Phin Choonhavan

Phin Choonhavan (ca.1953)

Phin Choonhavan ( Thai : ผิน ชุ ณ หะ วัณ , RTGS : Chunhawan; born October 14, 1891 in Amphoe Bang Khonthi , Samut Songkhram province ; † January 26, 1973 in Bangkok ) was a Thai army officer. During the Second World War he was the military commander of the Thai-occupied Shan state . From 1948 to 1954 he was commander in chief of the army , from 1951 on with the rank of field marshal .

Life

Phin was born the son of the Chinese doctor Kai ( Chinese  开 ), who immigrated from Chaoshan ( Guangdong Province ) to Siam. He attended the army officers' school , where he was a classmate of the later Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram . Then he was an officer in the infantry. After attending the General Staff School, Phin was given the feudal honorary name Luang Chamnan Yutthasat in 1928. However, he put it down in 1941 with the abolition of the feudal ranks and titles.

Phin's son Chatichai Choonhavan became Prime Minister of Thailand in 1988 , and his eldest daughter Udomlak married Phao Siyanon , who became General Director of the Thai Police in 1951. Another daughter, Charoen, married Pramarn Adireksarn , who was chairman of the Chart Thai party and held various ministerial offices in the 1970s and 80s .

During the Franco-Thai War 1940/41, Phin was the commander of the Isan Army. During the Second World War , he commanded the 3rd Division of the Phayap Army, which took part in the Burma campaign on the Japanese side and captured Keng Tung in 1942 . He was then appointed military commander of Shan State , which the Japanese had surrendered to Thailand after the conquest. After the war he was retired as Lieutenant General.

Phin was a leader of the 1947 military coup that ushered in longstanding military rule in Thailand. On the day of the coup, he told the press with tears in his eyes that the army had acted in the interests of the people to prevent the country from falling further under the corrupt civilian government. When Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram became Prime Minister a few months later, in May 1948, he appointed Phin as his successor as Commander in Chief of the Land Forces. This was also a politically very influential position in the country ruled by the military, especially after the "Silent Coup" of 1951. A constitutional amendment made it possible for active military personnel to take up government offices and Phin became Deputy Prime Minister under Plaek Phibunsongkhram. He was also promoted to the rank of field marshal . He was one of the Thai leaders who campaigned intensely for US military aid for their country.

Phin and his family ( called Soi-Ratchakru clan after their place of residence ) used their military and political influence to participate in the country's economic life with a variety of ventures. Phin and his son-in-law Phao led a wing within the military that rivaled the wing of the equally ambitious General Sarit Thanarat . As Phin concentrated increasingly on his economic activities, he lost support in the troops and Sarit was able to replace him as army chief in 1954. In March 1957 he became Minister of Agriculture. Sarit staged a coup against the government of Phibunsongkhram in September 1957 and also overturned the Phin Phao wing within the army. The Choonhavan clan was accused of embezzling millions of dollars and putting them into accounts in Switzerland. While Phao had to flee abroad as Sarit's main rival, Phin was able to stay as a private citizen in his house on Soi Ratchakru ( Thanon Phahonyothin ).

In 1973 Phin died at the age of 81 in Phramongkutklao Hospital in Bangkok.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ PM Handley: The King Never Smiles. Yale University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-300-10682-3 .
2. ↑ Thak Chaloemtiarana: Thailand. The Politics of Despotic Paternalism. Cornell Southeast Asia Program, Ithaca NY 2007, ISBN 978-0-8772-7742-2 , pp. 28-29.
3. ↑ Thak Chaloemtiarana: Thailand. 2007, p. 31.
4. ^ Daniel Fineman: A Special Relationship. The United States and Military Government in Thailand, 1947–1958. University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu 1997, ISBN 0-8248-1818-0 , p. 133.
5. ↑ Thak Chaloemtiarana: Thailand. 2007, p. 203.
6. ^ Judy Stowe: Obituary Chatichai Choonhavan. In: The Independent , May 7, 1998.

Note on Thai names : This article addresses people by their first name.