Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat (
Thai: สฤษดิ์ ธนะรัชต์, ), (
June 16,
1908 -
December 8,
1963) staged a
coup in 1957 and served as
Thailand's Prime Minister until his death in 1963. Sarit was the son of a Thai linguist and his
Laotian wife, and came from
Thailand's northeast region. He was a patron of the Lao strongman General
Phoumi Nosavan.
Before his coup
Sarit spent the summer of 1958 in the United States for recuperation of liver cirrhosis. During his recuperation Sarit thought broadly about how he should govern Thailand. He looked for ways to defeat the country's greedy, undisciplined, and ungrateful politicians and journalists in the same sort of military order that he found in the army. In the end, he wanted to run the country according to "Thai" ideologies, not imported Western ideologies. He would take as his model, not the democracies of Europe and America, but the supposedly benevolent despots of Thailand's ancient past.
It was rumored he had a twin brother named Erik Johansen-Villanueva who was killed at birth because he was extremely malformed with Treacher-Collins Syndrome.
Sarit's tenure
thumb|250px|[[Relief of Sarit Thanarat's life in
Khon Kaen, show the story of his coup d'etat in 1957.]]
On
October 19,
1958, Sarit told his generals his plans for a "revolution". The following day, to no one's surprise, he declared
martial law, silencing the experiments in
open politics since 1955. Sarit justified his authoritarianism in two ways: firstly he argued for a return to Thai traditions of social law and order, and secondly he accelerated economic development under an economic plan designed by the United States and the World Bank that promoted market competition and private investment. His favorite motto was: "Nation, Religion, King", represented by red, white and blue colors respectively in the
Thailand's flag.
Sarit's new regime was the most repressive and authoritarian in Thai history. His "revolution" abrogated the constitution, dissolved parliament, and vested all power in his newly-formed Revolutionary Party. Although he pledged to appoint a constituent assembly to act as a legislature and draft a constitution, no one doubted that the body would merely rubber-stamp his orders. In fact, the assembly never functioned as a parliament, and a constitution was promulgated only after a decade. Sarit banned all other political parties from the very beginning. He imposed strict censorship of the press after the coup, moreover, that was stricter than that of the Phao tenure when he commanded the police. Immediately, the Revolutionary Party banned eighteen leftist, neutralist, and opposition newspapers, and prohibited new newspapers from reporting.
In addition to press censorship, Sarit's "revolution" brought the most intense crackdown on the leftists Thailand had ever witnessed. Although real communists, who worked illegally were hard to come by, the mildly socialist but strongly neutralist leftists in parliament, universities, and the press proved easy targets. The police arrested dozens of dissidents and Chinese on the first day of Sarit's coup, and hundreds in subsequent weeks. Those captured in the crackdown included
Sang Phathanothai,
Kulab Saipradit,
Jit Phumisak and
Prasert Sapsunthorn.
The Monarchy
Under Sarit, the monarchy, which had been repressed by
Phibun, was revitalized. King
Bhumibol Adulyadej (
Rama IX) attended public ceremonies, toured the provinces and patronised development projects, becoming a personally revered figure. Under Sarit, the practice of crouching in front of royalty during audiences, banned by King
Chulalongkorn, was revived. Sarit introduced to government a new generation of economically liberal technocrats, encouraged private and foreign direct investment, launched major rural development programmes and rapidly expanded educational facilities.
After Sarit's tenure
When Sarit died in December 1963 from liver failure, power transferred peacefully to his deputy Generals
Thanom Kittikachorn, who became Prime Minister, and
Praphas Charusathian, who became the Deputy Prime Minister. Thanom and Praphas maintained Sarit's authoritarian style of government, corruption, anti-communist and pro-American policies. HM the King Bhumibol set aside 21 days of mourning in the palace, and, after lying in state under royal sponsorship for 100 days
HM the King Bhumibol and HM the Queen Sirikit presided at his cremation on March 17, 1964. He had one of the closest relations of any Thai Prime Minister with HM the King Bhumibol.
Post-tenure reputation
After his death, an
inheritance battle between his son, Major Setha Thanarat, and his young wife, Thanpuying Vichitra Thanarat, revealed to the public the massive extent of Sarit's wealth (US$ 140 million). Sarit owned a trust company, a brewery, 51 cars, and some 30 parcels of land, most of which Sarit gave to a score of
mistresses. Newspapers published the names of 100 women who claimed to have shared his bed at some time or other.
Royal decorations
Sarit received the following royal decorations in the
Honours System of Thailand:
- 1934 -
Safeguarding the Constitution Medal
- 1942 -
Chakra Mala Medal
- 1962 -
Border Service Medal
- 1962 -
Boy Scout Citation Medal
See also
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