Puey Ungphakorn

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Puey Ungphakorn (ca.1959)

Puey Ungphakorn ( Thai ป๋ ว ย อึ๊ ง ภากร ณ์ , RTGS Puai Uengphakon , pronunciation: [ pǔaj ʔɯ́ŋ.pʰāː.kɔ̄ːn ]; * March 9, 1916 in Bangkok ; † July 28, 1999 ) was a Thai economist, administrative specialist and university teacher. He was President of the Thai Central Bank from 1959 to 1971 , Dean of the Faculty of Economics from 1960 to 1972, and Rector of Thammasat University from 1975 to 1976 . In 1965 he received the Ramon Magsaysay Prize . He is revered as the "father of Thai economics".

Family and education

Puey, whose father immigrated from China , attended the French-speaking branch of the Assumption School in Bangkok and was among the first class of students at Thammasat University , founded in 1934 , from which he graduated in 1937 with a bachelor's degree. Parallel to his studies, he was already working as a teacher at his former school. He continued his studies in England at the London School of Economics (LSE), from which he received an honors degree 1st class in economics in 1941 .

During the Second World War and the de facto occupation of Thailand by Japanese forces, he joined the Seri Thai resistance movement and volunteered in the British Army Pioneer Corps . In 1949 he received his doctorate from the LSE. In London he met his wife, the Englishwoman Margaret Smith. The two had three sons: the anti-AIDS activist and former Thai Senator Jon Ungphakorn (* 1947), the business journalist Peter Mytri Ungphakorn (* 1950) and the Marxist political scientist Giles Ji Ungpakorn (* 1953).

Career and work

After completing his doctorate, he returned to Thailand and worked as an economist in the Office of the Supreme Auditor in the Ministry of Finance . After just three years, he had become Thailand's chief negotiator for negotiations with the World Bank over loans for major infrastructure projects. In 1953 he became executive director of the National Economic Council and deputy president of the Bank of Thailand, the Thai central bank. In this position he came into conflict several times with members of the then ruling military clique. For example, he ignored a government order to suspend fines for commercial banks that violated the central bank's regulations. He also ignored an instruction from the powerful police chief Phao Siyanon to commission a certain US company to print banknotes because he considered their notes to be of inferior quality and easily counterfeit. In protest against abusive manipulation of the import controls by the government, he wanted to resign in 1956, but was transferred to the Thai embassy in London as a financial advisor. There he campaigned for more foreign investment in Thailand and a strengthening of his country's tin sales on the world market and became vice chairman of the International Tin Council .

After the overthrow of the long-time head of government Plaek Phibunsongkhram and the seizure of power by Sarit Thanarat in 1958, he returned to Thailand and initially became Director General of the newly created Budget Department in the Prime Minister's Office and at the same time the Office of Fiscal Policy in the Ministry of Finance. From 1959 to 1971 he was then the President of the Bank of Thailand. Field Marshal Sarit valued Puey's abilities and therefore gave him and his institution great autonomy. Puey was considered to be of integrity, cautious and level-headed. At the same time, he taught economics at Thammasat University from 1960, where he was dean of its faculty. He was also Director General of the Finance Ministry in the Ministry of Finance from 1962–64, and advisor to the Ministry of Finance from 1967–72. In 1970 he was appointed as a visiting professor at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy of the American Princeton University , 1971-73 at the University College of the University of Cambridge .

Since the rampant corruption among high-ranking officials put a considerable strain on the state budget, he pilloried those he blamed for it, in some cases barely concealed. As head of the central bank, he placed the commercial banks under stricter supervision and tried to sever the close ties between them and the leading military. He persuaded Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn to resign in 1964 by reciting a poem that alluded to his membership on the board of directors of a private bank from this position. The Bank of Thailand was the only corruption-free institution at the time. In monetary policy , Puey pursued a conservative course and tried to keep inflation as low as possible, also because he knew that it would result in a de facto redistribution from the bottom up. He gave priority to economic stability over rapid growth.

In his position as a professor, in particular, he was concerned with possible solutions to the problem of poverty and for more social justice. He encouraged his students to work as volunteer teachers in rural areas for a while after graduation. His publications drew attention to the plight of the poor and the crimes of local representatives of the state. In 1967 he founded one of the country's first non-governmental organizations for economic development, the Thai Foundation for Rural Reconstruction (Thai มูลนิธิ บูรณะ ชนบท แห่ง ประเทศไทย ). With a recognized Bangkok technocrat at its head, the organization was able to operate without attracting suspicion of communist activity, which was very quickly expressed at the time. He deliberately moved the foundation's headquarters to the rural Chai Nat province , away from the politically and economically dominant center of Bangkok. After Thanom had revoked the constitution granted two years earlier in a "self-coup" in 1971, Puey finally obtained his dismissal as central bank president, which he had previously asked for several times on the grounds that he wanted to concentrate more on his teaching activities.

Sculpture by Puey Ungphakorn at the memorial for the massacre of October 6, 1976

After the popular democratic uprising in October 1973 , King Bhumibol appointed Adulyadej Puey to the National Legislative Assembly. From 1974 to 1975 he chaired the advisory council for economic issues of the interim Prime Minister Sanya Dharmasakti , whom he succeeded in 1975 as rector of Thammasat University. With his tolerance of the left student movement at his university, he became an enemy of the right during the following, politically highly polarized phase. His opponents accused him of being a communist. After the massacre of October 6, 1976 , of which he was an eyewitness, he fled to England.

In September 1977 he suffered a stroke that left him barely able to speak and move, so that he did not write any more works for the more than twenty years that remained of his life. While he was in exile in England, he continued to act as a contact person for activists against human rights violations and press censorship in Thailand. Only in 1987 did he visit his home country again.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ James LoGerfo, Gabriella R. Montinola: Thailand: Episodic Reform, Regulatory Incapacity, and Financial Crisis , in: The political economy of international financial crisis , Rowman & Littlefield, 2001, p. 79
  2. ↑ a b The History of Dr. Puey Ungphakorn , Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University, accessed March 23, 2012
  3. ↑ a b c d e 1965 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Government Service - Puey Ungphakorn , Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, accessed March 23, 2012
  4. ↑ a b Puey Ungphakorn, the 'father of economics'. In Nicholas Grossman: Chronicle of Thailand. Headline News since 1946. Editions Didier Millet, Singapore 2009, p. 349.
  5. ↑ a b c d Anoma Srisukkasem: Puey Ungphakorn - A man with integrity. ( Memento of the original from October 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nationmultimedia.com 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. In: 35 Most Influential Thais over the past 35 years. The Nation, Bangkok 2006, p. 56.
  6. ^ Sylvia Maxfield: Gatekeepers of Growth: The International Political Economy of Central Banking in Developing Countries. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1997, p. 89
  7. ↑ Natasha Hamilton-Hart: Asian States, Asian Bankers. Central Banking in Southeast Asia. Cornell University Press, Ithaca NY 2002, p. 18.
  8. ↑ Peter G. Warr, Bhanupong Nidhiprabha: Thailand's Macro Economic Miracle. Stable Adjustment and Sustained Growth. World Bank, Washington DC 1996, p. 27.
  9. ↑ a b May Kyi Win, Harold E. Smith, Gayla S. Nieminen: Historical Dictionary of Thailand. 2nd edition, Scarecrow Press, Lanham MD 2005, p. 210 (entry Puey Ungphakorn).
  10. ^ William A. Callahan: Imagining Democracy. Reading "The Events of May" in Thailand. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 1998, p. 97.

Web links

Note on Thai names : This article addresses people by their first name.
personal data
SURNAME Puey Ungphakorn
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Thai economist, administrative specialist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH March 9, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Bangkok
DATE OF DEATH July 28, 1999