Remembering the Dead: Ronald Reagan and Thanom Kittikachorn
Posted by Stuart at 12:36 PM on June 21, 2004This month witnessed the death of two 93 year old former rulers. The one who got a lot of press was of course Ronald Reagan. The one who got almost no press, even in his home country of Thailand, was Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn.
Thanom ruled Thailand from 1963-1973 more or less as a military dictator. His reign ended with a popular revolt against his power and he was forced to flee the country. He returned from exile in 1976, sparking a student revolution at Thammasat University which ended in a bloody massacre. (I have written a little bit about this event before.)
The interesting thing to me about these two deaths are not the deaths themselves, but the way that the people in their respective countries treated the death. Granted, one was (for the most part) well-respected in many ways. Even if people didn't like Reagan's policies, at least they could agree that he was an excellent communicator and leader.
Thanom, on the other hand, was not well-liked, as is the case with most military dictators. But in the wake of his death, Thai people refuse to talk about him or his legacy. Here are actual quotes from the Nation (one of Bangkok's English language newspapers):
One of the most prominent student leaders of those days, who asked not to be named, said "the incident occurred decades ago" and that he did not wish to talk about it.Another former student leader told his aide, when contacted by The Nation, that he didn't know if there was anything to be said on the issue...
An activist who led an attempt to collect information about the October 6, 1976 massacre and wishes to remain anonymous, said this about Thanom: "If I say anything, it won't be polite. Do you think you can be polite [in talking] about someone who ordered the killing of pro-democracy protesters? As a human being, could you be polite about it?"
Saowanee Limmanond, another former student leader, said that although she didn't want to say anything, it was time to put bitterness behind and forgive the former dictator.
Sombat Tamrongthanyawong, former secretary-general of the National Student Centre in 1973, also said he didn't want to say anything because Thanom is now dead.
"Let us put the issue to rest," he said.
What?! Ok, so I can appreicate Thai people wanting to be polite and respectful, but how can people learn the mistakes of the past if they are never discussed? How does one understand the present or plan for the future without knowing what happened in the past?
Another quote from the Nation was this one:
"My feeling is just that he's dead now. We leave the rest to be a matter of political history� I just want people today to learn from the past. People today are not informed about the history of the October 14, 1973 struggle� I don't know how long it will take before history will be properly recorded...How long will it take before history is properly recorded? About as long as it takes for people to tell the truth about their feelings and their experiences, even if those feelings and experiences are negative ones.
The quotes above were taken from: Uprising leaders stay silent
For more information on Field Marhal Thanom, see these two articles:
Ah Stuart, you hit the nail on the head with your statement:
"How does one understand the present or plan for the future without knowing what happened in the past?"
Isn't it ironic that many nations and cultures fail to learn from history. If the American people had really learned the lessons of their involvment in Vietnam and of the colonialist period, would they be doing the things they're doing in the Middle East?
I saw a rather fascinating "letter to the editor" in the run up to the war about a mother opposing the coverage of "dissenting voices" because it would cause "harm to her child" !?! I just had to shake my head at that one that we could devolve so far that any voice in opposition or in favor of reasonableness is branded as "harmful".
Hey Stuart, great entry and thanks for the links. While I know about the whole Thammasat University massacre, I'm ashamed to say that before reading this, I had no idea who Thanom Kittikachorn. =X But thanks to your links, I was able to remedy this, heh.
I suppose Thais don't really like talking about him and the historical events that surround his dictatorship because it's all a dark shadow in Thailand's history, and Thais generally tend to evade discussing or analyzing any historical shadiness. But again, like you said, "how does one understand the present or plan for the future without knowing what happened in the past?"...
If we look at Thai culture all over, it's not just that they "evade discussing or analyzing any historical shadiness" - they evade anything and, generally, everything. This is seen so clearly in the Thai inability to really say "no" - they do not - generally - like to present a negative image of themselves or anything, better to ignore it, or just smile and hope it goes away. The concept of "loosing face" is a very important one out here.
Taxi drivers are the best, most re-occuring, (if extreme) example of this. We all know that they hate going down Sukhumvit or Silom, especially at rush hour(s) but when you ask them, do they say "no"? Hell no, they um, they ahhh... they moan about the traffic, they tut, they sigh, they look like they will cry... uhh... and then they pull over and smile at you. And wait. For you to get out.
I don't think it's a *bad* way of being but it does make dealing with them quite hard. It's not for no reason there are english language books available with titles like "working with the Thais".
But it works both ways - there's me.
I'm a freelance designer and my client base is 100% ex-pat. More than that, it's 90% ex-pat who have TRIED to work with Thais and not managed to do it. Usually they cite that the Thais would say yes to everything and either go off and do the wrong thing, or not think for themselves when a problem came up. Basically they needed supervision 24/7 in order to get work done, and that's not the "western way".
Well, I'm not saying anyone is right or wrong.
Of course, as farang, we should have a lot more patience and it is something that comes with time. I know I'm a lot more patient than I was 2 years ago! Also, as people who come to live here, in the Kingdom, we should respect the fact that that is how it is here. If we don't, we are no better than certain religious factions who want to live in a country of their choice, and then demand that where they live be given it's own power.
I don't know if any of that made sense! I'm off t'work :)
Kevin
I see that this topic has garnered a lot of reaction :) It's for good reason, I think, because it is perhaps it touches on what I think is the biggest difference between Thai culture and Western culture. Now that I have lived here I can see the good and bad for both sides. From the Thai side, westerners complain too much and are too impatient and overly demanding. From the Western side, Thai people hide everything behind smiles and are unable to analyze anything.
At the same time, "learning from the past" is easier said than done. Certainly America doesn't learn much from its past, even though the past is analyzed to death. I totally agree with Charles who said that if America had learned anything in Vietnam, things would be different in Iraq right now.
Finally, Kevin makes a good point about becoming more patient. In my two years in Thailand I have tried very hard to learn to be patient, and to slow down a bit, and to not be such a friggin' perfectionist about everything. When I meet farang who have just moved to Thailand, I can see just how worked-up, wound-up, and stressed-out they are. I can't imagine moving back to America where almost everyone is like that. I'll have reverse-culture shock for sure.
interesting to read about thailand from your perspective. i'm a thai-american in the states