SARIT THANARAT

Sarit Thanarat
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Sarit Thanaratจอมพลสฤษดิ์ ธนะรัชต์

11thPrime Minister of Thailand
In officeFebruary 9, 1959 – December 8, 1963
Monarch
Bhumibol Adulyadej
Preceded by
Thanom Kittikachorn
Succeeded by
Thanom Kittikachorn
Born
June 16, 1908(1908-06-16)Bangkok, Thailand
Died
December 8, 1963(1963-12-08) (aged 55)Bangkok, Thailand
Nationality
Thai
Spouse(s)
Nuanchan Thanarat (two children), Chawee (two children), Praima (two children)Vichitra Thanarat (no children, but adopted nephew and gave the Thanarat last name)
Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat (Thai: สฤษดิ์ ธนะรัชต์, RTGS: Sarit Thanarat), (June 16, 1908 - December 8, 1963) was a Thai career soldier who staged a coup in 1957, thereafter serving as Thailand's Prime Minister until his death in 1963. He was born in Bangkok, but grew up in his mother's home town in Lao-speaking northeastern Thailand and considered himself a northeasterner. His father, Major Luang Ruangdetanan (birth name Thongdi Thanarat), was a career army officer best known for his translations into Thai of Cambodian literature.[1][2][3] During his years as prime minister Sarit was a patron of the Lao strongman General Phoumi Nosavan against the communist Pathet Lao guerrillas in the neighboring Kingdom of Laos.
Contents[hide]
1 Military career
2 Sarit's coups
3 Sarit's tenure
4 The Monarchy
5 Sarit's demise and aftermath
6 Posthumous revelations
7 Royal decorations
8 See also
9 References
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[edit] Military career
Sarit Thanarat was educated at a monastery school, and entered the Royal Thai Military Academy in 1919, not completing his military studies until 1928, after which he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, slowly rising through the Officer Corps. During World War II he commanded troops occupying the Shan States of then British Burma, then in 1947, as a colonel, he played a leading role in the military coup that overthrew the government of Prime Minister Pridi Bhanomyong, reinstalling the previously deposed Field Marshall Plaek Pibunsongkram as premier. Thereafter, Sarit took a lasting interest in politics.[4]
[edit] Sarit's coups
During the early 1950s, Pibunsongkram's government had become increasingly corrupt, and the parliamentary election of 1957 was blatantly rigged to keep Pibun in power. Public outrage and student protests, accompanied by the known displeasure of Thailand's king, led Sarit to stage a coup in September 1957, but a serious deterioration of his health led Sarit to fly to the United States of America (USA) for treatment, leaving Deputy Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn in charge. However, economic troubles continued, and in October 1958 Sarit staged a second coup,[5] intended to thwart the undisciplined politicians by imposing Martial law. Sarit felt that democracy had failed in Thailand and intended to rule according to "Thai ideologies", not imported Western political theories, choosing as his model the supposedly benevolent despots of his country's past centuries.[6]
[edit] Sarit's tenure

Sarit as a Field Marshal of the Royal Thai Army.
On October 19, 1958, Sarit informed his generals of his plans for a "revolution". The following day he declared Martial law, silencing the experiments in open politics that had begun in 1955, justifying his actions by arguing for a return to Thai traditions of social law and order.
As prime minister, Sarit accelerated his country's economic development under a plan designed by the United States and the World Bank that promoted both market competition and private investment. He also created the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), which continues to play an important role in Thailand's economic development, exemplified in Sarit's favorite term; "patana" (development), and slogan; "Nation, Religion, Monarch", represented by red, white and blue colors respectively in the Thailand's flag.
Nevertheless, Sarit's regime was the most repressive and authoritarian in modern Thai history, abrogating the constitution, dissolving parliament, and vesting all power in his newly-formed Revolutionary Party. He did pledge to appoint a constituent assembly to act as a legislature and draft a constitution, but no one doubted that the body would merely carry out his orders.[citation needed] Eventually Sarit's constitution was promulgated but not until after his death.
Sarit banned all other political parties, imposing very strict censorship[7] of the press after the coup, his Revolutionary Party banning eighteen leftist, neutralist, and opposition newspapers and forbidding the start up of new newspapers was also forbidden. Sarit's "revolution" brought an intense crackdown on the leftists, however genuine communists were rare in Thailand, the mildly socialist or neutralist professors, politicians, and newspapers taking the brunt of the suppression. Police arrested many dissidents and ethnic Chinese on the first day of the coup, followed by hundreds in the succeeding weeks, among those arrested were:- Sang Phathanothai, Kulab Saipradit, Jit Phumisak, and Prasert Sapsunthorn.
[edit] The Monarchy

Relief of Sarit Thanarat's life in Khon Kaen, show the story of his coup d'état in 1957.
Under Sarit, the public role of the Thai monarchy, which had been restricted by Phibun, was allowed to resume. Sarit arranged for King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) to attend public ceremonies, visit the provinces, patronise development projects and personally present diplomas to Thailand's government university graduates, helping to bring the monarchy closer to the people and raising the stature of the King Bhumibol to that of high reverence. Sarit also instituted the practice of playing the Royal Anthem before every movie in the nation's cinemas, requiring the audience to stand.[citation needed] The practice of prostrating with the head touching the ground before royal audiences, banned decades earlier by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), was reinstated, all of which gave Sarit increased legitimacy in the Royal Palace. Such practices were rooted in Sarit's military background, but have become so ingrained that in 2008 a Thai citizen faced criminal charges for "lèse majesté" for refusing to stand for the Royal Anthem at a cinema.[8]
Sarit introduced a new generation of economically liberal technocrats to governing, encouraged private and foreign direct investment, launched major rural development projects, and rapidly expanded educational facilities, which, despite his despotic rule, made Sarit generally popular with the Thai public.
[edit] Sarit's demise and aftermath
Sarit unexpectedly died late 1963 from liver failure, just as his economic measures were proving successful. Power transferred peacefully to his deputy generals Thanom Kittikachorn, who became Prime Minister, and Praphas Charusathian, who became Deputy Prime Minister. Thanom and Praphas maintained Sarit's authoritarian style of government, his anti-communism, and pro-American policies.
Sarits relationship with King Bhumibol, was evident when the King ordered 21 days of official mourning in the palace after his death, with Sarit's body lying in state under royal patronage for 100 days and their Majesties the King and Queen attending his cremation on March 17, 1964.
[edit] Posthumous revelations
After Sarit's death, his reputation took a heavy blow when a bitter inheritance battle between his son, Major Setha Thanarat, and his young wife, Thanpuying Vichitra Thanarat, reveals the massive extent of Sarit's wealth (US$ 140 million). Sarit was discovered to have owned a trust company, a brewery, 51 cars, and some 30 plots of land, most of which Sarit gave to the dozens of mistresses he was found to have had. Thai language newspapers published the names of 100 women who claimed to have shared his bed, shocking the public when it was learnt how corrupt he had actually been.