Anything & Everything About Thailand

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The Kingdom of Ayutthaya was a Thai kingdom that existed from the 1350 to 1767. King Ramathibodi I (Uthong) founded Ayutthaya (อยุธยา) as the capital of his kingdom in 1350 and absorbed Sukhothai, 640 km to the north, in 1376. Over the next four centuries the kingdom expanded to become the nation of Siam, whose borders were roughly those of modern Thailand, except for the north, the Kingdom of Lannathai. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Indians, Japanese and Persians (for contacts between Safavid Iran and Ayutthaya see Christoph Marcinkowski), and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, British and French, permitting them to set up villages outside the city walls. The court of King Narai (1656-1688) had strong links with that of King Louis XIV of France, whose ambassadors compared the city in size and wealth to Paris.

Historical overview

Buddha head overgrown by fig tree in Wat Mahatat, Ayutthaya historical parkThe Siamese state based at Ayutthaya in the valley of the Chao Phraya River grew from the earlier kingdom of Lopburi, which it absorbed, and its rise continued the steady shift southwards of the centre of gravity of the Tai-speaking peoples. U Thong was an adventurer allegedly descended from a rich Chinese merchant family who married royalty. In 1350, to escape the threat of an epidemic, he moved his court south into the rich floodplain of the Chao Phraya. On an island in the river he founded a new capital, which he called Ayutthaya, after Ayodhya in northern India, the city of the hero Rama in the Hindu epic Ramayana. U Thong assumed the royal name of Ramathibodi (1350-60).

Ramathibodi tried to unify his kingdom. In 1360 he declared Theravada Buddhism the official religion of Ayutthaya and brought members of a sangha, a Buddhist monastic community, from Ceylon to establish new religious orders and spread the faith among his subjects. He also compiled a legal code, based on the Indian Dharmashastra (a Hindu legal text) and Thai custom, which became the basis of royal legislation. Composed in Pali -- an Indo-Aryan language closely related to Sanskrit and the language of the Theravada Buddhist scriptures -- it had the force of divine injunction. Supplemented by royal decrees, Ramathibodi's legal code remained generally in force until the late nineteenth century.

By the end of the fourteenth century, Ayutthaya was regarded as the strongest power in southeast Asia, but it lacked the manpower to dominate the region. In the last year of his reign, Ramathibodi had seized Angkor during what was to be the first of many successful Thai assaults on the Khmer capital. The policy was aimed at securing Ayutthaya's eastern frontier by preempting Vietnamese designs on Khmer territory. The weakened Khmer periodically submitted to Ayutthaya's suzerainty, but efforts to maintain control over Angkor were repeatedly frustrated. Thai troops were frequently diverted to suppress rebellions in Sukhothai or to campaign against Chiang Mai, where Ayutthaya's expansion was tenaciously resisted. Eventually Ayutthaya subdued the territory that had belonged to Sukhothai, and the year after Ramathibodi died, his kingdom was recognized by the emperor of China's newly established Ming Dynasty as Sukhothai's rightful successor.

The Thai kingdom was not a single, unified state but rather a patchwork of self-governing principalities and tributary provinces owing allegiance to the king of Ayutthaya under the mandala system. These states were ruled by members of the royal family of Ayutthaya who had their own armies and warred among themselves. The king had to be vigilant to prevent royal princes from combining against him or allying with Ayutthaya's enemies. Whenever the succession was in dispute, princely governors gathered their forces and moved on the capital to press their claims.

During much of the fifteenth century Ayutthaya's energies were directed toward the Malay Peninsula, where the great trading port of Malacca contested its claims to sovereignty. Malacca and other Malay states south of Tambralinga had become Muslim early in the century, and thereafter Islam served as a symbol of Malay solidarity against the Thais. Although it failed to make a vassal state of Malacca, Ayutthaya continued to control the lucrative trade on the isthmus, which attracted Chinese traders of specialty goods for the luxury markets of China.

Ruins of the old city, Ayutthaya, after the Burmese invasion.In 1767, the Burmeses from Burma invaded Siam and totally destroyed Ayutthaya and that ended an era of a proud nation of Siam. It was the one out of numerous invasions through out the history to Siam from the neighboring country Burma, which was the mightiest of all in South East Asia at the time.


Thai Kingship

Thai rulers were absolute monarchs whose office was partly religious in nature. They derived their authority from the ideal qualities they were believed to possess. The king was the moral model, who personified the virtue of his people, and his country lived at peace and prospered because of his meritorious actions. At Sukhothai, where Ramkhamhaeng was said to hear the petition of any subject who rang the bell at the palace gate to summon him, the king was revered as a father by his people. But the paternal aspects of kingship disappeared at Ayutthaya, where, under Khmer influence, the monarchy withdrew behind a wall of taboos and rituals. The king was considered chakkraphat, the Sanskrit-Pali term for the "wheel-rolling" universal prince who through his adherence to the law made all the world revolve around him. As the Hindu god Shiva was "lord of the universe," the Thai king also became by analogy "lord of the land," distinguished in his appearance and bearing from his subjects. According to the elaborate court etiquette, even a special language, Phasa Ratchasap, was used to communicate with or about royalty.

As devaraja (Sanskrit for "divine king"), the king ultimately came to be recognized as the earthly incarnation of Shiva and became the object of a politico-religious cult officiated over by a corps of royal Brahmans who were part of the Buddhist court retinue. In the Buddhist context, the devaraja was a bodhisattva (an enlightened being who, out of compassion, foregoes nirvana in order to aid others). The belief in divine kingship prevailed into the eighteenth century, although by that time its religious implications had limited impact. The French Abbe de Choisy, who came to Ayutthaya in 1685, wrote that, "the king has absolute power. He is truly the god of the Siamese: no-one dares to utter his name." Another 17th century writer, the Dutchman Van Vliet, remarked that the King of Siam was "honoured and worshipped by his subjects more than a god."

One of the numerous institutional innovations of King Trailok (1448-88) was to create the position of uparaja, or heir apparent, usually held by the king's senior son or full brother, in an attempt to regularize the succession to the throne -- a particularly difficult feat for a polygamous dynasty. In practice, there was inherent conflict between king and uparaja and frequent disputed successions.

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Social and Political Development

The king stood at the apex of a highly stratified social and political hierarchy that extended throughout the society. In Ayutthayan society the basic unit of social organization was the village community composed of extended family households. Generally the elected headmen provided leadership for communal projects. Title to land resided with the headman, who held it in the name of the community, although peasant proprietors enjoyed the use of land as long as they cultivated it.

With ample reserves of land available for cultivation, the viability of the state depended on the acquisition and control of adequate manpower for farm labor and defense. The dramatic rise of Ayutthaya had entailed constant warfare and, as none of the parties in the region possessed a technological advantage, the outcome of battles was usually determined by the size of the armies. After each victorious campaign, Ayutthaya carried away a number of conquered people to its own territory, where they were assimilated and added to the labor force.

Every freeman had to be registered as a servant, or phrai, with the local lord, or nai, for military service and corvee labor on public works and on the land of the official to whom he was assigned. The phrai could also meet his labor obligation by paying a tax. If he found the forced labor under his nai repugnant, he could sell himself into slavery to a more attractive nai, who then paid a fee to the government in compensation for the loss of corvee labor. As much as one-third of the manpower supply into the nineteenth century was composed of phrai.

Wealth, status, and political influence were interrelated. The king allotted rice fields to governors, military commanders, and court officials in payment for their services to the crown, according to the sakdi na system. The size of each official's allotment was determined by the number of persons he could command to work it. The amount of manpower a particular nai could command determined his status relative to others in the hierarchy and his wealth. At the apex of the hierarchy, the king, who was the realm's largest landholder, also commanded the services of the largest number of phrai, called phrai luang (royal servants), who paid taxes, served in the royal army, and worked on the crown lands. King Trailok established definite allotments of land and phrai for the royal officials at each rung in the hierarchy, thus determining the country's social structure until the introduction of salaries for government officials in the nineteenth century.

Outside this system to some extent were the Buddhist monkhood, or sangha, which all classes of Siamese men could join, and the Chinese. Buddhist monasteries (wats) became the centres of Siamese education and culture, while during this period the Chinese first began to settle in Siam, and soon began to establish control over the country's economic life: another long-standing social problem. The Chinese were not obliged to register for corvee duty, so they were free to move about the kingdom at will and engage in commerce. By the sixteenth century, the Chinese controlled Ayutthaya's internal trade and had found important places in the civil and military service. Most of these men took Thai wives because few women left China to accompany the men.

Ramathibodi I was responsible for the compilation of the Dharmashastra, a legal code based on Hindu sources and traditional Thai custom. The Dharmashastra remained a tool of Thai law until late in the 19th century. A bureaucracy based on a hierarchy of ranked and titled officials was introduced, and society was organised in a manner reminiscient of, though not as strict as, the Indian caste system.

The sixteenth century witnessed the rise of Burma, which, under an aggressive dynasty, had overrun Chiang Mai and Laos and made war on the Thai. In 1569 Burmese forces, joined by Thai rebels mostly royal family members of Siam, captured the city of Ayutthaya and carried off the whole royal family to Burma. Dhammaraja (1569-90), a Thai governor who had aided the Burmese, was installed as vassal king at Ayutthaya. Thai independence was restored by his son, King Naresuan (1590- 1605), who turned on the Burmese and by 1600 had driven them from the country.

Determined to prevent another treason like his father's, Naresuan set about unifying the country's administration directly under the royal court at Ayutthaya. He ended the practice of nominating royal princes to govern Ayutthaya's provinces, assigning instead court officials who were expected to execute policies handed down by the king. Thereafter royal princes were confined to the capital. Their power struggles continued, but at court under the king's watchful eye.

In order to ensure his control over the new class of governors, Naresuan decreed that all freemen subject to phrai service had become phrai luang, bound directly to the king, who distributed the use of their services to his officials. This measure gave the king a theoretical monopoly on all manpower, and the idea developed that since the king owned the services of all the people, he also possessed all the land. Ministerial offices and governorships--and the sakdi na that went with them--were usually inherited positions dominated by a few families often connected to the king by marriage. Indeed, marriage was frequently used by Thai kings to cement alliances between themselves and powerful families, a custom prevailing through the nineteenth century. As a result of this policy, the king's wives usually numbered in the dozens.

Even with Naresuan's reforms, the effectiveness of the royal government over the next 150 years should not be overestimated. Royal power outside the crown lands--although in theory absolute- -was in practice limited by the looseness of the civil administration. The influence of central government ministers was not extensive beyond the capital until the late nineteenth century.

Economic Development

The Thai never lacked a rich food supply. Peasants planted rice for their own consumption and to pay taxes. Whatever remained was used to support religious institutions. From the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, however, a remarkable transformation took place in Thai rice cultivation. In the highlands, where rainfall had to be supplemented by a system of irrigation that controlled the water level in flooded paddies, the Thai sowed the glutinous rice that is still the staple in the geographical regions of the North and Northeast. But in the floodplain of the Chao Phraya, farmers turned to a different variety of rice--the so-called floating rice, a slender, nonglutinous grain introduced from Bengal--that would grow fast enough to keep pace with the rise of the water level in the lowland fields.

The new strain grew easily and abundantly, producing a surplus that could be sold cheaply abroad. Ayutthaya, situated at the southern extremity of the floodplain, thus became the hub of economic activity. Under royal patronage, corvee labor dug canals on which rice was brought from the fields to the king's ships for export to China. In the process, the Chao Phraya Delta--mud flats between the sea and firm land hitherto considered unsuitable for habitation--was reclaimed and placed under cultivation.

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[KatoeyLover69]

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Contacts with the West

In 1511 Ayutthaya received a diplomatic mission from the Portuguese, who earlier that year had conquered Malacca. These were probably the first Europeans to visit the country. Five years after that initial contact, Ayutthaya and Portugal concluded a treaty granting the Portuguese permission to trade in the kingdom. A similar treaty in 1592 gave the Dutch a privileged position in the rice trade.

Foreigners were cordially welcomed at the court of Narai (1657–1688), a ruler with a cosmopolitan outlook who was nonetheless wary of outside influence. Important commercial ties were forged with Japan. Dutch and English trading companies were allowed to establish factories, and Thai diplomatic missions were sent to Paris and The Hague. By maintaining all these ties, the Thai court skillfully played off the Dutch against the English and the French against the Dutch in order to avoid the excessive influence of a single power.

In 1664, however, the Dutch used force to exact a treaty granting them extraterritorial rights as well as freer access to trade. At the urging of his foreign minister, the Greek adventurer Constantine Phaulkon, Narai turned to France for assistance. French engineers constructed fortifications for the Thai and built a new palace at Lopburi for Narai. In addition, French missionaries engaged in education and medicine and brought the first printing press into the country. Louis XIV's personal interest was aroused by reports from missionaries suggesting that Narai might be converted to Christianity.

The French presence encouraged by Phaulkon, however, stirred the resentment and suspicions of the Thai nobles and Buddhist clergy. When word spread that Narai was dying, a general, Phetracha, killed the designated heir, a Christian, and had Phaulkon put to death along with a number of missionaries. The arrival of English warships provoked a massacre of more Europeans. Phetracha (reigned 1688-93) seized the throne, expelled the remaining foreigners, and ushered in a 150-year period during which the Thai consciously isolated themselves from contacts with the West.

During the early 20th Century, Thailand, after learning lessons from Burma–a militarily stronger neighbour that failed to protect itself from western powerhouse Britain in 1885–mostly used flexible and significantly compromising approach towards its counterparts including numerous western nations and Japan.

The Final Phase

After a bloody period of dynastic struggle, Ayutthaya entered into what has been called its golden age, a relatively peaceful episode in the second quarter of the eighteenth century when art, literature, and learning flourished. Ayutthaya continued to compete with Vietnam for control of Cambodia, but a greater threat came from Burma, where the new Alaunghphaya dynasty had subdued the Shan states.

In 1765 Thai territory was invaded by three Burmese armies that converged on Ayutthaya. After a lengthy siege, the city capitulated and was burned in 1767. Ayutthaya's art treasures, the libraries containing its literature, and the archives housing its historic records were almost totally destroyed, and the city was left in ruins.

The country was reduced to chaos. Provinces were proclaimed independent states under military leaders, rogue monks, and cadet members of the royal family. The Thai were saved from Burmese subjugation, however, by an opportune Chinese invasion of Burma and by the leadership of a Thai military commander, Phraya Taksin.

All that remains of the old city are some impressive ruins of the royal palace. King Taksin established a capital at Thonburi, across the Chao Phraya from the present capital, Bangkok. The ruins of the historic city of Ayutthaya and "associated historic towns" in the Ayutthaya historical park have been listed by the UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. The city of Ayutthaya was refounded near the old city, and is now capital of the Ayutthaya province.


List of rulers of the Ayutthaya Dynasty

* Ramathibodi I (formerly Prince Uthong) 1350-1369

* Ramesuan 1369-1370 (abdicated)

* Borommaracha I (Pangua) 1370-1388

* Thong Chan 1388

* Ramesuan 1388-1395 (second rule)

* Ramaratcha 1395-1409

* Inthararatcha 1409-1424

* Borommaratcha II (Samphraya) 1424-1448

* Boromtrailokanat 1448-1488

* Borommaratcha III (Inthararatcha II) 1488-1491

* Ramathibodi II (1491-1529)

* Borommaratcha IV 1529-1533

* Ratsada 1533; child king

* Chairacha 1534-1546

* Yotfa (joint regent 1546-1548); child king & Queen Si Sudachan

* Worawongsa 1548

* Chakkraphat (ruled 1548-1568) & Queen Suriyothai (d.1548)

* Mahin 1568-1569

* Maha Thammaracha (Sanpet I) 1569-1590

* Naresuan the Great (Sanpet II) 1590-1605

* Ekathotsarot (Sanpet III) 1605-1610

* Si Saowaphak (Sanpet IV) 1610-1611

* Songtham (Intharacha) 1611-1628

* Chethha 1628-1629

* Atitthayawong 1629; child but titled Somdet Phra

* Prasat Thong (Sanpet V) 1630-1655

* Chai (Sanpet VI) 1655

* Suthammaracha (Sanpet IV) 1655

* Narai the Great 1656-1688

* Petratcha 1688-1703

* Süa (Sanpet VIII, also known as Luang Sorasak or 'The Tiger King') 1703- 1709

* Phumintharacha (Sanpet IX, Thai Sa) 1709-1733

* Borommakot (Boromaratcha III) 1733-1758

* Uthumpon (Boromaratchathirat IV) 1758

* Suriyamarin or Ekkathat (Boromaratcha V) 1758-1767

[KatoeyLover69]

From 1768 to 1932 the area of modern Thailand was dominated by Siam, an absolute monarchy with capitals briefly at Thonburi and later at Rattanakosin, both in modern-day Bangkok. The first half of this period was a time of consolidation of the kingdom's power, and was punctuated by periodic conflicts with Burma, Vietnam and the Lao states. The later period was one of engagement with the colonial powers of Britain and France, in which Siam managed to be the only southeast Asian country not to be colonised by a European country. Internally the kingdom developed into a centralised nation state with borders defined by its interaction with the Western powers. Significant economic and social progress was made, with an increase in foreign trade, the abolition of slavery and the expansion of education to the emerging middle class. However, there was no substantial political reform until the monarchy was overthrown in a military coup in 1932.


Thonburi period

In 1767, after dominating southeast Asia for almost 400 years, the Ayutthaya kingdom was brought down by invading Burmese armies, its capital burned, and its territory occupied by the invaders.

Despite its complete defeat and occupation by Burma, Siam made a rapid recovery. The resistance to Burmese rule was led by a noble of Chinese descent, Taksin, a capable military leader. Initially based at Chanthaburi in the south-east, within a year he had defeated the Burmese occupation army and re-established a Siamese state with its capital at Thonburi on the west bank of the Chao Phraya, 20km from the sea. In 1768 he was crowned as King Taksin (now officially known as Taksin the Great). He rapidly re-united the central Thai heartlands under his rule, and in 1769 he also occupied western Cambodia. He then marched south and re-established Siamese rule over the Malay Peninsula as far south as Penang and Terengganu. Having secured his base in Siam, Taksin attacked the Burmese in the north in 1774 and captured Chiang Mai in 1776, permanently uniting Siam and Lanna. Taksin's leading general in this campaign was Thong Duang, known by the title Chaophraya Chakri. In 1778 Chakri led a Siamese army which captured Vientiane and re-established Siamese domination over Laos.

Despite these successes, by 1779 Taksin was in political trouble at home. He seems to have developed a religious mania, alienating the powerful Buddhist monkhood by claiming to be a sotapanna or divine figure. He also attacked the Chinese merchant class, and foreign observers began to speculate that he would soon be overthrown. In 1782 Taksin sent his armies under Chakri to invade Cambodia, but while they were away a rebellion broke out in the area around the capital. The rebels, who had wide popular support, offered the throne to Chakri. Chakri marched back from Cambodia and deposed Taksin, who was secretly executed shortly after. Chakri ruled under the name Ramathibodi (he was posthumously given the name Phutthayotfa Chulalok), but is now generally known as King Rama I, first king of the Chakri dynasty. One of his first decisions was to move the capital across the river to the village of Bang Makok (meaning "place of olive plums"), which soon became the city of Bangkok. The new capital was located on the island of Rattanakosin, protected from attack by the river to the west and by a series of canals to the north, east and south. Siam thus acquired both its current dynasty and its current capital.


Bangkok period

Rama I

Rama I restored most of the social and political system of the Ayutthaya kingdom, promulgating new law codes, reinstating court ceremonies and imposing discipline on the Buddhist monkhood. His government was carried out by six great ministries headed by royal princes. Four of these administered particular territories: the Kalahom the south; the Mahatthai the north and east; the Phrakhlang the area immediately south of the capital; and the Krommueang the area around Bangkok. The other two were the ministry of lands (Krom Na) and the ministry of the royal court (Krom Wang). The army was controlled by the King's deputy and brother, the Uparat. The Burmese, seeing the disorder accompanying the overthrow of Taksin, invaded Siam again in 1785. Rama allowed them to occupy both the north and the south, but the Uparat led the Siamese army into western Siam and defeated the Burmese in a battle near Kanchanaburi. This was the last major Burmese invasion of Siam, although as late as 1802 Burmese forces had to be driven out of Lanna. In 1792 the Siamese occupied Luang Prabang and brought most of Laos under indirect Siamese rule. Cambodia was also effectively ruled by Siam. By the time of his death in 1809 Rama I had created a Siamese Empire dominating an area considerably larger than modern Thailand.


Rama II

The reign of Rama I's son Phuttaloetla Naphalai (now known as King Rama II) was relatively uneventful. The Chakri family now controlled all branches of Siamese government — since Rama I had 42 children, his brother the Uparat had 43 and Rama II had 73, there was no shortage of royal princes to staff the bureacracy, the army, the senior monkhood and the provincial governments. (Most of these were the children of concubines and thus not eligible to inherit the throne.) There was a confrontation with Vietnam, now becoming a major power in the region, over control of Cambodia in 1813, ending with the status quo restored. But during Rama II's reign western influences again began to be felt in Siam. In 1785 the British occupied Penang, and in 1819 they founded Singapore. Soon the British displaced the Dutch and Portuguese as the main western economic and political influence in Siam. The British objected to the Siamese economic system, in which trading monopolies were held by royal princes and businesses were subject to arbitrary taxation. In 1821 the government of British India sent a mission to demand that Siam lift restrictions on free trade — the first sign of an issue which was to dominate 19th century Siamese politics.

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Rama III

Rama II died in 1824, and was peacfully succeeded by his son Chetsadabodin, who reigned as King Nangklao, now known as Rama III. Rama II's younger son, Mongkut, was ordered to become a monk to remove him from politics.

In 1825 the British sent another mission to Bangkok. They had by now annexed southern Burma and were thus Siam's neighbours to the west, and they were also extending their control over Malaya. The King was reluctant to give in to British demands, but his advisors warned him that Siam would meet the same fate as Burma unless the British were accommodated. In 1826, therefore, Siam concluded its first commercial treaty with a western power. Under the treaty, Siam agreed to establish a uniform taxation system, to reduce taxes on foreign trade and to abolish some of the royal monopolies. As a result, Siam's trade increased rapidly, many more foreigners settled in Bangkok, and western cultural influences began to spread. The kingdom became wealthier and its army better armed.

A Lao rebellion led by Anouvong was defeated in 1827, following which Siam destroyed Vientiane, carried out massive forced population transfers from Laos to the more securely held area of Isan, and divided the Lao mueang into smaller units to prevent another uprising. In 1842–1845 Siam waged a successful war with Vietnam, which tightened Siamese rule over Cambodia. Rama III's most visible legacy in Bangkok is the Wat Pho temple complex, which he enlarged and endowed with new temples.

Rama III regarded his brother Mongkut as his heir, although as a monk Mongkut could not openly assume this role. He used his long sojourn as a monk to acquire a western education from French and American missionaries, one of the first Siamese to do so. He learned English and Latin, and studied science and mathematics. The missionaries no doubt hoped to convert him to Christianity, but in fact he was a strict Buddhist and a Siamese nationalist. He intended using this western knowledge to strengthen and modernise Siam when he came to the throne, which he did in 1851. By the 1840s it was obvious that Siamese independence was in danger from the colonial powers: this was shown dramatically by the British Opium Wars with China in 1839–1842. In 1850 the British and Americans sent missions to Bangkok demanding the end of all restrictions on trade, the establishment of a western-style government and immunity for their citizens from Siamese law (extraterritoriality). Rama III's government refused these demands, leaving his successor with a dangerous situation. Rama III reportedly said on his deathbed: "We will have no more wars with Burma and Vietnam. We will have them only with the West."


Mongkut

Mongkut came to the throne as Rama IV in 1851, determined to save Siam from colonial domination by forcing modernisation on his reluctant subjects. But although he was in theory an absolute monarch, his power was limited. Having been a monk for 27 years, he lacked a base among the powerful royal princes, and did not have a modern state apparatus to carry out his wishes. His first attempts at reform, to establish a modern system of administration and to improve the status of debt-slaves and women, were frustrated. Rama IV thus came to welcome western pressure on Siam. This came in 1855 in the form of a mission led by the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir John Bowring, who arrived in Bangkok with demands for immediate changes, backed by the threat of force. The King readily agreed to his demand for a new treaty, which restricted import duties to 3 percent, abolished royal trade monopolies, and granted extraterritoriality to British subjects. Other western powers soon demanded and got similar concessions.

The king soon came to consider that the real threat to Siam came from the French, not the British. The British were interested in commercial advantage, the French in building a colonial empire. They occupied Saigon in 1859, and 1867 established a protectorate over southern Vietnam and eastern Cambodia. Rama IV hoped that the British would defend Siam if he gave them the economic concessions they demanded. In the next reign this would prove to be an illusion, but it is true that the British saw Siam as a useful buffer state between British Burma and French Indochina.

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Chulalongkorn

Rama IV died in 1868, and was succeeded by his 15-year-old son Chulalongkorn, who reigned as Rama V and is now known as Rama the Great. Rama V was the first Siamese king to have a full western education, having been taught by an English governess, Anna Leonowens - whose place in Siamese history has been fictionalised as The King and I. At first Rama V's reign was dominated by the conservative regent, Chaophraya Si Suriyawongse, but when the king came of age in 1873 he soon took control. He created a Privy Council and a Council of State, a formal court system and budget office. He announced that slavery would be gradually abolished and debt-bondage restricted.

At first the princes and other conservatives successfully resisted the king's reform agenda, but as the older generation was replaced by younger and western-educated princes, resistance faded. The king could always argue that the only alternative was foreign rule. He found powerful allies in his brother Prince Chakkraphat, whom he made finance minister, and his brother-in-law Prince Devrawongse, foreign minister for 38 years. In 1887 Devrawonge visited Europe to study government systems. On his recommendation the king established Cabinet government, an audit office and an education department. The semi-autonomous status of Chiang Mai was ended and the army was reorganised and modernised.

In 1893 the French authorities in Indochina used a minor border dispute to provoke a crisis. French gunboats appeared at Bangkok, and demanded the cession of Lao territories east of the Mekong. The King appealed to the British, but the British minister told the King to settle on whatever terms he could get, and he had no choice but to comply. Britain's only gesture was an agreement with France guaranteeing the integrity of the rest of Siam. In exchange, Siam had to give up its claim to the Tai-speaking Shan region of north-eastern Burma to the British.

The French, however, continued to pressure Siam, and in 1906–1907 they manufactured another crisis. This time Siam had to concede French control of territory on the west bank of the Mekong opposite Luang Prabang and around Champasak in southern Laos, as well as western Cambodia. The British interceded to prevent more French bullying of Siam, but their price, in 1909 was the acceptance of British sovereignty over of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu under Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909. All of these "lost territories" were on the fringes of the Siamese sphere of influence and had never been securely under their control, but being compelled to abandon all claim to them was a substantial humiliation to both king and country (historian David Wyatt describes Chulalongkorn as "broken in spirit and health" following the 1893 crisis). In the early 20th century these crises were adopted by the increasingly nationalist government as symbols of the need for the country to assert itself against the West and its neighbours.

Meanwhile, reform continued apace transforming an absolute monarchy based on relationships of power into a modern, centralised nation state. The process was increasingly under the control of Rama V's sons, who were all educated in Europe. Railways and telegraph lines united the previously remote and semi-autonomous provinces. The currency was tied to the gold standard and a modern system of taxation replaced the arbitrary exactions and labour service of the past. The biggest problem was the shortage of trained civil servants, and many foreigners had to be employed until new schools could be built and Siamese graduates produced. By 1910, when the King died, Siam had become at least a semi-modern country, and continued to escape colonial rule.


Rama VI

One of Rama V's reforms was to introduce a western-style law of royal succession, so in 1910 he was peacefully succeeded by his son Vajiravudh, who reigned as Rama VI. He had been educated at Sandhurst military academy and at Oxford, and was a thoroughly anglicised Edwardian gentleman. Indeed one of Siam's problems was the widening gap between the westernised royal family and upper aristocracy and the rest of the country. It took another 20 years for western education to extend to the rest of the bureaucracy and the army: a potential source of conflict.

There had been no political reform under Rama V: the king was still an absolute monarch, who acted as his own prime minister and staffed all the agencies of the state with his own relatives. Rama VI, with his British education, knew that the rest of the nation could not be excluded from government for ever, but he was no democrat. His solution was build a mass royalist political and paramilitary movement called Seua Pa ("Wild Tigers") to create a sense of participation without weakening the royal grip on power. He applied his observation of the success of the British monarchy, appearing more in public and instituting more royal ceremonies. But he also carried on his father's modernisation program. Polygamy was abolished, primary education made compulsory, and in 1916 higher education came to Siam with the founding of Chulalongkorn University, which in time became the seedbed of a new Siamese intelligentsia.

In 1917 Siam declared war on Germany, mainly to gain favour with the British and the French. Siam's +++en participation in World War I gained it a seat at the Versailles Peace Conference, and Foreign Minister Devrawongse used this opportunity to argue for the repeal of the 19th century treaties and the restoration of full Siamese sovereignty. The United States obliged in 1920, while France and Britain delayed until 1925. This victory gained the king some popularity, but it was soon undercut by discontent over other issues, such as his extravagance, which became more noticeable when a sharp postwar recession hit Siam in 1919. There was also the fact that the king had no son; he obviously preferred the company of men to women (a matter which of itself did not much concern Siamese opinion, but which did undermine the stability of the monarchy).

Thus when Rama VI died suddenly in 1925, aged only 44, the monarchy was already in a weakened state. He was succeeded by his younger brother Prajadhipok (Rama VII), who inherited a country which had outgrown the system of personal rule but had no experience of any other system. The state's finances were in chaos, the budget out of control, the army restive and the newest player in Siamese politics, the Bangkok press, increasingly outspoken in its criticism. The new king, who had not expected to inherit the throne, had been trained as an army officer and had little aptitude for government.

The king's attempts at reform were ineffective. He established a Supreme Council of State, but then stacked it with his relatives, thus negating any good impression it might have created. Pressure for political reform mounted from the new class of university educated civil servants, who filled the Bangkok press with their opinions. One of these was a young lawyer called Pridi Phanomyong, soon to become one of the leaders of the reformist movement. There was also pressure from the influential Chinese business community, who wanted financial stability. The return of prosperity in the mid 1920s eased these pressure somewhat, but the onset of the Great Depression in 1930 brought a renewed air of crisis. Keen to maintain its respectability with foreign creditors, Siam maintained the gold standard, thus pricing itself out of its export markets.

In 1932, with the country deep in depression, the king made a speech in which he said: "I myself know nothing at all about finances, and all I can do is listen to the opinions of others and choose the best... If I have made a mistake, I really deserve to be excused by the people of Siam." This was not well received. Serious political disturbances were threatened in the capital, and in April the king agreed to introduce a constitution under which he would share power with a prime minister. This was not enough for the radical elements in the army, however. On June 24, 1932, while the king was holidaying at the seaside, the Bangkok garrison mutinued and seized power, led by a group of 49 officers known as "the Promoters." Thus ended 150 years of Siamese absolute monarchy.

[KatoeyLover69]

The history of Thailand from 1932 to 1973 was dominated by the military dictatorship which was in power for much of the period. The main personalities of the period were the dictator Phibun, who allied the country with Japan during the Second World War, and the civilian politician Pridi, who founded Thammasat University and was briefly prime minister after the war. A succession of military dictators followed Pridi's ousting — Phibun again, Sarit and Thanom — under whom traditional, authoritarian rule combined with increasing modernisation and westernisation under the influence of the U.S. The end of the period was marked by Thanom's resignation, forced after a massacre of pro-democracy protesters who were led by Thammasat students.


Military rule

The military came to power in 1932, and retained it (with intermittent periods of civilian rule) until the failed coup of 1992. The army's dominance can be attributed in part to its role as an avenue for advancement for ambitious young Siamese when the Chinese dominated the business world and the educated middle-class was still small.

The new regime of 1932 was led by a group of colonels headed by Phraya Phahonphonphayuhasena and Phraya Songsuradet. In December they produced a constitution, Siam's first, with a National Assembly half appointed and half indirectly elected. Full democratic elections were promised when half the population had completed primary education - expected to be sometime in the 1940s. A prime minister and Cabinet were appointed and a facade of constitutional rule maintained.

Once the new government had been established and the constitution put into effect, conflict began to erupt among the members of the new ruling coalition. There were basically four major factions competing for power. 1: The older conservative civilians led by Phraya Mano; 2: A senior military faction led by Phraya Phahon; 3: The junior army and navy faction led by Luang Plaek Phibunsongkhram; 4: The young civilian faction led by Pridi Phanomyong.

The first serious conflict arose in 1933 when Pridi was given the task of drafting a new economic plan for the nation. It was a radical plan which called for the nationalisation of large amounts of farmland as well as a policy of rapid industrialisation which would be directed by the government. His plan also called for the expansion of higher education so that entry into the bureaucracy would not be completely dominated by royalty and the aristocracy. Pridi's plan was instantly condemned by all the factions in the government as being communist.

Because of its attack on private property, the conservative clique were the ones that were most alarmed by Pridi's economic plan. They urged the Mano government to adopt policies that would reverse the course of the "revolution". When Phraya Mano attempted to do this, Phibun and Phraya Phahon launched a second coup that toppled the Mano government. Phraya Pahon became prime minister, and the new government that was formed excluded all of the royalists.

A royalist reaction came in late 1933 when Prince Bovoradej, a grandson of Chulalongkorn and one time Minister of Defence, led an armed revolt against the government. He mobilised various provincial garrisons and marched on Bangkok, capturing the Don Muang aerodome in the process. The Prince accused the government of disrespecting the King and of promoting communism, and demanded that the government leaders resign. He had hoped that some of the garrisons in the Bangkok area would join the revolt, but they remained loyal to the government. In the meanwhile, the navy declared itself neutral and left for its bases in the south. After heavy fighting in the northern outskirts of Bangkok, the royalists were finally defeated and Prince Bovoradej left for exile in Indochina.

A few months later in 1934, King Prajadhipok, whose relations with the new government had been deteriorating for some time, went abroad to receive medical treatment. While abroad, he still tried to retain some influence on the government's policies, but finally gave up when it became clear that the government would not relinquish its increasingly dogmatic nature. In March 1935, while still in Europe, he announced his abdication. The government then chose Prince Ananda Mahidol, who was then in school in Switzerland, to be the next king. For the first time in history, Siam was without a resident reigning monarch and was to remain so for the next fifteen years.

The new regime carried out some important reforms. The currency went off the gold standard, allowing trade to recover. Serious efforts were made to expand primary and secondary education. Elected local and provincial governments were introduced, and in 1937 democratic development was brought forward when direct elections were held for the National Assembly, although political parties were still not allowed. Thammasat University was founded, at Pridi's initiative, as a more accessible alternative to the elitist Chulalongkorn, and became a hotbed of radicalism. Military expenditure was also greatly expanded to 30% of the national budget.

The military, now led by Field Marshal Phibun as Defence Minister, and the civilian liberals led by Pridi as Foreign Minister, worked together harmoniously for several years, but when Phibun became prime minister in December 1938 this co-operation broke down, and military domination became more overt. Phibun was an admirer of Benito Mussolini, and his regime soon developed some fascist characteristics. In early 1939 forty political opponents, both monarchists and democrats, were arrested, and after rigged trials eighteen were executed, the first political executions in Siam in over a century. Phibun launched a demagogic campaign against the Chinese business class. Chinese schools and newspapers were closed, and taxes on Chinese businesses increased.

Phibun and Luang Wichit, the government's ideological spokesman, copied the propaganda techniques used by Hitler and Mussolini to build up the cult of the leader. Aware of the power of mass media, they used the government's monopoly on radio broadcasting to shape popular support for the regime. Popular government slogans were constantly aired on the radio and plastered on newspapers and billboards. Phibun's picture was also to be seen everywhere in society, while portraits of the ex-monarch King Prajadhipok were banned. At the same time he passed a number of authoritarian laws which gave the government the power of almost unlimited arrest and complete press censorship.

Also in 1939, Phibun changed the country's name from Siam to Prathet Thai, or Thailand, meaning "land of the free." This was a nationalist gesture: it implied the unity of all the Tai-speaking peoples, including the Lao and the Shan, but excluding the Chinese. The regime's slogan became "Thailand for the Thai."


to be continued ( Part 2 ) ...........

[Soul_Reaper]

Originally Posted by KatoeyLover69

Uncle TV has CIA, FBI, KGV, M5 and Mossad connections

U meant KGB, MI5...rite?

[KatoeyLover69]

............ continued ( Part 2 ) .............

Military rule

Modernisation was also an important theme in Phibun's new Thai nationalism. From 1938 to 1942 he issued a set of 12 Cultural Mandates. In addition to requiring that all Thais salute the flag, know the National Anthem, and speak the national language, the mandates also encouraged Thais to work hard, stay informed on current events, and to dress in a western fashion. At the same time, Phibun worked rigorously to rid society of its royalist influences - traditional royal holidays were replaced with new national events, royal and aristocratic titles were abandoned (ironically, he retained his aristocratic surname). Even the Sangha was affected when the status of the royally sponsored Thammayuth sect was downgraded.

In 1940 France was occupied by Germany, and Phibun immediately set out to avenge Siam's humiliations by France in 1893 and 1904. Luang Wichint wrote a number of popular dramas that glorified the idea of many ethnic groups belonging to one greater "Thai"empire and condemned the evils of European colonial rule. Irredentist and anti-French demonstrations were incessantly held around Bangkok, and in late 1940 border skirmishes erupted along the Mekhong frontier. In 1941, the skirmishes became a small scale war between Vichy France and Thailand. The Thai forces dominated the war on the ground and in the air, but suffered a crushing naval defeat at the battle of Koh Chang. The Japanese then stepped in to mediate the conflict. The final settlement thus gave back to Thailand a number of the disputed areas in Laos and Cambodia.

This caused a rapid deterioration of relations with the United States and Britain. In April 1941 the U.S. cut off oil supplies to Thailand. Thailand's campaign for territorial expansion came to an end on December 8th 1941 when Japan invaded the country along its southern coastline. The Phibun regime allowed for the Japanese to pass through the country in its advance into Burma and Malaya. Convinced by the Allied defeats of early 1942 that Japan was winning the war, Phibun decide to form an actual alliance with the Japanese.

As a reward, Japan allowed Thailand to invade and annex the Shan States in northern Burma, and to resume sovereignty over the sultanates of northern Malaya. In January 1942 Thailand actually declared war on Britain and the U.S., but the Thai Ambassador in Washington, Seni Pramoj refused to deliver it to the State Department. Instead, Seni denounced the regime as illegal and formed a Seri Thai Movement in Washington. Pridi, by now serving in the role of an apparently powerless regent, led the resistance movement inside Thailand, while Queen Ramphaiphannee was the nominal head of the movement in Great Britain.

Secret training camps were set up, the majority of set up by the populist politician Tiang Sirikhanth in the northeast of the country. (there were a dozen camps alone in Sakhon Nakhon Province). Secret airfields also appeared in the northeast, where RAF and USAAF planes brought in supplies, as well as SOE, OSS, and Seri Thai agents; while at the same time evacuating out POWs. By early 1945, Thai air force officers were performing liaision duties with South East Asia Command in Kandy and Calcutta.

By 1944 it was evident that the Japanese were going to lose the war, and their behaviour in Thailand had become increasingly arrogant. Bangkok also suffered heavily from the Allied bombing raids. This, plus the economic hardship caused by the loss of Thailand's rice export markets, made both the war and Phibun's regime very unpopular, and in July Phibun was ousted by the Seri Thai-infiltrated government. The National Assembly reconvened and appointed the liberal lawyer Khuang Aphaiwong as Prime Minister. The new government hastily evacuated the British territories that Phibun had occupied and aided the Seri Thai movement while at the same time maintained friendly relations with the Japanese.

The British (the officials in Whitehall and not the officers at SEAC)were in favour of treating Thailand as a defeated enemy, but the Americans had no great sympathy for British and French colonialism and decided to support the new government. Thailand thus received little punishment for its wartime role.

to be continued ( Part 3 ) .............

[KatoeyLover69]

............. continued ( Part 3 ) .............

Postwar Thailand

Seni Pramoj became Prime Minister in 1945, and promptly restored the name Siam as a symbol of the end of Phibun's nationalist regime. Pridi as regent was the real power in the new government, which held democratic elections in January 1946. These were the first elections in which political parties were legal, and Pridi's People's Party and its allies won a majority. In March 1946 Pridi became Siam's first democratically elected Prime Minister. In 1947 he agreed to hand back the French territory occupied in 1940 as the price for admission to the United Nations, the dropping of all wartime claims against Siam and a substantial package of American aid.

In December 1945 the young king Rama VIII had returned to Siam from Europe, but in July 1946 he was found mysteriously shot dead in the palace. Three palace servants were tried and executed for his murder, but Thai society has preferred not to dwell on the event rather than to investigate its causes. The king was succeeded by his younger brother Phumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), who was a schoolboy in Europe. In August Pridi was forced to resign amid suspicion that he had been involved in the killing. Without his leadership, the civilian government floundered, and in November 1947 the army, its confidence restored after the debacle of 1945, seized power. In April 1948 the army brought Phibun back from exile and made him Prime Minister. Pridi in turn was driven into exile, eventually settling in Beijing as a guest of the People's Republic of China.

Phibun's return to power coincided with the onset of the Cold War and the establishment of a Communist regime in North Vietnam. He soon won the support of the U.S., beginning a long tradition of U.S.-backed military regimes in Thailand (as the country was again renamed in July 1949, this time permanently). Once again political opponents were arrested and tried, and some were executed. There were attempted counter-coups by Pridi supporters in 1948, 1949 and 1951, the second leading to heavy fighting between the army and navy before Phibun emerged victorious. In the navy's 1951 attempt, popularly known as the Manhattan Coup, Phibun was nearly killed when the ship he was held hostage aboard was bombed by the pro-government air force.

In 1949 a new constitution was promulgated, creating a Senate appointed by the king (in practice, by the government). But in 1951 the regime abolished its own constitution and reverted to the 1932 arrangements, effectively abolishing the National Assembly as an elected body. This provoked strong opposition from the universities and the press, and led to a further round of trials and repression. The regime was greatly helped, however, by a postwar boom which gathered pace through the 1950s, fuelled by rice exports and U.S. aid. Thailand's economy began to diversity, while the population and urbanisation increased.

By 1955 Phibun was losing his leading position in the army to younger rivals led by Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat and General Thanom Kittikachorn. To shore up his position he restored the 1949 constitution and called elections, which his supporters won. But the army was not prepared to give up power, and in September 1957 it demanded Phibun's resignation. When Phibun tried to have Sarit arrested, the army staged a bloodless coup on September 17, 1957, ending Phibun's career for good. Thanom became Prime Minister until 1958, then yielded his place to Sarit, the real head of the regime. Sarit held power until his death in 1963, when Thanom again took the lead.

Sarit and Thanom were the first Thai leaders to have been educated entirely in Thailand, and were less influenced by European political ideas, whether fascist or democratic, than the generation of Pridi and Phibun had been. Rather, they were Thai traditionalists, who sought to restore the prestige of the monarchy and to maintain a society based on order, hierarchy and religion. They saw rule by the army as the best means of ensuring this, and also of defeating Communism, which they now associated with Thailand's traditional enemies the Vietnamese. The young King Bhumibol, who returned to Thailand in 1951, co-operated with this project. The Thai monarchy's present elevated status thus has its origins in this era.

The regimes of Sarit and Thanom were strongly supported by the U.S. Thailand had formally become a U.S. ally in 1954 with the formation of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). While the war in Indochina was being fought between the Vietnamese and the French, Thailand (disliking both equally) stayed aloof, but once it became a war between the U.S. and the Vietnamese Communists, Thailand committed itself strongly to the U.S. side, concluding a secret agreement with the U.S. in 1961, sending troops to Vietnam and Laos and allowing the U.S. to open airbases in the east of the country to conduct its bombing war against North Vietnam. The Vietnamese retaliated by supporting the Communist Party of Thailand's insurgency in the north and northeast.

The Vietnam War hastened the modernisation and westernisation of Thai society. The American presence and the exposure to western culture that came with it had an effect on almost every aspects of Thai life. Before the late 1960s, full access to Western culture was limited to a highly educated elite in society, but the Vietnam War brought the outside world face to face with large segments of the Thai society as never before. With US dollars pumping up the economy, the service, transportation, and construction industries grew phenomenally. The traditional rural family unit was broken down as more and more rural Thais moved to the city to find new job. This led to a clash of cultures as Thais were exposed to Western ideas about fashion, music, values, and moral standards.

The population began to grow explosively as the standard of living rose, and a flood of people began to move from the villages to the cities, and above all to Bangkok. Thailand had 30 million people in 1965, while by the end of the 20th century the population had doubled. Bangkok's population had grown tenfold since 1945 and had trebled since 1970.

Educational opportunities and exposure to mass media increased during the Vietnam War years. As bright university students learned more about ideas related to Thailand's economic and political systems resulting in a revival of student activism. The Vietnam War period also saw the growth of the Thai middle class which gradually developed its own identity and consciousness.

Economic development certainly did not bring prosperity to all. During the 1960s many of the rural poor felt increasingly dissatisfied with their condition in society and disillusioned by their treatment by the central government in Bangkok. Efforts by the Thai government to develop poor rural regions often did not have the desired effect in that they contributed to the farmers' awareness of how bad off they really were. It is interesting to note that it was not always the poorest of the poor who joined the anti-government insurgency. Increased government presence in the rural villages did little to improve the situation. Villagers became subject to increased military and police harassment and bureaucratic corruption. Villagers often felt betrayed when government promises of development were frequently not fulfilled. By the early 1970s rural discontent had manifested itself into a peasant's activist movement.

to be continued ( Part 4 ).............

[KatoeyLover69]

.............. continued ( Part 4 ) ...............

Post-war Thailand

The peasant's movement got started in the regions just north of the central plains and the Chiang Mai area (not the areas where the insurgency was most active) When these regions had been organised into the centralised Siamese state in King Chulalongkorn's reign, the old local nobility had been allowed to grab large tracts of land. The end result was that by the 1960s close to 30% of the households were landless. In the early 1970s university students helped to bring some of the local protests out on to the national stage. The protests focused on land loss, high rents, the heavy handed role of the police, corruption among the bureaucracy and the local elite, poor infrastructure, and overwhelming poverty. The government agreed to establish a committee to hear peasant grief. Within a short time the committee was flooded with more than 50,000 petitions, way more that it could possibly handle. Officials called many of the peasants' demands unrealistic and too far-reaching.

The political environment of Thailand changed little during the middle '60s. Thanom and his chief deputy Praphas maintained a tight grip on power. The alliance between these two was further cemented by the marriage of Praphas's daughter to Thanom's son Ranong. By the late 1960s, however, more elements in Thai society had become openly critical of the military government which was seen as being increasingly incapable of dealing with the country's problems. It was not only the student activists, but also the business community that had begun to question the leadership of the government as well as its relationship with the United States. Thanom came under increasing pressure to loosen his grip on power when the King commented that it was time for parliament to be restored and a new constitution put into effect. After Sarit had suspended the constitution in 1958, a committee was established to write a new one, but almost ten years later, it had still not been completed. Finally in 1968 the government issued a new constitution and scheduled elections for the following year. The government party founded by the military junta won the election and Thanom remained prime minister.

Surprisingly, the Assembly was not totally tame. A number of MPs (mostly professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and journalists) began to openly challenge some of the government's policies, producing evidence of widespread government corruption on a number of large projects. As a new budget was being debated in 1971, it actually appeared that the military's demand for more funds might be voted down. Rather than suffer such a loss of face, Thanom carried out a putsch against his own government, suspended the constitution and dissolved the Parliament. Once again Thailand had been returned to absolute military rule.

This strongman approach which had worked for Phibun in 1938 and 1947, and for Sarit in 1957-58 would prove to be unsuccessful. By the early 1970s Thai society as a whole had developed a level of political awareness where it would no longer accept such unjustified authoritarian rule. The King, using various holidays to give speeches on public issues, became openly critical of the Thanom-Praphas regime. He expressed doubt on the use of extreme violence in the efforts to combat insurgency. He mentioned the widespread existence of corruption in the government and expressed the view that coups should become a thing of the past in the Thai political system. Furthermore, the junta began to face increasing opposition from within the military itself. Being preoccupied with their political roles, Thanom and Praphas had become more removed from direct control of the army. Many officers felt outraged by the rapid promotion of Narong and the fact that he seemed destined to be Thanom's successor. To these officers, it appeared that a political dynasty was being created.

In the end it was the students that played the decisive role in the fall of the junta. Student demonstrations had started in 1968 and grew in size and numbers in the early 1970s despite the continued ban on political meetings. In June 1973, nine Ramkhamhaeng University students were expelled for publishing an article in a student newspaper that was critical of the government. Shortly after, thousands of students held a protest at the Democracy Student demanding the reenrollment of the nine students. The government ordered the universities shut, but shortly after backed down and allowed the students to be reenrolled.

In October the situation became more serious when another 13 students were arrested on charges of conspiracy to overthrow the government. This time the student protests were joined by workers, businessmen and other ordinary citizens. The demonstrations swelled to several hundred thousand and the issue broadened from the release of the arrested students to demands for a new constitution and the replacement of the current government.

On October 13, the government yielded to the public's demand and the detainees were released. Leaders of the demonstrations, among them Saeksan Prasertkul, called off the march in accordance with the wishes of the King.

As the crowds were breaking up the next day, the historic October 14th, many students found themselves unable to leave because the police had attempted to control the flow of the crowd by blocking the southern route to Rajavithi Road. Cornered and overwhelmed by the hostile crowd, the police soon responded with violence by lauching barrages of teargas and gunfire. Within minutes, a full scale riot had erupted.

The military was called in, and Bangkok witnessed the horrifying spectacle of tanks rolling down Rajdamnoen Avenue and helicopters firing down at Thammasat University. A number of students commandeered buses and fire engines in an attempt to halt the progress of the tanks by ramming into them, with disastrous results.

With chaos reigning on the streets, King Bhumibol, ignoring the safety concerns of his immediate security staff, ordered the gates of Chitralada Palace opened to the students who were being gunned down by the army.

Despite orders from Thanom that the military action be intensified, army commander Kris Sivara had the army withdrawn from the streets.

Then, for the first time in modern history, Thailand's constitutional monarch openly involved himself in the transition of politcal power. He condemned the government's inability to handle the demonstrations and ordered Thanom, Praphas, and Narong to leave the country.

At 06:10PM, Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn resigned from his post as Prime Minister.

An hour later, the King appeared on national television, broadcasting the following speech:

"Today is a day of great sorrow that will be. . . recorded with the utmost grief in the history of our Thai nation. For the past six or seven days, there have been various demands and negotiations that have culminated in an agreement between the students and the government. But then bottle bombs were thrown and tear-gas was fired, causing some clashes in which many people were injured. Violence then escalated all over the city until it became a riot that has not ended until now, with over a hundred of our Thai compatriots having lost their lives.

I beseech all sides and all people to eliminate the causes of violence by decidedly suspending any action leading in that direction, in order that our country can return to a state of normalcy as soon as possible.

Furthermore, in order to remedy the present disaster, Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn resigned from the post of prime minister earlier tonight. I have consequently appointed Nai Sanya Dharmasakti as prime minister. . . ."''

The junta had fallen, at the cost of 1,577 lives.

[KatoeyLover69]

Thailand Population

About sixty million of Thai population embraces four major ethnic groups. Almost 80% are Thais; others are ethnic Chinese 8-12%, Malay 4-6%, and minority group 3-5%. The origin of Thai people has been a problematic subject among the academics as there are several theories given about Thai origin. Most widely accepted theory is that Tai people migrated south from the southern China due to the Mongol invasion in the 12th century in to the mainland Southeast Asia. However, recent studies based on archeological finds in Ban Chiang, Thailand argue that at least about 4,000 years ago, there already had been Thais living in this region and that they had developed their own culture. Until today, conclusion about the Thai origin is still unreachable.

It is quite difficult to find the typical physiognomy or physique as various ethnic groups like the Mons, Burmese, or Khmers have assimilated to a degree that they are all similar in appearance. What distinguishes Thai people into group is a dialect. Different dialect is in accordance with the regional division as well. There are four regional divisions with their different dialects: Central Thais, Northern Thais, Northeastern Thais, and Southern Thais.


People of Thailand

Central Thais are the majority of total population, speaking Central Thai language. This is the political, social, and culturally dominant group, concentrating in the Chao Praya River Basin. Political power, economy, culture, education, and development are all centered in the central region. Central Thai dialect is designated to be an official language and taught in all public schools.

Northeastern Thais are the second-large ethnic group in Thailand. They are called Thai-Lao who have close relation to Lao people in the former Lan Xang Kingdom (Land of Million Elephants), encompassing the area of Laos and most of Korat Plateau (Northeastern region). They migrated across the Mekong River and still retain their language and tradition under the rule of semi-autonomous Lao princes until the early 20th century before completely incorporated with Thai government. The region considered to be relatively laid-back for its remoteness from the central government. However, development programs have been launched to improve living-condition of poor residents in the region. Nowadays, most northeastern Thais accept the benefits of Thai citizenship while remaining their distinct language and tradition of Laotian ethnicity.

Northern Thais are another ethnic group whose culture and language are distinct from the central ones. They called themselves "Khon Muang", People of the region. It is the northern Thais who founded the first major Thai kingdom, Lanna Kingdom in the early 13th century before the rise of Sukhothai. Northern Thais are proud of their language which is closely related to one of the Shan in Burma. There are also other northern dialects spoken by other ethnic groups such as the Mons near Lamphun as well as the tribal languages of the Karen, Hmong, Akha, Lahu, and Lisu. As other regions, central Thai dialect is taught in all public schools, radio, and television even if most of northern Thais still speak their own dialect in daily life.

Southern Thais are characterized by their physiognomy distinctly different from that of northern peoples- darker, with larger eyes and rounder faces which represent the Thai-Malay mixed characteristics. Southern culture was built up from different Asian civilizations. Among the major ones were the Indians, Buddhist Mons, Malay-Indonesians and Srivijayans, and Khmers. All have influence typical southern culture represented as food, architecture, performing arts and ceremonies. Southern Thais speak more abbreviated language with shorten word and quick rhythm. Even the residents of Bangkok have difficulty understanding their patter.
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History and People

The earliest people to appear in Thailand were most likely the Mons, who came into Southeast Asia from Central China two millennia ago. The Mons settled along various rivers in Burma and Thailand, building cities and rapidly developing a civilized culture. Within a few centuries they were confronted by other groups coming out of the north. As the region filled with people and villages, local kingdoms emerged and vied for supremacy over each other, giving rise to Thailand's earliest empires. The first of these were the Davaravati of Central Thailand and the Srivijaya, whose empire extended from Sumatra up the Malay peninsula to southern Thailand. Both kingdoms practiced Buddhism, which had spread from India during the time of the Mons. Eventually, the Davaravati fell to the westward expansion of the Khmers from Cambodia.

The next Thai kingdom to arise was Siam, which had its origins in the military expansion of the Mongols under Kublai Khan. As the Mongols pressed south through China, the peoples of the northwestern mountains and the Shan Plateau fled south and east. In 1220, the Thai lords founded their first capital at Sukhothai, in the Nan River valley. Soon afterward, two other Thai kingdoms were established: Lanna Thai (million Thai rice fields) at Chiang Mai in the north, and Ayuthaya, upriver from present day Bangkok. In the mid-14th century, Ayuthaya had entered its golden age, dominating the other kingdoms and driving the Khmers out of the region entirely.

For the next few centuries the Thai kingdoms faced a stronger threat, not from the east or north, but from their neighbors to the west---the Burmese. In 1556 the Burmese captured Chiang Mai, and then Ayuthaya in 1569. The Thais rallied and recaptured both cities in the following decades, but the antagonism between the two peoples continued. The Burmese attacked Ayuthaya once more in 1767, this time practically erasing the city after a particularly bloody and protracted battle. Although the Thais managed to expel the Burmese shortly after, a new capital had to be constructed around what is now Bangkok. This chapter in Thai history marks the establishment of the Chakri Dynasty under Rama I, whose descendants have reigned in unbroken succession until the present day.

Unlike most of the other countries of Southeast Asia, Thailand (or Siam, as it was known at the time) never felt the yoke of direct European colonialism. As early as the 17th century, the Thai kings were set upon maintaining independence, having executed a French emissary to underscore their determination. As the French, British, and Dutch carved up the entire region over the next hundred years, the Kings of Siam shrewdly played the competing Europeans against each other, ensuring that no one power would gain a dominant presence. The strategy paid off handsomely, as Siam remained autonomous while reaping most of whatever benefits the colonial system had to offer.

After a peaceful coup in 1932, Siam's powerful monarchy became constitutional, and in 1939 the country officially adopted the name Thailand. Over the next several decades, Thailand was governed primarily by military dictatorships, which drew much of their support from collaboration with more powerful nations. They supported the Japanese occupation army in WW2 and later provided bases and men for the United States' efforts in Vietnam. Since that time, Thailand has weathered several coups, a number of border clashes with neighbouring communist regimes, and violent student demonstrations, finally emerging in the last decade as a remarkably stable and economically successful nation.

Today Thailand has a population of 54 million people, the vast majority of whom are of Thai ethnicity. Significant minorities of Chinese, Malay, Khmer, Mons, and various hill tribes also reside in Thailand, in addition to tens of thousands of refugees in border camps from the more troubled countries of South-East Asia.

Buddhism is the dominant religion in Thailand, although a variety of tribal religions continue to be practiced. Thailand's people regard their royal family with a respect bordering on awe. The main language in Thailand is Thai, although Lao, Chinese, Malay and English are also spoken by significant numbers of people.

[KatoeyLover69]

The banana plantation turned sex zone
By Michael Backman
September 21, 2005


ASIA is full of ironies. One of the greatest is that prostitution is actually illegal in Thailand: this in a country with the world's most infamous commercial sex sector.

At one time or another, most Asia hands will have visited Patpong, the famous nightclub and commercial sex district in the heart of Bangkok. Its clubs are famous for shows that feature young women and the inevitable ping pong balls.

But who owns Patpong? The fact that so much so flagrantly illegal occurs there right under the noses of the Thai police and the Thai Government has long generated rumours of senior military, political or even royal connections.

But the ownership structure can be revealed. The area was once a banana plantation. It was used as a Japanese military headquarters in World War II. And then in 1946, it was sold to an immigrant from China's Hainan Island, who had been awarded the Thai name of Patpongpanich (sometimes written as Patpongpanit) by the king.

Patpongpanich is said to have paid 60,000 baht (then about $US2400) for the land. He bought it with the intention of building a house for his brothers and sisters and cut a road through the property to connect Silom and Suriwong Roads. This road is what is known as Patpong 1 Road today. And the street is privately owned along with the properties that line it.

Udom Patponsiri, Patpongpanich's eldest son, inherited the land and built shophouses along the road that his father built. Udom then found tenants for the buildings and the area evolved into the world's most famous red light district.

Udom, who was born in 1916, had a remarkable life. He studied at the London School of Economics from 1936 to 1938 after his early education in Thailand. He returned to Thailand in 1940 but was then sent to finish his formal education at the University of Minnesota in the United States where he earned a business degree.

Thailand's Government supported Japan in World War II and so, like many Thai students then in the US, Udom joined the pro-Allied Free Thai Movement. He received training from the US Army and from what was to become the CIA at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was to return to Thailand in 1945 to work as an undercover agent but the war ended.

In the '50s, Udom developed his family's real estate interests, of which Patpong was the largest. Patpong was quickly transformed into a nightclub zone. The massive build-up of US armed forces in Vietnam and Thailand in the '60s saw the demand for evening entertainment grow rapidly in Bangkok. By 1968, a variety of nightclubs had opened along Patpong. In the early '70s, these overflowed into Patpong 2, a smaller street that runs parallel to Patpong 1. It, too, is a private street owned by the Patpongpanich family.

The bars transformed into the "go-go" bars as they're known today and massage parlours also opened. Several clubs opened upstairs bars in the early '80s featuring more explicit shows and greater nudity than the go-go bars downstairs. The show bars became popular and gained worldwide notoriety. Patpong's further development came in the late '80s, when the Patpongpanichs decided to close Patpong 1 Road off each night and to rent out small lots on the street to stallholders. And so now, Patpong 1 Road is home to a massive outdoor nightmarket each evening with stalls selling clothing, souvenirs and pirated DVDs and CDs.

Today Patpong is one of Bangkok's most valuable pieces of real estate but it remains underdeveloped. Tall office towers stand nearby, but Patpong is lined with the shophouses that Udom built in the '50s.

One of the Patpongpanich family's biggest lessees is the King's Group, owned and managed by another Thai-Chinese businessman and his son. It runs six of the biggest go-go bars in Patpong, a restaurant and the King's Body House massage parlour around the corner on Soi Surawongse Plaza. Almost all the business owners and operators in the Patpong area are ethnic Chinese.

Soi 4, Silom Road, also known as Soi Katoey and sometimes as Patpong 3, runs parallel to Patpong 2. Like Patpong 1 and 2, it is a privately owned road. The family that owns it lives at the end of the Soi and is not related to the Patpongpanich family. Their road, too, has become home to nightclubs and cafes.

Udom died in 1996. On his death, the privately owned company Patpong Co Ltd that holds the family's Patpong interests had seven shareholders, including his daughter Varita Vajrabhaya who now heads up the family's business interests, his two remaining sisters and a nephew.

The Land Department valued the Patpong site at around $US100 million at the time of Udom's death.

Today, the family is believed to collect $US3 million ($A3.9 million) a year in rent from its Patpong holdings. It does not own any of the businesses in the area but simply lets premises, many of which are sub-leased again.

So this is who is behind Patpong: the Patpongpanich family owns the land and many of the buildings. Others operate separate businesses from those buildings. And the Thai police collect large sums from many of those businesses to provide advance notice of imminent raids.

And while it's true that Patpong could not exist without the patronage of foreigners, that is not true of Thailand's large sex industry more generally. The biggest users of the sector across Thailand are Thais.

[email protected]

[KatoeyLover69]

Here's the map of Patpong showing all the A Go Go bars and massage parlours :-

http://www.nanadisco.com/Maps/patpong.html

[KatoeyLover69]

Patpong – The Story of Bangkok’s Most Famous Street

For more than 30 years one of Bangkok’s most valuable pieces of real estate remained virtually underdeveloped. Patpong or “the street” as its known to its regulars has retained its three story shop house look from the 1950’s. It has to be Bangkok’s least attractive streets. It was founded by Poon Pat and took its name from his son Udom Patpong who was largely responsible for its development.

The two developments that made a simple street no different to any other into a lucrative business were firstly cutting a road through the property and the second to seek foreigners as tenants for his buildings.

Poon Pat decided to cut a six metre access road from Surawong into the property ending at Silom Klong (now the road). The old man gave his son the order to get the work done and took the rest of the family for a vacation in Hua Hin.

Udom doubled the size of the road which initially angered his father because of his disobedience. But that was soon forgiven as Udom made his decision because he saw a business opportunity and had arranged with an acquaintance the necessary financing to build a two storey row of shop houses at the Surawong end of the Patpong street. Then he headed to the New Road, a major business district at that time, and offered their tenants a novel deal on renting their office space at that time – no key money (or tea money as its often called, a huge upfront deposit paid.

Instead of asking for “key money” Udom offered a western style deal, which of caused appealed more to his foreign customers of just charging a higher monthly rent. The first to take it up was a young American pilot, a veteran of the former Flying Tigers who was establishing a tiny airline called Pacific Overseas Air Service. The airline has long ceased trading but Udom housed them in the big teak “family house” and Patpong Road hasn’t looked back since.

A Japanese man called Mizutoni opened the first restaurant Mizu that is still a Patpong mainstay. The first bar to open was Roma and the second Amor – Roma spelt backwards. It was Roma that made Patpong and Thai history, young Thai women who didn’t receive a salary and in fact paid to work in the establishment they were ghost people who actually didn’t exist on the company books. They made money officially from drinks commission but many supplemented their income with extra curricular activities with the men they met in the bar. And that was how Patpong was to operate for the next 10 years.

Since 1969 there have been three major developments on Patpong Road. The first the advent of go-go bikini clad women dancing to loud music. The second was the establishment of the night market and the last the disappearance of traditional businesses from the street.

At one time almost every International airline, with the except of Thai, had offices in Patpong along with US News Agencies, shipping lines and US Information Service.

‘It’s a bit like the Champs Elysee” grinned one regular, “sit there long enough and everyone you know will pass by.”

Some may see Patpong as an unsavory image but it survives partly because it grew up in the 60’s and also because it’s still possible to do your own thing in Thailand. It would be a pity if those values were ever to change.