Democratic soldiers

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The Democratic Soldiers ( Thai : ทหาร ประชาธิปไตย RTGS : thahan prachathippatai ) were an influential group of middle-ranks officers in the Thai army in the 1970s and 1980s . They took the view that the uprising of the Communist Party of Thailand (KPT) against the state had to be fought not only with military, but also with political means. With their ideas that one of the tasks of the armed forces is to spread democracy and develop political programs, they laid a basis for the military's political claims in the country.

The members were more intellectually oriented than the so-called " Young Turks ", a rival group active in the military at the same time that also pursued political aspirations. Most of the Democratic soldiers were staff officers. Many were members of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) and in this position had experienced the difficulties of military counterinsurgency. The highest ranking member of the group was Major General Ravi Wanpen . The key figure, however, was Colonel Chavat Pisuthipan , who taught politics at the Chulachomklao Military Academy for most of his career and was more an academic than an artilleryman. His political analyzes were taken up by many of his students after the democratic popular uprising in October 1973 . Also associated with the group was the later army chief and prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh .

The Democratic Soldiers claimed that the cause of all problems in the country, including the communist threat, was a lack of democracy. They saw it as a task of the armed forces to develop and spread democracy in the country together with the people. However, they left open how “democracy” should look in practice according to their ideas. They developed the approach of fighting the communist rebellion in rural areas of Thailand with civilian means. They were advised by Prasert Sapsunthorn , a former KPT ideologist who had switched sides and become the ISOC's communism analyst. Under his influence, the Democratic Soldiers developed a simple, state-socialist concept for combating poverty in the countryside. They attacked Thailand's foreign economic dependency, allegedly caused by weak civilian politicians and business circles of Chinese origin.

The prime minister Prem Tinsulanonda implemented the basic idea of ​​the democratic soldiers from 1980 with his instruction no. 66/2523 to remove the basis of the fight of the communists against the government through political measures to fight poverty, rural development and containment of corruption . Since the communists were no longer a threat, the democratic soldiers also lost their raison d'etre. In 1981 the group officially dissolved. Some of the Democratic soldiers joined General Arthit Kamlang-ek's Party of the Thai People ( พรรค ปวง ชน ชาว ไทย , Phak Puang Chon Chao Thai) from 1982 . This was briefly involved in the government from October 1990 to February 1991. General Arthit then joined the Samakkhi Tham , another group leaning towards the military.

literature

  • Suchit Bunbongkarn: The Military in Thai Politics, 1981-1986. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 1987, especially pp. 11-21.
  • Michael Leifer: Dictionary of the modern politics of South-East Asia . London: Rpoutledge 1996. ISBN 0-415-13821-3 . Article: "Democratic Soldiers".