gold standard, so that its rice became too expen- sive to sell to sterling countries like India and Malaya. Since the first world war and the downfall of monarchy in Russia, ustria and Germany, many young Thais had gone to study in France, where they Picked up the idea of the French or even of the Russian revolution. In Bangkok, as 6 April 1932 was ap- proaching (according to the historian Prince Chula who was present for these events), 'superstitious pessimists were reminding one another of the alleged pro- phecy of Rama I that his line would only last for 150 years'. The anniversary celebra- tions passed in quiet; the king went down to the sea for a holiday; and it was not till 24 June that a coup d'etat began with tanks clattering into the palace. It seems that only 70 People knew of the plot which was led by two former students in Paris, the lawyer Pridi Panomyong and the army captain Luang Pibulsonggram, known as Pibul.

A revolutionary People's Party issued bloodthirsty pamphlets attacking the king and the whole Chakri dynasty; but public opinion was neutral or hostile to the rebels. The king agreed to return to Bangkok to get the release of some royal hostages; and he did not object to an Assembly. After all, he had been brought up in England, which has enjoyed or suffered such things for hun- dreds of years.

Democracy in the Thai fashion began in the 1930s with deputies waving guns at each other in the Chamber; last year several MPs were shot at their offices, massage parlours and other places of business. Already by 1935 Thai politics had settled into hostility between a parliamentary, demagogic fac- tion, then led by Pridi, and a military, still more corrupt faction, then led by Pibul. The rival factions are just as active today, though under new leaders.

King Prajadhipok stuck it out as a con- stitutional monarch till 1935, when he became the first old Etonian to abdicate. The historian Prince Chula represented his monarch at the coronation of George VI in London. He has also recorded another triumph: `It was in March 1935 that, under Prince Chula's financial backing and personal management, Prince Birabongse began motor-racing under the pseudonym of "B. Bira". He soon achieved many successes in Britain, Ireland and the continent of Europe, and thus it was a Chakri prince who was the first Thai to become a suc- cessful and popular sportsman of interna- tional renown.'

The Thirties and the second world war brought a renewed threat to the in- dependence of Thailand and to its monar- chy. So far she had survived, while Burma and Malaya fell to the British, and Laos Cambodia and Vietnam fell to the French. That Thailand kept her independence was largely due to the diplomatic artistry of the Chakri kings in playing the Europeans against one another. The Thais had tended to side with the British against the French, partly from monarchist sentiment but still more to get British support against French claims on eastern and northern Thailand.

Although Thailand had weathered the threat from Europe, she did not know how to face the new threat from Japan which, during the Thirties, had seized most of China. In 1940, after the fall of France, Japan virtually occupied French Indochina, providing herself with a naval and air base deep in South-East Asia. When the Japanese launched their attacks on 8 December 1941, they sent an ultimatum to Bangkok demanding passage for troops in return for a treaty. Even before the ultimatum was sent they landed troops in southern Thailand to join the attack on British Malaya.

The Thais put up a fight both in the south and nearer Bangkok until the Thai govern- ment agreed to the Japanese terms. The Prime Minister at the time and during the Japanese occupation was Pibul, the right- wing military man who was accused of fascist sympathies. Probably he was just obeying the old Thai maxim of bending before the wind. The Thais, especially the Chinese Thais, feared and resented the Japanese. Pibul took every chance to cheat his new allies. The Thais behaved well to British internees and also managed to bring food and medical help to prisoners of the Japanese on the Burma Railway.

However, Pibul took the blame for Thailand's role in the war, and Pridi was voted Premier — thanks to his fame as a resistance leader. He was Prime Minister when the young King Ananta returned from Switzerland, where he had spent the war. The reign was to end in mysterious tragedy, less than a year later, on 9 June 1946, when Ananta was found shot dead in the Palace. What eventually happened is still not known, nor even discussed in Thailand. The one book on the subject (banned in Thailand) suggests that Ananta committed suicide. The official version maintains he was murdered by communists in a plot either arranged or connived at by Pridi, who fell from power — to be replaced by Pibul. Long after Ananta's death, two of his pages were executed for their alleged part in the murder plot. Pridi escaped by boat to Peking, from where he still makes occasional broadcasts — 50 years after the coup d'etat against the old Etonian king.

The present King Phumibol (it is pro- nounced Poomipone) succeeded his much- loved brother with sadness and maybe with apprehension; for that was a grim epoch in South-East Asia. The forces of Mao Tse- tung were about to seize all mainland China; Burma had chosen socialism with in- dependence; the communist Vietnamese had launched the war that was to last 30 years. Later, war was to break out in Korea and neighbouring Malaya.

The Sixties were no less forbidding. All attention came to be fixed on Vietnam. It was the age of the 'Domino Theory' that communism would spread from Vietnam to all South-East Asia and even beyond. The United States became obsessed by the theory that revolution would have to be met not just by arms but social reform and democracy; by ending the stark divisions of rich and poor, or aristocrat and peasant. The Americans grew ashamed of their own conspicuous wealth in contrast with poverty in the 'third world' — as it came to be call- ed in fashionable jargoh.

The Peace Corps was formed, and 'The Alliance for Progress' in Latin America. A book appeared condemning The Ugly American in a country much like Thailand. A film followed in which Marlon Brando encountered an Asian prime minister played by the Thai actor Kukrit, who after- wards was to become the actual Prime Minister of his country, and is still a promi- nent man in the parliamentary faction in Thailand.

Thailand sent two divisions to fight in Vietnam. The north-eastern cities of Udom and Udom became important US air force bases for B-52 raids on Indochina. Hun- dreds of thousands of GIs took their 'Rest and Recreation' in Bangkok, which became a brothel city. Meanwhile elements of the Thai Communist Party gathered strength in the far north and south of the country, soon to be joined by angry students from Bangkok.

When Saigon fell to the communists in April 1975, there were wiseacres who said that Bangkok would soon be going the same way. And yet it has not happened. In fact Thailand appears more stable than it has been for decades; touch wood. The departure of the Americans has made the Thais more rather than less self-confident. Vietnam is busy fighting the Cambodian communists. China is now an ally of Thailand against the Vietnamese, and has stopped supporting the Thai Communist Party. Neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore are prosperous. Even Burma is looking up. In spite of the price of oil, Thailand's economy prospers.

And the King remains somewhere above the squabbling politicians and military men, a reserved but respected leader of Thailand at prayer as well as on state occasions. After 2,000 years of the Chakri dynasty, Thailand retains her religion, her pride, her charm for all foreigners, and her admirable civilisation.

In his article on the Chakri dynasty last week, Richard West intended to write that `the Chakri kings have never been blood- thirsty or vengeful'. Unfortunately the word `never' was omitted due to a printing error.