Siam Circle

  The kingdom of Thailand lies in the heart of Southeast Asia, making it a natural gateway to Indochina, Myanmar and Southern China. Its shape and geography divide into four natural regions. The mountains and forests of the North. The vast rice fields of the Central Plains. The semi-arid farm lands of the Northeast plateau and the tropical islands and long coastline of the peninsula South. 

      The country comprises 76 provinces that are further divided into districts, sub-districts and villages. Bangkok is the capital city and centre of political, commercial, industrial and cultural activities. It is also the seat of Thailand's revered Royal Family, with His Majesty the King recognised as Head of State, Head of the Armed Forces, Upholder of the Buddhist religion and Upholder of all religions.

      Thailand is a constitutional monarchy with His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, or King Rama IX, the ninth king of the Chakri Dynasty, the present king. The King has reigned for more than half a century, making him the longest reigning Thai monarch. Thailand embraces a rich diversity of cultures and traditions. With its proud history, tropical climate and renowned hospitality, the Kingdom is a never-ending source of fascination and pleasure for international visitors. 

Neighboring countries: 

      1) Myanmar - west and north 
      2) Lao - north and northeast 
      3) Cambodia - southeast 
      4) Malaysia - south
 
Area: 513,115 sq. km. 
 
 Thailand is divided into 4 natural regions: 
 
      The mountainous North, with its profusion of multi-coloured orchids, fascinating native handicrafts and winter temperatures are sufficiently cool to permit cultivation of temperate fruits such as strawberries and peaches.
 
      The high Northeast Plateau, which still jealously guards its many archaeological and anthropological mysteries.
 
      The Central Plain, one of the world's most fertile rice and fruit-growing areas with colourful traditional culture and way of life as well as the sandy beaches of the East Coast and vibrant cosmopolitan Bangkok.
 
      The peninsular South where the unspoiled beaches and idyllic islands complement economically vital tin mining, rubber cultivation and fishing. 

Population:

      Thais are well-known for their friendliness and hospitality. A large majority of over 62 million citizens of Thailand are ethic Thai, along with strong communities whose ethnic origins lie in China, India and elsewhere. About 7 million people reside in the capital city of Bangkok. 
 
People:

      Thai (80%), Chinese (10%), Malay (3%), and the rest are minorities (Mons, Khmers, hill tribes) Ethnic Thais form the majority, though the area has historically been a migratory crossroads, and has thus produced a degree of ethnic diversity. Integration is such; however, that culturally and socially there is enormous unity. 
 
Language:

      Spoken and written Thai is largely incomprehensible to the casual visitor. However, English is widely understood, particularly in Bangkok where it is almost the major commercial language. English and some European Languages are spoken in most hotels, shops and restaurants in major tourist destinations, and Thai-English road and street signs are found nationwide.

Religion:

      Buddhism (95%), Muslim (4%), others (1%) 
 
Government:

      Thailand has had a constitutional monarchy since 1932. Parliament is composed of 2 houses, The House of Representatives and the Senate. Both representatives and senators are elected by the people. A prime minister elected from among the representatives leads the government. The country is divided into 76 provinces. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration comes under an elected governor. Appointed provincial governors administer the other 75 provinces (Changwat), which are divided into districts (Amphoe), sub-districts (Tambon) and villages (Mu Ban). 

Head of State: 
 
      H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX of the Chakri Dynasty) 
  

Administration:
 
      76 provinces, each subdivided into Amphoe (districts), Tambon (sub-district) and Mubaan (village) 

National Flag: 
 
      The red, white, and blue stripes symbolize the nation, Buddhism, and the monarchy, respectively. 

Time: 

      The time in Thailand is seven hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (+7 hours GMT). 
 
Climate: 

      Thailand enjoys a tropical climate with three distinct seasons-hot and dry from February to May (average temperature 34 degrees Celsius and 75% humidity); rainy with plenty of sunshine from June to October (average day temperature 29 degrees Celsius and 87% humidity); and cool from November to January (temperatures range from 32 degrees Celsius to below 20 degrees Celsius with a drop in humidity). 
 
      Much lower temperatures are experienced in the North and Northeast during nighttime. The South has a tropical rainforest climate with temperatures averaging 28 degrees Celsius almost all year round. 
 
Electricity: 
 
      The electric current is 220 volt AC (50 cycles) throughout the country. Many different types of plugs and sockets are in use. Travellers with electric shavers, hair dryers, tape recorders and other appliances should carry a plug adapter kit. The better hotels will make available 110-volt transformers.

Tap water: 

      Tap water is clean but drinking from it directly should be avoided. Bottled water is recommended.

Clothing: 

      Light, cool clothes are sensible and a jacket is needed for formal meetings and dining in top restaurants. Shorts (except knee length walking shorts), sleeveless shirts, tank tops and other beach-style attire are considered inappropriate dress when not actually at the beach or in a resort area.
 
Weights & Measures : 
 
      The metric system is used throughout Thailand. Numerals on vehicle speed ohmmeters, highway markers and speed limits all indicate kilometres.

Business hours :
 
      Most commercial concerns in Bangkok operate on a five-day week, usually from 8 am to 5 pm. Many stores open seven days a week from 10 am to 10 pm. Government offices are generally open between 8.30 am and 4.30 pm with a noon to 1 pm lunch break, Monday to Friday except on public holidays. Banks are open Mondays to Fridays from 9.30 am to 3.30 pm except on public holidays.

Postal Services :

      Thailand's mail service is reliable and efficient. Major hotels provide basic postal services on their premises. Provincial post offices are usually open from 8.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. 

International Roaming Mobile Phone:

      A Subscriber Identity Module Card (SIM Card) is now available for Thai and foreign customers who are travelling around for work. The SIM Card must be used in conjunction with a Digital GSM mobile phone within the 900-MHz range or a Digital PCN mobile phone within the 1800-MHz range.

Fax and e-Mail : 

      All of Thailand's leading hotels offer facsimile (fax) and e-mail services. Numerous private businesses offer such facilities, most often in conjunction with translation services.

Internet Services :
 
      Thailand has been expanding its information service for residents and tourists alike through the Internet system. Services are now available at Thailand's leading hotels and at the many “Cyber-Cafes” that are cropping up in all major tourist destinations.
 
Telephone Services :
 
      At present, home telephone numbers (for local calls and long distance calls within the country) have 9 digits while mobile phone numbers have 10 digits. 

• For Bangkok calls, the numbers is 0 2XXX XXXX.
  
• For provincial calls, an area code is added to the
  existing numbers. For example, area code for Chiang Mai is 053 = 0 53XX XXXX; area code for Phuket is 076 = 0 76XX XXXX.
  
• For mobile phones, After September 1, 2006, all Thai mobile phone numbers will be extended to 10 digits. Simply add an 8 in the middle of the existing two-digit prefix, followed by the existing seven-digit number. For example, numbers starting with (66) 01 will become (66) 081 XXX XXXX.
  
• The new system has no effect on international phone calls.
  
• The international dialing code for Thailand is 66.
  
• When making international calls to Thailand, add 66 and omit the leading 0.
  
• When making international calls from Thailand, first dial 001+country code+area code+telephone number.
  
• If calling Laos or Malaysia, there is a special code which is charged at a semi-domestic rate.
  
• When calling Laos, first dial 007+856+area code+telephone number.
  
• When calling Malaysia, first dial 09+06+area code+telephone number.
  
• Direct assistance: 1133 (local), 100 (international). 
  

Emergency Telephone Numbers 

• Central Emergency (Police, Ambulance, Fire) : 191
  
• Highway Patrol : 1193
  
• Crime Suppression : 195 or 0 2513 3844
  
• Tourist Police (English, French and German spoken) : 1155
  
• Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Call Centre : 1672
  
• Immigration Bureau : 0 2287 3101-10

   Although Thailand only recently took its current name and assumed its present-day borders, its history extends back many thousands of years. One of the pervasive themes of the country’s history has been the ability of its inhabitants to adapt to, and accommodate, the changes that have constantly surrounded them.

Early History

   It is natural to think that the history of Thailand is the history of the Thai people, but in fact it is much more than that. The Thai were relative latecomers on the scene, becoming the majority of the region’s population only 700 or 800 years ago. The lands now included in Thailand have been inhabited for 4,000 or 5,000 years. Even long ago, people of the region were adept at adopting new technologies and absorbing new populations.

   The society and economy of Thailand’s earliest inhabitants, in prehistoric times, went through a long evolution. As is demonstrated by archaeological discoveries at Ban Chiang and other sites, these early peoples were among the first in the world to make and use bronze tools and weapons, to which they later added iron. They domesticated pigs and chickens, cultivated rice and caught fish, and produced fabrics from bark and fibrous plants. They lived in small villages scattered over a broad area.

   In early historic times, the peoples living in what is now central Thailand probably spoke Mon-Khmer languages (a group of languages of the Austro-Asiatic language family) and were absorbed into a number of local states that developed in the area. Especially between the 6th and 9th centuries, the kingdom of Dvaravati dominated the central plain of the Chao Phraya River system and the Khorat Plateau to its east. The most enduring legacy of this period was Theravada Buddhism, which was strongly influenced by the Buddhism of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon). Many of the region’s inhabitants embraced Buddhism. Many also were exposed regularly to foreign trade by traders passing through the region when traveling between China and India by sea.

   Between the 9th and 13th centuries the central plain and the Khorat Plateau were incorporated into the Khmer (Cambodian) kingdom of Angkor, centered on the ancient city of Angkor in what is now western Cambodia. This added a Khmer element to a population that already included indigenous and Dvaravati elements.

   The Thai people began to incorporate themselves into this mixture of peoples from the 10th or 11th century onwards. The Thai had been moving steadily southwestward from the border region between Vietnam and China, usually occupying the mountainous areas between major lowland states. They may have founded tiny upland principalities in the upper Mekong River region near present-day Chiang Saen as early as the 7th century. However, only in the early 13th century did they suddenly burst upon the scene in the Dvaravati and Angkor domains.

Sukhothai and Ayutthaya

   Beginning in about 1220 a number of states, most of them Buddhist, arose in the region. In general, the southernmost states tended to assimilate the broadest range of cultures and languages, while those to the north tended to be more heavily Thai. By the end of the 1200s the most important such states were Sukhothai, Phayao, Chiang Mai, and Nakhon Si Thammarat. Of these, Sukhothai was the largest. Under King Ramkhamhaeng, who ruled in the late 1200s, Sukhothai prospered, gaining tributary territories that extended the kingdom’s territory to the Andaman Sea to the west, into present-day Laos to the east, and to the southern Malay Peninsula to the south. The acquisitions were opposed by the kingdom of Angkor, whose western outpost at Lopburi (the preeminent Khmer city of the central plain) contested control of the Chao Phraya valley and seaborne international trade.

   The Thai people continued moving southward onto the central plain. This movement brought about the establishment of a new center of Thai power, the kingdom of Ayutthaya, founded by King Ramathibodi I in 1351. Ayutthaya was on an island in the Chao Phraya, located at a point reachable by seagoing vessels. Thus the kingdom was visited regularly by trading ships from Japan, the Ryukyu Islands, China, India, and Persia. International trade was a significant source of Ayutthaya’s strength, but so was its relative cosmopolitanism—the fact that its people were so varied and their skills and outlooks so diverse.

   The first century of Ayutthaya’s existence was filled with warfare, which culminated in its defeat of its main rivals, Angkor (in 1434) and Sukhothai (in 1438). When Ayutthaya’s next ruler, King Borommatrailokanat, or Trailok, came to the throne in 1448, he focused his efforts on reforming the kingdom’s laws and strengthening his administration. Trailok also extended the wars of conquest farther afield, beginning a long series of wars with the kingdom of Lan Na, centered on Chiang Mai in the far north.

   The Burmese kingdom (present-day Myanmar) conquered Ayutthaya in 1569 after virtually annexing Lan Na in 1558, inaugurating a period of warfare that persisted throughout the century. Ayutthaya did not reestablish its independence until the 1590s, under the great warrior king Naresuan. Naresuan and subsequent kings worked to strengthen the state by further developing its international trade with the Dutch East India Company, the English East India Company, and, somewhat later, with China. Meanwhile, Ayutthaya increasingly became known to visitors as Siam.

   In the mid-1700s the Burmese monarchy under King Alaunghpaya began another period of expansion, turning again to the south. In 1760 Burma launched an invasion against Ayutthaya. The military effort lasted until 1767, when the Thai capital finally fell following a two-year siege that resulted in many deaths and widespread famine and destruction.

   The Burmese might have remained to colonize Siam, but a series of Chinese invasions of Burma forced them to beat a hasty retreat. In the immediate aftermath of Ayutthaya’s fall, a competition ensued for the Siamese throne. The prize fell to a former governor who came to be known as Taksin. Taksin was an excellent general who had fled Ayutthaya to the southeast and built up an army. After defeating his kingly rivals, he abandoned the ruined Ayutthaya and established a new capital farther south at Thon Buri, on the western shore of the Chao Phraya. Taksin sent his forces far afield, south along the Malay Peninsula, east to Cambodia and Laos, and north against Lan Na. In the last years of his reign, Taksin’s successes went to his head. He became arbitrary and dictatorial, even requiring Buddhist monks to pay homage to him. Such actions infuriated Taksin’s contemporaries, who deposed him and brought to the throne his chief general, known as the Chakri (in reference to his function) or as Chaophraya Mahakasatsuk (his title, meaning “Great King of Warfare”). This marked the beginning of the Chakri dynasty, which continues to rule the Thai state.

Early Years of the Chakri Dynasty

   The Chakri took the throne as King Rama I (Phraphutthayotfa) in 1782. It was natural that at a time of ongoing, bitter warfare with Burma, an exceptionally able general should have been chosen as king. However, Rama I was much more than that. He was highly intelligent and a natural leader. He also was related by blood or marriage to all the leading families of the kingdom and thus had strong connections with Thai trading interests, including China and India.

   The new king moved the capital across the river to the eastern shore because the main Burmese military threat to the Thai came from the west. The new capital came to bear the name of the village it supplanted (Bang Kok, or Bangkok), although the Thai state continued to be known abroad as Siam.

   Rama I was not free of the Burmese threat until 1805; nevertheless, he devoted effort to laying the foundations for a modern kingdom. He undertook fundamental legal and administrative reforms as well as extensive cultural, religious, and artistic activities. When his son succeeded him as King Rama II (Phraphutthaloetla) in 1809, the Thai kingdom was stronger and more extensive than ever, encompassing all of present-day Laos as well as portions of northeastern Burma, western Cambodia, and the northern Malay Peninsula.

   Rama II died in 1824, and one of his sons succeeded him as King Rama III (Nangklao). By this time, the world seemed a more threatening place to the Thai. The British were beginning their colonial involvement in the Malay Peninsula and entering into war with Burma. Rama III faced increasing pressure from the British to open up Siam’s trade. Following the British victory over Burma in 1826, the Thai government agreed to sign a treaty with Britain that allowed British merchants some trade concessions in Siam. The Thai signed a similar treaty with the United States in 1833.

   In the 1830s and 1840s Siam went to war with the Vietnamese over Cambodia and Laos, emerging with its dominant position grudgingly recognized. As the end of Rama III’s reign approached around 1850, Siam faced a renewed threat from the West. Both Britain and the United States sent missions to Siam demanding free trade, extraterritorial rights (which allowed the people of these foreign nations to live in Siam under the laws of their own countries), and other reforms. The royal court refused the demands quietly, explaining that progressives in the Thai government could not afford to appear too lenient with the West. However, the foreigners were encouraged to return once the progressives had managed the accession of a new king who would be more receptive to concessions.

Colonialism Averted

   The new monarch was King Mongkut (Rama IV), the younger son of Rama II, who assumed the throne in 1851. Mongkut had spent 27 years as a Buddhist monk and had used the time in intellectual pursuits, learning Western languages and science. He was well acquainted with the few British and Americans in Bangkok and had much more experience of the lives of common people than had any of his predecessors. Mongkut and his son Chulalongkorn (Rama V), who reigned from 1868 to 1910, are given much credit for Siam’s conciliation of the West during the next half-century. While this is justified, much credit also is due to their ministers. Together they blunted the force of Western imperialism, which swept over much of the rest of the world during this period. In 1855 Siam signed the Bowring Treaty, which yielded free trade, extraterritorial rights, and some special privileges to Britain. The treaty served as a model for subsequent treaties with the United States, France, Japan, and many other nations. These treaties were known as unequal treaties because they placed Thailand in a subordinate diplomatic position. However, by upholding these treaties, avoiding offending the imperial powers, and playing those powers against one another, Siam managed to secure its own independence while working to earn the respect of the West.

   As modern as King Mongkut might have been in the eyes of the West, he undertook no fundamental reforms during his reign. Such reforms would have been bitterly resisted by Siam’s entrenched noble and bureaucratic families. His successor, Chulalongkorn, was unable to undertake real reform until the leading members of the old families began to retire from public life in the 1880s.

   Cambodia had come under French control in 1863, and in 1885 France completed its conquest of Vietnam. Britain took the last remaining portion of Burma the same year. When in 1893 Siam mounted a resistance against French troops sent to Laos to press Vietnam’s claims there, France sent gunboats to Bangkok. The Thai capitulated and had to yield to France their sovereignty over Laos and also pay a large indemnity. Most of Laos then became part of French Indochina, France’s colony in the region. France gained additional territories in Laos and Cambodia from Siam by treaty in 1904 and 1907. In 1909 Siam ceded to Britain the four northern Malay states (Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, and Terengganu), while the British agreed to assist in financing a Bangkok-Singapore rail line and to yield some of their extraterritorial rights.

   Meanwhile, between about 1890 and 1910 Chulalongkorn’s government launched a major administrative reform, establishing virtually all of Siam’s modern government. The existing departments were reorganized into twelve ministries, including ministries of war (for a new army), justice, education, interior (for administration of the countryside), and public works, as well as specialized departments for such things as postal services, railroads, and hospitals. Chulalongkorn also established new, modern schools and encouraged study abroad. The kingdom’s new administration made tax collection possible. The government used the tax revenues to finance reforms and to create jobs for the many modern educated people emerging from the kingdom’s new schools.

   In 1910 Chulalongkorn was succeeded by his son Vajiravudh (Rama VI), who had been educated in England. King Vajiravudh was an active proponent of the idea of the nation, and he popularized the idea of sacrificing, and even dying, for Siam. In July 1917 he entered Siam in World War I on the side of the Allies, winning for the kingdom a seat at the Versailles peace conference. Vajiravudh hoped to gain a sympathetic hearing for Siam’s wishes to end extraterritoriality. His strategy worked, and in the early 1920s the Western nations and Japan agreed to end their unequal treaties with Siam as soon as Siam completed modernizing its laws and courts.

   But King Vajiravudh wastefully spent the nation’s budget on his favorites and on personal pursuits, forcing his younger brother and successor, King Prajadhipok(Rama VII), to institute a massive cutback of expenses. The worldwide economic slump known as the Great Depression, which hit Siam by 1930, intensified the country’s financial troubles. Although Prajadhipok favored modest democratization, he was overruled repeatedly by his elderly uncles. Dissatisfaction grew within the kingdom, especially among young Siamese educated abroad who objected to the tight political control maintained by their country’s rulers.

The Revolt of 1932 and Its Aftermath

   On June 24, 1932, a small revolutionary group, including European-educated civilians and discontented army officers, overthrew the absolute monarchy in a bloodless coup. The leaders of the coup and their associates—a group that became known as the Promoters—persuaded the king to accept the introduction of a constitutional monarchy. However, they argued that the country was not yet ready for true democratic government and thus kept the army in control. The Promoters were divided into leftist and rightist factions. In 1933 Pridi Phanomyong, the most influential civilian Promoter and an intellectual who had been influenced by French socialism, proposed an economic plan with an emphasis on nationalization of land and elimination of private trade. The rightist factions denounced the plan as communist. They were supported by monarchists, who mounted a rebellion against the new regime that year. The monarchist forces were soon overcome, and in 1935 King Prajadhipok abdicated in favor of his young nephew, Prince Ananda Mahidol. The prince was, at the time, studying in Europe, so a regency was appointed to carry out the functions of the monarchy until he returned.

   The 1930s brought about a more strident and assertive Thai nationalism, an increased role for the military in national life, and a sharp decline in the role of the monarchy and of royalty in general. By 1937 the unequal treaties and extraterritorial rights of the imperialist era had finally been eliminated, and the Thai government obtained complete autonomy over its internal and external affairs. During this period, public education improved dramatically, and industrialization and urbanization grew.

   In 1938 Siam came under the prime ministership of Phibun Songkhram, a field marshal who had helped lead the revolt of 1932. In 1939 Phibun changed the name of the country from Siam to Thailand in an effort to popularize the idea of its leadership of all speakers of the Tai languages, not just those inhabiting Siam’s narrow bounds. In changing the country’s name, Phibun also wished to emphasize Thai identity and distinctiveness against the country’s Chinese minority, which by this time amounted to more than 10 percent of the population.

   In 1940 Thailand fought a brief war with French Indochina, which had become cut off from France as a result of World War II. With Japanese mediation, the Thai government regained the territories in Laos and Cambodia that had been ceded to France in 1904 and 1907. On December 8, 1941, Japanese troops landed on Thailand’s southern coast. This was around the same time that the Japanese launched attacks on Pearl Harbor, Midway, Guam, Manila, Hong Kong, and other sites. After tense meetings with the Japanese and his cabinet, Phibun agreed to allow the Japanese to move their troops through Thailand to invade and occupy the British-controlled Malay Peninsula, Singapore, and Burma. In January 1942 Thailand declared war against Britain and the United States. In 1943 Japan rewarded the Phibun government for its cooperation with the Japanese by awarding Thailand part of the territory that had been incorporated into British Burma in 1885 and the four Malay states that Siam had been forced to cede in 1909.

   Meanwhile, considerable anti-Japanese sentiment was developing in Thailand. With aid from the United States government, Pridi and M. R. Seni Pramoj, the wartime Thai ambassador to the United States, organized the underground Free Thai Movement to agitate against Japanese influence. In July 1944, as the war began to turn against Japan, Phibun was forced from office, and Khuang Aphaiwong, a civilian, took over as prime minister. Pridi continued to be a major power behind the scenes. When the war suddenly ended in August 1945, M. R. Seni Pramoj returned to become prime minister. He faced not only chaos and the disruption caused by nearly four years of Japanese presence but also extensive demands by European nations that threatened to turn Thailand into a Western colony. With strong American support, Thailand successfully resisted these pressures. However, the Thai government did restore to Britain and France the territories in Indochina, Burma, and the Malay Peninsula that it had gained during the war. After doing so, Thailand was admitted to the United Nations (UN) in December 1946.

   In June 1946 King Ananda died under mysterious circumstances, an event for which many irrationally blamed Pridi and others seen as opposing the monarchy. Ananda’s younger brother succeeded to the throne as King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), but a regency council ruled until 1951 while Bhumibol completed his studies abroad.

Domestic Instability

   The Thai government faced significant challenges in the immediate postwar period, including rampant inflation and shortages, widespread corruption, and inexperience among civilian officials. These conditions paved the way for a return to military rule, and in November 1947 a group of military officers seized the government. The new military regime was presided over by Phibun as prime minister.

   Phibun’s government, like the military regimes that followed it, made close relations with the United States and other Western nations central to its foreign policy. The government sent a small force to assist UN forces in the Korean War in 1950 and accepted massive U.S. military aid, which further strengthened military rule.

   Thai representatives took part in the Geneva Conference of 1954, which temporarily ended the First Indochina War (see Geneva Accords). Later that year, Thailand became a founding member of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), which established its headquarters in Bangkok. This alliance formed to provide defense and economic cooperation in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.

   Increasingly shunted aside by his military lieutenants, Phibun attempted to win popularity and legitimacy by staging elections in 1957. However, the widespread accusations of corruption and ballot stuffing that followed the elections served to further discredit the government. When Phibun and his interior minister Phao Sriyanond attempted to defend their beleaguered regime, General Sarit Thanarat, backed by considerable popular support, staged a military coup that ended Phibun’s rule. Sarit temporarily went abroad to seek medical attention, handing power over in early 1958 to a coalition government headed by his deputy, lieutenant-general Thanom Kittikachorn. In October Sarit returned to stage yet another military coup. He suspended the constitution, declared martial law, and banned all political parties. Sarit declared his intention to carry out a new “revolution” in Thai society, restoring authority and discipline through measures such as improved public education and rural development.

   Both Sarit and Thanom (who became prime minister following Sarit’s death in 1963) were alarmed by growing unrest and insurgency—mainly motivated by poverty—in rural Thailand, especially in the impoverished northeast and the south. Even more worrisome to them was the decline of pro-Western regimes in Cambodia and Laos, territories the Thai military considered natural wards of Thailand. The military believed these territories had to be saved from the Communism that was threatening to overcome Indochina with the Vietnam War, which had begun in 1959. This war pitted the Communist North Vietnamese and the National Liberation Front (a Vietnamese nationalist group based in South Vietnam) against the South Vietnamese, who were eventually assisted by the United States.

The Vietnam War

   During the 1960s Thailand increasingly was drawn into the conflict in Indochina. The Thai government sent a military contingent to fight in South Vietnam, lent considerable covert military support to right-wing forces in Laos, and established Thailand as a major air power base. Numerous military bases were built in Thailand to house U.S. military contingents. New roads, improved railroad service, and telecommunications linked the bases. All of Thailand, but especially Bangkok, benefited economically from the heightened activity the war produced.

   Thailand’s increasing involvement in Indochina stimulated Vietnamese and Chinese Communists to support rebellion among rural Thai, which engulfed most of Thailand’s outer provinces in the 1960s. As direct American involvement in Vietnam began to diminish beginning in about 1969, Thailand was left with considerable involvement in Indochina (especially in Laos) as well as persistent internal problems.

Struggle for Democracy

   As a result of improved education and heightened prosperity among the Thai people, as well as frustration with governmental corruption and inefficiency, the country’s military rulers came under increasing political pressure by the late 1960s. Thanom’s government took gradual steps to restore the political rights suspended in 1958. Elections to municipal councils were held for the first time in a decade in 1967, and a new constitution was promulgated in 1968. In 1969 Thailand held legislative elections. The United Thai People’s Party won a plurality of 75 seats in the House of Representatives, while the largest opposition group, the Democrat Party, won 56 seats.

   As the United States gradually decreased its military involvement in Vietnam and moved to establish friendly relations with Communist China, Thailand sought to establish a more flexible foreign policy, especially toward China and North Vietnam. Meanwhile, the United States withdrew from Southeast Asia, contributing to a decline of the Thai economy, and opposition to Thanom’s government increased in the outer provinces and in Bangkok. The government responded by reestablishing military rule in 1971, abolishing the constitution, and dissolving the legislature.

   In 1973 a series of student-led demonstrations against the military government resulted in Thanom’s resignation and the appointment of a civilian cabinet. A new constitution was approved in late 1974, and a new government was freely elected in early 1975. Stability remained elusive, however, and elections in 1976 made little difference. Thailand became deeply polarized between liberals and conservatives, especially after Communist regimes took power throughout Indochina in 1975 and the monarchy was abolished in Laos. When Thanom returned from exile abroad in mid-1976, demonstrations grew into bloody battles on the streets of Bangkok between leftist students and Thanom’s right-wing supporters. In October the Thai military and police launched a bloody assault on students demonstrating at Thammasat University. As disorder spread, a military group led by Admiral Sa-ngad Chaloryu seized control of the country and installed a civilian and former Supreme Court judge, Thanin Kraivixien, as head of a conservative government.

   Thanin’s government proved to be more authoritarian than even the most repressive of the country’s military regimes. In October 1977 he was overthrown by Sa-ngad and his group and replaced by General Kriangsak Chomanand. The many students who had fled Bangkok slowly began drifting back to a society that was slowly righting itself.

   The military maintained tight reins on the government until a new constitution was promulgated (December 1978), elections were held (April 1979), and military leaders were sufficiently satisfied with the new order. The military then allowed the installation of a new cabinet headed by General Prem Tinsulanonda as prime minister. Elections in 1983 confirmed Prem as head of a new coalition government, and he was reelected in 1986. General Chatichai Choonhavan replaced Prem following elections in 1988, but in 1991 the military overthrew Chatichai and installed their own interim coalition government. When the military manipulated 1992 elections to guarantee a victory, demonstrations broke out in Bangkok calling for democratic reforms. The protests were violently suppressed. Thailand’s king then intervened, ending military rule and installing another interim prime minister, Anand Panyarachun.

Civilian Governments

   In September 1992 new elections brought a genuinely civilian government to power under prime minister Chuan Leekpai, leader of the Prachatipat (Democrat) Party. Chuan began the process of writing an entirely new and more democratic constitution for Thailand, which was completed in 1997. He also presided over a period of economic boom during which Thailand experienced one of the highest economic growth rates in the world.

   Chuan’s government collapsed in 1995 following accusations of corruption. He was succeeded by Banharn Silpa-archa, leader of the Chart Thai (Thai Nation) Party. However, Banharn’s government was soon accused of corruption and other wrongdoing, and he resigned from office in 1996. Chavalit Yongchaiyudh’s New Aspiration Party won September 1996 elections, and Chavalit became the new prime minister.

   In mid-1997 Thailand’s economy experienced a significant setback as the Thai currency fell sharply against the U.S. dollar. Many businesses and financial institutions failed, and unemployment rose sharply. The crisis then spread, affecting the economies of other Asian nations. To control and contain the situation, the International Monetary Fund stepped in with a package of loans, in return for which Thailand accepted measures intended to restore its economy to health. By late 1998 the exchange rate had improved.

   Thailand’s economic crisis spawned a number of related problems, including urban unemployment, a widening gap between rich and poor, and a decline in social services. The crisis made it difficult for the government to fund adequate educational reform and to care for the country’s considerable population of AIDS and HIV patients. A test of Thailand’s strength in the years to come will be its ability to restore its own self-confidence and surmount these and other challenges.

   In November 1997, meanwhile, Chavalit resigned as prime minister in the face of criticism for his economic policies. Chuan Leekpai was appointed to the post a second time. The January 2001 general elections were the first to be held under the reformist 1997 constitution, which created the Election Commission to monitor elections for vote fraud. The Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) Party of telecommunications tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra won by a landslide on a populist platform, promising economic initiatives to benefit small businesses and farmers. Thai Rak Thai entered a three-party coalition controlling 325 of 500 seats in the House of Representatives, and Thaksin secured a parliamentary mandate to become prime minister. His party then merged with the New Aspiration Party (NAP) and the Seritham (Liberal Democratic) Party to gain 50 additional seats, making it the first governing party in the country’s history to secure a simple majority.

   Thai Rak Thai won another landslide victory in the February 2005 parliamentary elections, taking 377 seats. Forming the relatively powerless political opposition in the legislature were the Democrat Party, with 96 seats; the Chart Thai party, with 25 seats; and the Mahachon Party, with 2 seats. Thaksin was appointed to a second term as prime minister and formed Thailand’s first democratically elected single-party government.

Tsunami Disaster of 2004

   On December 26, 2004, the world’s most powerful earthquake in 40 years struck deep under the Indian Ocean. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake was centered off the northwestern coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The earthquake triggered a tsunami (massive waves), which crashed into the coasts of 14 countries from Southeast Asia to the eastern coast of Africa. The western coast of Thailand, about 480 km (about 300 mi) from the quake’s epicenter, was hit by huge wave surges within two hours. Thailand’s many offshore islands, such as the popular tourist resorts of Ko Phuket and Ko Phi Phi Le, were hit during their busy holiday season. In the absence of a tsunami early warning system in the Indian Ocean region, coastal communities received no warning of the impending disaster.

   The tsunami was the deadliest in recorded history. The International Committee of the Red Cross reported a death toll of more than 250,000 people as a result of the tsunami and the earthquake. Indonesia, nearest the epicenter of the quake, suffered the largest loss of life. Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India reported high death tolls from the tsunami. Thai officials estimated that about half of the more than 5,000 people known to have died in the country were foreigners, most of them vacationers from Europe.

   The tsunami destroyed entire coastal communities in the stricken countries. Millions of survivors were left in desperate need of food, water, shelter, and medical care. A number of countries and international humanitarian organizations responded to the widespread devastation with one of the largest relief efforts in modern history.

Military Coup

   Thailand entered a period of political crisis in early 2006. After the Thaksin family sold a 49.6 percent stake in the telecommunications firm that it controlled, opposition forces renewed charges that Thaksin had used his political position to bolster his fortune. In response to charges of corruption and abuse of power, Thaksin dissolved parliament and called for new elections to win a show of confidence.

   Three opposition parties boycotted the April election, which Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai Party won with more than 50 percent of the vote. The large protest vote combined with the opposition boycott led Thaksin to announce his resignation the day after the election. He handed over power to a deputy prime minister, the April elections were annulled, and new elections were scheduled. Thaksin returned to work as caretaker prime minister in May. In September, while Thaksin was out of the country attending a session of the UN General Assembly in New York City, a military coup was staged. A “Democratic Reform Council” was formed, headed by General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, leader of the coup. The 1997 constitution was rescinded, and the council appointed retired army chief General Surayud Chulanont as interim prime minister until new elections could be held.

   In May 2007 the Constitutional Court ruled that Thai Rak Thai had violated electoral laws in the April 2006 election and ordered that the party be disbanded. Earlier the court had acquitted the Democrat Party, finding that it had not violated election laws. In disbanding Thai Rak Thai, the court also ruled that more than 100 Thai Rak Thai officials, including Thaksin, could not participate in politics for five years. That would prevent them from running in elections that the military government promised to hold by the end of 2007.

   The military leaders made the holding of elections contingent on the approval of a new constitution, which they claimed was needed to curb executive power. In August 2007 nearly 58 percent of voters approved a referendum on a new constitution drafted by a military-appointed panel. Among other changes from the 1997 constitution, the new charter imposed a two-term limit on future prime ministers and made it easier to impeach them.

   Elections to choose a new civilian government were held as promised in December 2007. The People’s Power Party (PPP), a new party formed by former members of the dissolved Thai Rak Thai, won the largest share of the vote and formed a governing coalition with five smaller parties. PPP leader Samak Sundaravej, a veteran politician and supporter of Thaksin, became the new prime minister of Thailand.

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