Prayun Phamonmontri

Prayun Phamonmontri ( Thai : ประยูร ภมร มนตรี , pronunciation: [pràʔjuːn pʰámɔːnmontriː] ; born February 5, 1897 in Berlin , †  1982 in Bangkok ) was a Thai army officer, civil servant and politician. He was a key player in the 1932 coup in Siam that brought about the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in what is now Thailand, and later headed various ministries. Most recently he had the rank of lieutenant general .

youth

Prayun was the son of the Siamese major Phra Chamnankhuruwit (Yaem), who was then employed as a military attaché in the German Reich , and his German wife Annelie, a doctor. Prayun was born in the Siamese legation in Berlin. The father was a close friend of Prince Paribatra Sukhumbandh (they called each other "brothers"), who chose Prayun's name, so he can be called his godfather. The Patronage Paribatras owed Prayun his appointment as page of the king Rama VI. (Vajiravudh), with whom he had such a close relationship that he later wrote personal letters to him. He passed through the military academy and became an officer in the royal bodyguard, but then retired from military service with the rank of first lieutenant.

Revolutionary ideas and subversion

In the 1920s Prayun traveled to Switzerland to cure tuberculosis . He then studied political science and journalism in Paris . There he met the Siamese law student Pridi Phanomyong in 1925 , then chairman of the Siamese student organization in France SIAM Pridi. Prayun got an apartment, the two became friends, even calling each other “friends to the death”. In February 1927 they founded the Khana Ratsadon (“People's Party”) with five other young academics and military personnel , a political group that sought a change of Siam to a constitutional monarchy and a thorough modernization of the country. This included Plaek Khittasangkha (later Phibunsongkhram), a student at the French Artillery School, who had been Prayun's classmate at the Siamese Military Academy.

Prayun contacted the brother of the later leader of the coup, Phraya Phahon Phonphayuhasena . Phahon later recalled a conversation with his brother:

“My brother, you have lived in this world long enough and you shouldn't be worried about the rest of your life. Work with Prayun for the success of our nation so that this great task [the overthrow] may succeed. Even if you fail and perish, your name will forever appear in the history of our country as a man who sacrificed his life for his country, and you will set a good example for future generations. "

- Phraya Phahon Phonphayuhasena

Following this conversation, Phahon agreed to meet Prayun, whose main task was to establish contact with politically and militarily interesting forces. It was probably decisive that Phahon knew Prayun's parents because his mother, like Phraya Songsuradet , another high officer of the Khana Ratsadon, had taught him German while studying at the Prussian main cadet institute . According to a study by the Southeast Asian scholar Michael Steinmetz, Prayun was the central figure who held together the various loosely connected circles of the Khana Ratsadon, and even beyond them parts of the Siamese elite. According to this, Prayun was the only one who knew the identity of all those involved in the Khana Ratsadon, the others partly did not know about each other - with him "(...) all threads came together". He organized occasional conspiratorial meetings at home - alleged card game rounds - but never more than eight or nine people.

Prayun's relationship with Prince Paribatra Sukhumbandh also helped the conspirators. The overturning plan was almost blown prematurely. The Interior Minister and Chief Minister Paribatra, however, considered it slander when he discovered the name of his protégé on the list of alleged conspirators and initially did nothing.

Prayun later became an official of the Thai Post and Telegraph Office and was able to convince other officials of the office of his ideas (including the head of the telegraph department Khuang Aphaiwong ). During the preparations for the 1932 coup, he led, together with naval officers, a small division of seafarers to the post and telegraph office to take over. He pretended to have been sent by the government to protect the office from emerging unrest. Then he arranged for an interruption of the entire communication network to and from Bangkok in order to prevent a counter-defense against the coup.

Prayun claims not to have known about the revolutionary declaration published by Pridi Phanomyong on June 24, 1932. Looking back, he wrote that he was outraged by their language and content. He considered Pridi's reference to Sri Ariya , the Buddhist utopia of a carefree world in the future age of Buddha Maitreya , to be a code for communism . Prayun was even present when his godfather Prince Paribatra was arrested, who, as he remembers, said to him: "Prayun, you really took part, I didn't think that was possible".

After the coup, King Rama VII (Prajadhipok) returned from his summer residence in Hua Hin to Bangkok and received the leaders of the putschists, including Prayun, for an audience on June 26, 1932.

Political life

Prayun was appointed a member of the People's Committee in June 1932, the new body of the executive branch in Siam. On September 14th he became cabinet secretary and remained so until July 10th, 1933. As early as 1932, the economic policy of Pridi worried him more and more, and he became his opponent. Together with the conservative Prime Minister Phraya Manopakorn Nititada , he published a longer statement on April 12, 1933, here in excerpt:

“Today the government banned the newspaper 'Lak Muang', which supported Pridi's economic policy, which is fundamentally communist. ... This newspaper says that politics is not communist and that there is nothing wrong with it. It even gives hope that the policy could be implemented in the future. ... The core of the economic program [by Pridi, d. Ü.] Is that the government should control the agricultural sector, capital and the labor market and that there should be no private wealth. If that's not communist, then what is it? "

- Phraya Manopakorn Nititada and Prayun Phamonmontri

On June 22, 1933, Prayun resigned from the People's Committee after a second coup brought Phraya Phahon Phonphayuhasena to the head of government. Between 1938 and 1943 he was head of the paramilitary Yuwachon movement, which he modeled on the Hitler Youth . At the same time he was in Phibunsongkhram's government from 1938 to 1941 Minister without Portfolio and then until 1942 Deputy Minister of Education. In addition, he became a member of the joint Siamese-Japanese military commission in 1941. That is why he was interned as a prisoner of war in East Asia until 1946 after the end of World War II .

After Phibunsongkhram's return to the government, he was again a member of the cabinet from 1951, first as a minister without jurisdiction, from December 1951 as deputy finance minister and from March 1954 as deputy health minister. He was one of the initiators of the founding of the Syndicate of Thai Hotels and Tourism Companies (Sahathai Hotel) , which among other things built the 5-star Hotel Erawan. In 1957 he was elected to parliament as a member of Phibunsongkhrams Seri Manangkhasila party for Chiang Mai Province .

family

Prayun's marriage has two children:

• Yodmanu Phamornmontri (* 1959), television journalist, actor and politician
• Yuranan Phamornmontri (* 1964), actor, singer and politician

Publications

• บันทึก การ เปลี่ยนแปลง การ ปกครอง พ.ศ. ๒๔๗๕ ( Banthuek rueang Kan Plian Plaeng Kan Pokkhrong Pho So 2575 ; Notes on the history of the change of government in 2475), Bangkok 1974.
• ชีวิต 5 แผ่นดิน ของ ข้าพเจ้า ( Chiwit Ha Phaendin Khong Khaphachao ; My life in five dominions). Bangkok 1975.

Remarks

1. ↑ The first name is also reproduced as Prayoon, the surname as Pamornmontri, Pamon Montri, Bhamaramontri.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.khunmaebook.com/product.detail_709169_th_3596115 (last accessed on March 6, 2011), other sources give the year 1900
2. ^ Joseph J. Wright: The Balancing Act. A History of Modern Thailand. Asia Books, Bangkok 1991, ISBN 974-8206-62-9 , p. 51.
3. ↑ Michael Steinmetz: Siam in the year 2475 (1932). The end of the absolute monarchy. Southeast Asia Working Papers, Humboldt University, Berlin 2000, p. 45.
4. ↑ Steinmetz: Siam in the year 2475. 2000, p. 46.
5. ↑ Steinmetz: Siam in the year 2475. 2000, pp. 46–47.
6. ↑ Kulab Saipradist: Buang Lang Karn Patiwat 2475 (Thai). Behind the Revolution 1932. Chamlong Sarn Press, Bangkok 1947.
7. ↑ Steinmetz: Siam in the year 2475. 2000, pp. 48–49.
8. ↑ Steinmetz: Siam in the year 2475. 2000, pp. 49-50.
9. ↑ Steinmetz: Siam in the year 2475. 2000, p. 24.
10. ↑ Mokarapong: History of the Thai revolution. 1972, p. 32
11. ↑ Steinmetz: Siam in the year 2475. 2000, p. 25.
12. ↑ Steinmetz: Siam in the year 2475. 2000, p. 51.
13. ↑ Mokarapong: History of the Thai revolution. 1972, p. 129
14. ^ Secretaries General of the Cabinet. ( Memento of the original from June 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Government of Thailand website, accessed March 9, 2011 
15. ↑ Mokarapong: History of the Thai revolution. 1972, p. 156 f.
16. ^ Pasuk Phongpaichit, Chris Baker : Thailand. Economy and Politics. 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 275.
17. ↑ Generals from Thailand: Pamornmontri, Prayoon. In: The Generals of WWII, accessed March 6, 2011
18. ↑ ประวัติ บริษัท ฯ ยุค แรก ปี พ.ศ. 2499– ปี พ.ศ. 2530 , The Syndicate of Thai Hotels & Tourists Enterprises Limited.

literature

• Thawatt Mokarapong: History of the Thai Revolution. A study in political behavior. Chalermnite, Bangkok 1972.

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