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Interview With Luang Pradit
(Pridi Panomyong)
Interviewed by
Gareth Jones on May 6th 1935
See also Siam Diary
for full interview.
Gareth had a long
talk with the Luang Pradit who had been the chief revolutionary, but who was now
in the Government on the causes of the revolution. He was a youngster and
muddled in his ideas and he was terrified of “hurting the King’s feelings” as
he said. It’s the funniest revolution Gareth had ever heard of. He described
him as a very young man, with black hair, going brushlike upwards, a round face
like the moon and looked very boyish.
“There was a coup
d'etat on 24th June 1932, but before this there was an absolute
monarchy. The absolute monarchy had lead to favouritism and to abuse. It was
considered that that an absolute monarchy was doing nothing for the development
of the country at a time of economic depression. A little before the coup it
was felt that the intellectual class were demanding reforms.
“The expectations
of the absolute monarchy were very high. The advantages were if they had a good
King as Chulalongkorn, then things went well, but the previous king was weak and
relied on his valet and father-in-law.
“The state must
help private enterprise, but we do not want to go further than co-operatives. I
have made a progression of co-operatives and they accused me of being a
Communist.
“After the coup
d'etat on June 24th, 1932, the King signed a provisional constitution
and in December 1932, he gave a definite constitution, and in March 1933, I
presented to the council of state my economic plan. The partisans of the king
with the Council of State profited by this occasion and accused me of being a
Communist. I was the Minister with Portfolio. The King signed a decree
dissolving the National Assembly and suspended the Constitution. The latter
told the sortie that it was the King and Council of State, chosen by the old
officials that governed the country, a step towards an anarchist regime of
absolute power. I was exiled to Europe.
“A few months later
on the 24th of June 1933, my friends made another coup d'etat
reopening the National Assembly and applied the conditions and the King
consented to them. The new government recalled me from Europe, but in October
of the same year, there was a counter-revolution led by Prince Bovaradet, cousin
of the King and his former tutor. Before fighting the counter-revolution
movement, we asked the King to return to the capital. The King refused. (A few
months before the King went to the seaside at Hualin) and he escaped by a small
boat to the South of Siam and it was said he was going to Singapore. The
father-in-law took part in the counter-revolution.
“After suppressing
the revolt we sent delegate to ask the King to return to the capital. At first
he refused, but on the insistence of the delegate he returned for a few days for
the ceremonial celebration of the constitution. A few days later he went to
Europe on the pretext of having his eyes seen to. He abdicated and Council of
Regency was set up with Prince Ananta Mahidon being proclaimed King. People
remain faithful to the monarchy, but only to the constitutional monarchy.
Please do be careful. I do not want to hurt the King,” said Luang Pradit.
Liberty of the Press.
“We’ve established
a censorship. If a paper publishes false news or any article susceptible of
troubling, then we can apply censor. They must send articles to be censored for
a period of time, say the week, the month. We cannot accord full liberty,
because of the level of culture of the people.
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