Talk:History of Thailand (1932–1973)

In favor
Good idea; what Categories for new title? Pawyilee (talk) 14:45, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

I concur. I came hear to learn about the 1973 uprising but ended up with more questions than answers. A detailed account of the events leading up to that tragic day is needed, given its importants in Thai history. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.64.215.174 (talk) 02:02, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

Concur. This is an important topic, which deserves it own listing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ian@perth (talk • contribs) 19:48, 20 March 2010 (UTC)

Revolution of October 14,1973 ?
Does anyone prefer the above name?

(The following article might support, such a name: List of revolutions and rebellions
 * --Cable-tv of our forefather&#39;s (talk) 23:43, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Wrong Title
Thailand was NEVER occupied by Japan. They were allied, but they were not colonized/occupied. 121.96.183.128 (talk) 10:29, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

Text that has been moved to the discussion page:

 * "1976 Incident" : The name of this article is: "History of Thailand (1932–1973)". The text is outside the scope of this article. --Cable-tv of our forefather&#39;s (talk) 22:53, 16 April 2010 (UTC)
 * "In 1975, Democrat Party was the winner in the general election, forming the minority, coalition government. Yet the government survived only in 1976. Democrat Party was again the leading of the new government. The political situation became in great turmoil after Thanom Kittikachorn, the former junta leader, was coming back to Thailand. Students and their allies began a demonstration at Thammasat University in Bangkok.
 * "After the October 1973 uprising, reform became apparent."
 * "The protests mushroomed in Bangkok and industrial areas. The movement of students always aimed at criticizing traditional values and institutions. Amidst the vibrant movement of students and the grass-root people, politics of the politicians became more and more in turmoil. Elected governments survived shortly." : The text needs year and month, at least.
 * The Thai politics between 1973 to 1976 was also under the shadow of the turmoil in neighboring countries. The Vietnam War had spread to Laos and Cambodia, the communist forces were controlling the fields. Apparently communist, socialist as well as revolutionary ideologies attracted a handful of Thai intellectuals and grass-root people. The communist insurgency in Thailand under the name of The Communist Party of Thailand, began its armed fighting in 1965. The guerrillas were in action in parts of the country. The ruling government agreed to close the US bases in the kingdom. The tension thus became more and more apparent. The anti-communist propaganda was spread, pointing at those who made 'troubles'. Some ultra-conservative politicians and activists always blasted the students protesting the return of Thanom as the 'alliance of the communists', or even 'the Vietcong spies'. On October 6, 1976, the conservative radios instigated the people to seize Thammasat University, aiming at crushing the 'Vietcong's allies', and the 'troublemakers'. Eventually the police, some with heavy arms, as well as the mobsters stormed the university. Thousands of students were captured while many were seen murdered, burnt, beaten or tortured. In the evening, the coup took place, ousting the ruling government. The kingdom plunged into the military dictatorship age again." : This information is outside the scope of this article. --Cable-tv of our forefather&#39;s (talk) 22:57, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

14 October 1973 Uprising needs additional info
An expanded article needs more information on what led up to the uprising, but I don't know where to find sources. In 1973, I was on Guam following the events in the newspapers, and this is what I remember of the accounts: The 'three tyrants' were called the Terrible Trio. Thanom had briefly allowed a Hyde-Park-like Speakers Corner, but reports said many speakers clearly exceeded the bounds of decency &mdash; as has been said of many Red Shirts. Thanom then forbade any criticism or questioning of his regime (similar to today's lèse majesté rules.) He did not, however, censor any news from abroad, and throughout the 1960s, Bangkok papers freely reported on student uprisings in a score of countries, while Bangkok students wondered when it would be their turn. Their turn came after Thailand's most popular movie actress of the time disappeared without a trace, causing a huge void in the film industry, which had only a handful of performers to churn out soap-opera-like movies that were the chief source of entertainment. At the same time, one of Bangkok's wealthiest Chinese businessmen went missing, but not a drop of ink spilled on either story. Forestry students began to spread buzz about what was came to be called the Hat Yai Incident. As part of their curriculum, they had been sent to a National Reserved Forest near Hat Yai where they were used as unpaid labor at a clandestine "special forces" camp. Returning to Bangkok, they spread rumors of clandestine activities having to do with helicoptering in "special forces" of wealthy men and sexy women &mdash; until a chopper crashed killing all aboard. The first who dared speak aloud about it was an 18-year-old first-year Chulalongkorn University student, who held a press conference and said her daddy's government should issue a full report. This emboldened Thammasat University students, and led to an accidental coup (though an accident that had been waiting to happen.) The large crowds led by university students protesting for several days were mainly protesting censorship, and were initially tolerated because of who had started it. When Thanom did order police to clear the streets, both sides went wild, cops overwhelmed by sheer numbers, numerous fires set, AND the brand new police station burned down. Some students died, and others hoisted their bodies atop the Democracy Monument's centerpiece, a box holding the Constitution. Thanom then called out the Bangkok army garrison, which exists only to protect the government from its people, but the rank-and-file refused to open fire. At this point, the Terrible Trio interpreted events as a standard, run-of-the-mill Bangkok coup wherein a riot is staged, police fail to put down, and the army seizes control from those exposed as ineffectual leaders. When the garrison didn't comply with Thanom's orders, the Trio dropped whatever they were doing and fled from Don Muang on whatever was smoking, commandeering three different flights and winding up in three different countries. The first student's dad then called Thammasat chancellor Sanya Dharmasakti to inform him he was now Prime Minister #34 of Thailand. Complaining that Thailand was ungovernable, Sanya soon resigned. HM accepted the resignation, then appointed Sanya right back again as #35. (Edit  following comments pertain to events subsequent to uprising:) The next time Sanya resigned, he immediately shaved his head and became a monk. Parliamentary elections were held and M.R. (minor royal) Seni Pramoj's Democrat Party (it is a minor royals party) won the most seats, but not a majority. He put together a coalition and presented it to HM, but the parliamentarians complained that he should've presented it to them first, so voted no-confidence out of pique. (Edit: List of Prime Ministers of Thailand says, Constitutionally the Prime Minister is required to be a member of the lower house of Parliament or the House of Representatives. He must also gain their approval through a resolution before an official appointment by the King can take place. As a result the Prime Minister might succumb to a vote of no confidence and removal in the House, however this has never happened up to date. Entry for Seni Pramoj says he was removed 14 March 1975 due to Parliament Disapproval of Formal Policy dated 6 March 1975.) But they had not been in office long enough to recoup their campaign expenses and couldn't afford another election, so allowed Seni's younger brother, Kukrit Pramoj, to cobble together a coalition even though his Social Action Party had the fewest seats (only five.). Parliament accomplished little and Kukrit called new elections. Under Thailand's system, a candidate could stand for election wherever he liked, not just where he resided. And, the army at the time had its own party. Kukrit stood for election on a military camp to insure his defeat. Students, meanwhile, went on a campaign to teach democracy to the peasants, far from Bangkok out into the sticks, sleeping at night in wat community halls erected on pillars. "Peasant scouts" crept under many of these to shoot up through the floorboards, events that were more-or-less preparatory for the 6 October 1976 Massacre. About which Bangkok Pundit's May 18 2010 post, Is CNN's coverage really biased? has a commentary by Another Thai that reads, in part: children of "peasant scouts" who participated in beating the hell out of the students in Thammasat University are now the Red Shirt themselves….--Pawyilee (talk) 12:15, 28 May 2010 (UTC)
 * "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" - Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr.

Comments emitted --Pawyilee (talk) 02:04, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

Photo of Phibun
The photo of Phibun is captioned using a version of his name that doesn't appear anywhere in the text. Unless you already know about Thai history, or click on the caption to try and find out who he is, there is nothing to indicate who it is. WIthin the context of the article it just looks like a random Thai army officer. Freddie Threepwood (talk) 15:56, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

"untitled"
The Collectivist economic policies of the 1930s were a disaster.

The Collectivist economic policies of the 1930s (wild government spending, state run industries, endless edicts and regulations.....) were a disaster for Thailand - but no one would know that by reading this Wikipedia article.2A02:C7D:B5B8:DA00:64A5:10E6:55B5:451A (talk) 09:14, 15 April 2016 (UTC)

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Thai text
Just to mention, the Thai text is used once here. Maybe if more Thai characters are used then the Thai characters template will most likely be needed here. Yourlocallordandsavior (talk) 19:11, 11 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Actual practice kinds of varies, but generally character warning boxes are more useful in articles where the script is more directly tied to the understanding of the article, like those covering languages. Personally I wouldn't use them in an article where Thai script appears in a few instances of names. Actually, for Thai, these boxes are hardly necessary at all; they are a relic from the early days of Wikipedia where computers were less likely to come pre-installed with international fonts. Nowadays, the number of unsupported scripts is ever decreasing, and Thai was one of the first complex scripts to be widely supported. --Paul_012 (talk) 17:15, 12 August 2021 (UTC)
 * You have been on here for a while then? Yourlocallordandsavior (talk) 22:30, 12 August 2021 (UTC)

Separate this article into two?
In Wyatt's "Thailand: A Short History", he divides the chronology of this period into: 1932-1957 and 1957-1973. There is a lot of encapsulating involved in this in that there might be a need to separate this into two, especially in regards to covering Phibunsongkram. There's just too much ground to cover during this period. Yourlocallordandsavior (talk) 10:45, 31 December 2021 (UTC)
 * The suggestion does make sense. Most sources will make a distinction between the early post-absolute monarchy period and the Sarit–Thanom era, which were guided by nearly opposite political trends. --Paul_012 (talk) 15:05, 6 January 2022 (UTC)