Pridi Banomyong

Pridi Banomyong ปรีดี พนมยงค์
7th Prime Minister of Thailand
In office March 24, 1946 – August 23, 1946
Monarch	Ananda Mahidol, Bhumipol Adulyadej
Preceded by	Khuang Abhaiwongse
Succeeded by	Thawal Thamrong Navaswadhi
Born	May 11, 1900(1900-05-11) Ayutthaya, Thailand
Died	May 2, 1983 (aged 82) Paris, France
Nationality	Thai
Spouse(s)	Poonsuk Phanomyong
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Pridi Banomyong^[1] Thai: ปรีดี พนมยงค์; Chinese: 陳嘉祥 or 陳璋茂;^[2] May 11, 1900 – May 2, 1983) was a highly-revered Thai politician. He was a former Prime Minister and Senior Statesman of Thailand, and named one of the world great personalities of the century by the UNESCO in 2000.

Family background

Pridi wrote that his great-great-great grandfather, Heng, was a native of Etang village in Chenghai District, China who migrated to Siam alone during the reign of Boromaracha V, leaving behind his wife, who was pregnant with their son, Seng. While in Siam, Heng lived among the Chinese relatives of King Taksin, who later recruited some of the local Chinese, among whom was Heng, to fight against the Burmese invaders. Heng died in his service, and Taksin was notified about Heng's fate and compensated his family, after they had sent a letter enquiring about him.^[3] Seng, despite being persuaded to travel to Siam for a better life, chose to live his life in China as a rice farmer.^[4]

Seng's son, Tan Nai Kok (陳盛于/陈盛于; Chen Chengyu; Tan Sêng-u),^[5] came to Siam in 1814, during the reign of Rama II. Nai Kok settled in Ayutthaya and eked out a living by selling Chinese and Thai sweets; it was said he had made innovations by combining culinary skills from both the Chinese and Thais. A devout Buddhist, he married a Thai woman named Pin.^[6] Pin's sister, Boonma, happened to be an ancestor of Pridi's wife Poonsuk.^[7] They had a son, Nai Koet, who married Khum, a daughter of a wealthy Chinese entrepreneur. Nai Koet died before his wife, who directed that his remains were to be cremated and interred at the shrine at Phanomyong hill.^[8] Their son, Nai Siang, who became a wealthy rice merchant, married Lukchan, were the parents of Pridi.^[9] Nai Siang adopted the surname Phanomyong in 1866.^[10] (Some other accounts claimed that Nai Siang was a Chinese immigrant himself.)^[11]

Biography

Early life

Pridi Phanomyong was born in the province of Ayutthaya, and was the second child of five other siblings. Pridi also had another two half-siblings from his father's other wife. In 1915, following the royal decree issued by King Vajiravudh, Pridi and his family dropped the "Nai" from their names.^[12]

He received a government scholarship to study law and political economy at the Sorbonne, and returned to Siam in 1927 to work for the Ministry of Justice. He quickly rose to the rank, and was granted the honorary noble title of Luang Praditmanutham (Thai: หลวงประดิษฐ์มนูธรรม). During this time Pridi gradually and secretly built up a group consisting of fifty civilian officials who wished to put an end to the absolute monarchy by installing the constitutional monarchy.

People's Party

On June 24, 1932, "Khana Ratsadon", the tiny People's Party, with Pridi as the leader of the civilian faction, carried out a lightning coup that abruptly ended 150 years of absolute monarchy under the Chakri Dynasty.

In 1933, Pridi went into voluntary exile when his radical economic plans, which called for the nationalisation of all land and labour, were violently rejected by many as extreme and allegedly communist.

Statesman

He returned in 1934 to found Thammasat University as an open university, before assuming the posts of Minister of the Interior that year, Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1937, and Minister of Finance in 1938.

As Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1935 to 1937, Pridi signed treaties revoking the extraterritorial rights of 12 countries.^[13] With these treaties, Thailand was able to regain complete independence with regard to legal jurisdiction and taxation for the first time since the unequal treaties were signed under duress during the reign of King Rama IV^[14].

Although he had been friends with Field Marshal Phibunsongkhram during the early days of the People's Party, the two fell out in the following years. Pridi was violently anti-Japanese as well as a socialist, and therefore opposed many of Phibun's militaristic policies.

Free Thai movement

On 8 December 1941, Imperial Japan launched its attacks on Southeast Asia and the Allied possessions in the region, which resulted in the full development of the Pacific War. This included numerous amphibious landings in Thailand and an invasion across the border from French Indochina. After initially resisting, the Thai government agreed to let the Japanese pass through the country and use its military bases to strike other Allied possessions in the region, including the Battle of Malaya.

When Field Marshal Pibun Songkram issued a declaration of war against Britain and the United States in January 1942, Pridi refused to sign it. As a result, he was effectively demoted by Phibun to the figurehead role of Regent for the young monarch, who was studying in Switzerland. In this capacity, Pridi built up the anti-Japanese underground Free Thai Movement ("Seri Thai") network in Thailand. Codenamed "Ruth", he established contact with the Allies and the parallel Thai resistance organisations based in Britain and the United States. As the war progressed and the fortunes of the Japanese turned, public dissatisfaction grew and Phibun was forced to resign as prime minister in 1944.

Khuang Abhaiwongse, a liberal lawyer and member of the Seri Thai, was chosen to be prime minister because of "his ability to dissemble with the Japanese" to shield the growing Seri Thai movement while at the same time improving surface relations with the Japanese occupiers.

When Japan's surrender ended the war, the Seri Thai-dominated government immediately acted to "restore the pre-war status quo". As regent, Pridi termed "the declaration of war illegal and null, and void" as improperly made, and repudiated all agreements made with Japan by Phibun.

When Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Supreme Commander, South East Asia, visited Bangkok in late 1945, he recorded a tribute to Pridi in which he said that there had existed a unique situation wherein "the Supreme Allied Commander was exchanging vital military plans with the Head of a State technically at war with us".

Post-war years

Pridi retired from the regency when King Ananda Mahidol returned in December 1945. He was formally named a Senior Statesman (Ratthaburut Awuso), and served as a respected advisor to the post-war, civilian governments of Tawee Boonyaket and Seni Pramoj.

In March 1946, Khuang, who had been elected Prime Minister in January, resigned. Pridi took the premiership in an attempt to stabilise the political situation, which was now spiralling out of control. It was during the first months of the Pridi government that the war crimes trial against Phibun was dismissed on a legal technicality.

On the morning of June 9, 1946, the young king was found dead in his bed. The monarch's death resulted from a gunshot to the head, while in his bedroom in the Baromphiman Palace in the Grand Palace. In October 1946, a Commission of Inquiry reported the King's death could not have been accidental, but that neither suicide nor murder was satisfactorily proved.[1]

After a general election, Pridi resigned as prime minister, resumed his status of Senior Statesman, and left on a world tour, visiting Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek and US-President Truman along the way.

On November 8, 1947, army troops seized various government installations in Bangkok. The coup, led by Lieutenant General Phin Choonhavan and Colonel Luang Katsongkhram, ousted Luang Thamrong's government. It marked the return to power of Phibun. At the same time, armoured cars arrived in front of Pridi's riverside residence. However, when the troops entered, they found that Pridi had already escaped. Pridi spent a week hiding with the Navy at Admiral Sindhu Songkhramchai's headquarters. On November 20, the statesman was spirited out of the country by British and American agents to Singapore.

Phibun arrested King Ananda's secretary Senator Chaleo Patoomros and two of his pages under charges of conspiracy to kill the King. Rumours were spread among the public that Pridi was part of a conspiracy involved in the alleged regicide, and that he had plans to turn Thailand into a republic. After a farcial trial, during which the entire defence counsel resigned and two members of a subsequent counsel were arrested under charges of treason, the judges ruled that none of the accused could have fired the fatal shot. However, it did convict one of pages, Chit Singhaseni, of being a party to the crime. Chit appealed his conviction. The Appeal Court later dismissed Chit's appeal and, undeterred by the legal doctrine of double jeopardy, found the other page, But Pathamasarin, also guilty. The Supreme Court upheld the convictions, convicting Chaleo as well. All three were executed some years later.

According to biographer William Stevenson, King Bhumibol Adulyadej has said he does not believe that Pridi was involved in his brother's death.^[15]

Permanent exile

Pridi secretly returned in 1949 in order to stage a pro-democracy coup d'état against Phibun's dictatorship. When it failed, Pridi left for China, never to return to Thailand. From China, he travelled to France, where he spent the remainder of his life.

Pridi died on May 2, 1983, at his home in the suburbs of Paris.

Legacy

During the military era Pridi was cast as a monarchy-destroying communist, a demon designed to frighten off anyone who might be tempted by liberal ideas. In his later years Seni Pramoj also sought to promote the idea that he had single-handedly saved Thailand from a post-war British colonial enslavement that his rival, Pridi, had been willing to accept. Kobkua Suwannathat-Pian views in a favourable light and see his wartime downfall as a result of ambitious scheming on Pridi’s part, exemplify another line of anti-Pridi analysis.^[16] Nigel Brailey, a hostile writer, treats the Free Thai movement as largely a sham and casts doubt on Pridi’s part, arguing that “it appears questionable whether Pridi committed himself personally to the Allied cause much prior to August 1942, if even then,” suggesting that “his eventual anti-Japanese stance was a consequence primarily of his hostility to Phibun.” ^[17]

There is no question that Pridi wanted to elbow Phibun aside and that the war offered an opportunity. However, there also is no question that Pridi recognised well before the war that Thailand’s alignment with the Axis powers would work to Phibun’s advantage and enable him to further strengthen his dictatorship. Even the Japanese recognised Pridi’s orientation, which is why he was forced out of the cabinet in December 1941. It was also the reason why every knowledgeable person on the Allied side, from fellow Thais such as Seni Pramoj and Prince Suphasawat, a chief organiser of the movement in Great Britain, to former British ambassador Josiah Crosby, anticipated that Pridi would be the person to emerge at the head of a domestic resistance movement.

One time conservative monarchist Sulak Sivaraksa, displaying the zeal of a convert, has emerged as Pridi’s most ardent champion. A prolific, audacious critic of the Thai status quo, Sulak, in addition to praising the achievements of the Pridi-led Free Thai in its role in saving Thailand’s sovereignty, has criticised Seni and his Democrat Party for complicity in the military’s return to power in 1947.

Sulak-led efforts to rehabilitate Pridi have recently achieved significant results. Four Bangkok streets now bear his name (three named Pridi Banomyong Road, and one named Praditmanutham Road). His birthday, May 11, is now celebrated each year as Pridi Banomyong Day. In 1997 the Thai government dedicated a Bangkok park to the Free Thai resistance. On August 16, 2003, a library/museum, built as a replica of Pridi’s wartime residence, opened there.

For Pridi and his murdered colleagues, it was slight reward for their successful effort to unshackle Thailand from a doomed imperialist Japan and ensure its post-war sovereignty and independence.

On 30 October 1999 UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) included Pridi Phanomyong's name in the calendar of Anniversaries of Great Personalities and Historic Events Calendar as a belated tribute to not so much his achievements, but his ideals and character integrity.

There are two Pridi Banomyong Memorials, one in Pridi's hometown in Ayutthaya province, and the other on the campus of Thammasat University, which he founded. Thammasat is also home to the Pridi Banomyong Library, its central library, and the Pridi Banomyong International College. The law faculty at Dhurakij Pundit University is called at the Pridi Banomyong Faculty of Law. The Pridi (Chloropsis aurifrons pridii), a species of leafbird, and the Pridi Banomyong Institute, a non-profit academic organization, are also named in his honor. The Pridi Banomyong Institute holds an annual Pridi Banomyong Lecture, initially on Pridi Banomyong Day, but moved in recent years to June 24, in honor of his role in the 1932 coup.

Royal decorations

Pridi received the following royal decorations in the Honours System of Thailand:

• 1933 - Safeguarding the Constitution Medal^[18]
• 1937 - Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of The Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand^[19]
• 1938 - King Rama VIII Royal Cypher Medal^[20]
• 1939 - Dushdi Mala - Military^[21]
• 1941 - Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant^[22]
• 1945 - Knight Grand Cross (First Class) of The Most Illustrious Order of Chula Chom Klao^[23]
• 1945 - Knight of The Ancient and Auspicious Order of the Nine Gems^[23]

Foreign decorations

• Order of the Rising Sun, 1st Class (Japan)
• Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur (France)
• Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold (Belgium)
• Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (Italy)
• Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (United Kingdom)
• Medal of Freedom with Gold Palm (United States of America)
• Commander Grand Cross of the Order of Vasa (Sweden)
• Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle (Germany)

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pridi Banomyong

• Pridi by Pridi: Selected Writings on Life, Politics, and Economy, Pridi Phanomyong, ISBN 974-7551-35-7
• Pridi Banomyong, Senior Statesman Commemorative Homepage

References

v • d • e Prime Ministers of Thailand (List) Nititada · Phahonyothin · Pibulsonggram · Abhaiwongse · Boonyaket · S. Pramoj · Abhaiwongse · Banomyong · Navaswadhi · Abhaiwongse · Pibulsonggram · Sarasin · Kittikachorn · Thanarat · Kittikachorn · Dharmasakti · S. Pramoj · K. Pramoj · S. Pramoj · Kraivixen · Chomanan · Tinsulanonda · Choonhavan · Panyarachun · Kraprayoon · Ruchuphan† · Panyarachun · Leekpai · Silpa-Archa · Yongchaiyudh · Leekpai · Shinawatra · Wannasathit† · Shinawatra · Chulanont · Sundaravej · Wongsawat · Chanweerakul† · Vejjajiva "italics" indicate military officeholders; "†" indicate acting or caretaker officeholders.