THE WORLD CIVILIZATIONS AND INDIA , PART-64

THAILAND AFTER SECOND WORLD WAR

THAILAND adopted policy of neutrality during the period of second world war . But on 8th December 1941 , JAPAN , a dominant power of the region , and after a few hours of attack on PEARL HARBOR , demanded to move JAPANESE troops across THAILAND to the MALAYAN frontier . The then Prime Minister of THAILAND , PHIBUNSONGKHRAM , accepted JAPANESE demand after a brief resistance . In view of improvement in the relation with JAPAN , THAILAND signed a military alliance with the former in December 1941 . As a result , the JAPANESE armies used THAILAND as a base to their invasion of BURMA and MALYA . Now acting as a puppet of JAPAN , PHIBUNSONGKHRAM declared war against BRITAIN and the US . SOUTH AMERICA and NEW ZEALAND declared war on THAILAND on the same day which was followed by AUSTRALIA also . But the US considering THAILAND as puppet of JAPAN refused to declared war on THAILAND . And after the war , when the Allied forces were declared victorious , the US blocked the BRITISH efforts to impose a punitive peace on THAILAND as such . MAJOR GENERAL GEOFFREY CHARLES EVANS of the 7th INFANTRY DIVISION of INDIA with EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN landed on THAILAND in September 1945 . SENI PRAMOJ , a great grandson of King RAMA-II , a lawyer , a Professor in the US , a diplomat and a politician of the THAI DEMOCRATIC PARTY succeeded TAWEE BUNYAKET as the Prime Minister of THAILAND . It was the first time in over a decade that any civilian had taken over the command of the country . Following the signature by THAILAND on the WASHINGTON ACCORD of 1946 , the territories that had been annexed by THAILAND after the FRANCO-SIAMESE WAR were returned to the FRENCH colonies like CAMBODIA and LAOS . These areas included PHIBUNSONGKHRAM PROVINCE , NAKHON CHAMPASSAK PROVINCE , PHRA TABONG PROVINCE , KOH KONG PROVINCE , LAN CHANG PROVINCE as such . Before signing a peace treaty with THAILAND , BRITAIN , however , demanded war reparations in the form of rice shipment to MALAYA . Then the ANGLO-THAI PEACE TREATY was signed on 1st January 1946 . It was followed by the AUSTRALIAN-THAI PEACE TREATY which was signed on 3rd April 1946 . FRANCE refused to permit entry of THAILAND in the newly founded UNO until and unless the latter returned the territories occupied during the war be returned to FRANCE . Similarly , the SOVIET UNION vehemently insisted on the repeal of Anti-Communist legislation passed in the past by THAILAND as such .

DEMOCRATIC ELECTION & THAILAND

The national election was held in THAILAND in January 1946 . PRIDI’S PEOPLE’S PARTY and its allies won the majority . In March 1946 , PRIDI became THAILAND’S first democratically elected Prime Minister . For THAILAND’S admission in the UNO , PRIDI’S first step was that he agreed to hand over the INDO-CHINESE territories occupied in 1941 . This resulted in what is called all wartime claims against THAILAND were dropped . Now THAILAND had started receiving substantial aid from the US . But a sad incident followed PRIDI’S government . The Youngest King of THAILAND , ANANDA MAHIDOL ( RAMA-VIII ) , who had recently come back in his palace from Foreign , was shot dead in his bed in June 1946 just three months after PRIDI became the Prime Minister of the country . At first sight it appeared to be an accident , but the medical examiners declared it as a murder. And three royal pages were executed though in an irregular trial . And King RAMA-VIII was succeeded by BHUMIBOL ADULYADEJ as a ninth monarch of the CHAKRI Dynasty and titled as RAMA- IX on 9th June 1946 . He was the world longest-reigning current head of the state until his death on 13th October 2016 . He had been a reigning monarch for nearly 70 years , third in the row of longest ruling monarchs of the world after King LUIS XIV and Queen ELIZABETH II who ruled for 70 years and 126 days . Under King RAMA-IX served 32 Prime Ministers beginning with PRIDI BANOMYONG and ending with PRAYUT CHAN-O-CHA . Amid suspicion that he had been in the regicide , the Prime Minister PRIDI was forced to resign in August 1946 itself . But without PRIDI democratically elected government could not survive for long . In April 1948 , the army brought PHIBUNSONGKHRAM back from exile and made him the Prime Minister . And PRIDI was forced to exile to CHINA .

The THAI TRIUMVIRATE included Field Marshal PLEAK PHIBUNSONGKHRAM , FIELD MARSHAL SARIT THANARAT and POLICE GENERAL PHAO SIYANON . When PHIBUNSONGKHRAM became the Prime Minister of THAILAND , he had to face two major developments at the International front : 1. Cold War ; 2. The Establishment of Communist Regime in North Vietnam . So far as internal scenario was concerned , once again political opponents were arrested and tried . Some of them executed also . All these executions were carried out by the THAI POLICE GENERAL PHAO SIYANON ( SRIYANOND ) . During his regime numerous counter Coups were carried out in 1948 , 1949 and 1951 by the PRIDI supporters . PHIBUNSONGKHRAM , all the times came out victorious . But in 1955 , after loosing his position in the THAI army , Field Marshal SARIT THANARAT staged a bloodless Coup in 1957 in which Prime Minister PHIBUNSONGKHRAM was replaced by SARIT THANARAT who remained there till his death on 8th December 1963 . During his period , the COMMUNIST PARTY OF THAILAND’S guerrilla forces operated inside the country with 12000 full-time fighters from early 1960s to 1987 . But never posed a serious threat to the state . Field Marshal THANOM KITTIKACHORN , a military dictator and a staunch Anti-Commmunist , came into power in self-coup and remained there from 1963 to 1973 . So , a military rule in THAILAND became rule of day during this period . He was appointed as the Prime Minister of THAILAND after SARIT’S death in 1963 . He established the UNITED THAI PEOPLE’S PARTY in 1968 . And he had reappointed himself as the Prime Minister in 1969 . He remained in power until public protest ( which exploded into violence ) forced him to step down in the so called 14th October 1973 uprising which led to three days violence followed by the sudden downfall of his government . THANOM flew to exile in the UNITED STATES . Some of his supporters flew to SINGAPORE . This was followed by the restoration of democracy in THAILAND .