Thawi Bunyaket

Thawi Bunyaket

Thawi Bunyaket ( Thai : ทวี บุ ณ ย เกตุ , English spelling: Tawee Boonyaket , also: Tawee Punyaketu ; born  November 10, 1904 in Bangkok ; †  November 3, 1971 ) was Minister of Agriculture and Prime Minister of Thailand in 1945 .

family

Thawi Bunyaket, was born to Phraya Ronachai Charnyuth (Thanom Punyaketu) and Khunying Ronachai Charnyuth (Tubtim Punyaketu). He married Khunying Amphasri Bunyaket.

education

Thawi received his education at the Benjamarachuthit School (โรงเรียน เบญจมรา ชู ทิศ จังหวัด จันทบุรี , Chanthaburi Province ), at the Suan Kulab Wittayalai School and later at the Ratchawitthayalai School ( โรงเรียน ราช วิทยาลัย "King's College") in Bangkok. He continued his studies from 1920–21 at King's College of the University of Cambridge in Great Britain and from 1921–28 at the École supérieure d'agriculture of the Université Catholique de l'Ouest in Angers in France .

Political career

After his return in 1928 he worked for the Ministry of Agriculture until June 24, 1932, when the bloodless revolution , in which he participated as a member of the khana ratsadon ( "People's Party" ), put an end to the absolutist government. He was then appointed to the "Public Committee", as the new cabinet was called. In 1934 he became vice director of the Department of Agriculture. From 1939 to 1943 he was Secretary General , from 1942 to 1943 also Minister without Portfolio in the government of Field Marshal Phibunsongkhram . He was one of the most important figures in the Seri Thai movement , which secretly resisted collaboration with the Japanese and worked with the Allies. After Phibunsongkhram's forced resignation, he was Minister of Education in the government of Khuang Aphaiwong from 1944 to September 1945 .

After the end of World War II , Khuang Abhaiwong resigned and Thawi was appointed Prime Minister on August 31, 1945. At the same time he was foreign, agriculture and health minister. His appointment was only temporary and his term of office lasted only 17 days until the arrival of the head of the Seri Thai movement, who was supposed to be prime minister, Seni Pramoj . Thawi faced major problems during his brief tenure. So he had to try to reconcile Thailand with the allies, who had only recently been enemies of the war. Great Britain in particular made extensive demands for reparations such as free deliveries of large quantities of rice. Thawi took the first successful steps in the negotiations up to Seni's return.

Thawi was Minister of the Interior in Seni Pramoj's government from September 1945 to January 1946. In the following cabinet of Pridi Phanomyong from March to August 1946 again Minister of Agriculture. When the military returned to power under Phibunsongkhram in 1948, Thawi went into exile in Penang ( Malaya ). In 1958, after the fall of Phibunsongkhram, he returned to Thailand. He became a member of the Executive Committee of the National Board for Economic Development and in 1959 Vice-President of the Constituent Assembly. When Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn had a new constitution drawn up again in 1968, Thawi was President of the Constituent Assembly. However, the constitution was repealed just two years later.

Thawi Bunyaket died on November 3, 1971 at the age of 66.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thawi's curriculum vitae (in English) ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Biography  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Thai)  
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Thamsook Numnonda: Thailand and the Japanese Presence 1941-1945. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 1977, p. 115.

Web links

• Homepage of the Benjamarachuthit School (in Thai)
• History of Thai Prime Ministers

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