History of Thailand since 1973 - Definition and Overview

The history of Thailand since 1973 has seen a difficult and sometimes bloody transition from military to civilian rule, with several reversals along the way. The revolution of 1973 inaugurated a brief, unstable period of democracy, with military rule being reimposed after a coup in 1976. The military rule was unstable, with several coups and attempted coups. For most of the 1980s, Thailand was ruled by Prem, a general who took charge as head of the military government but who received a democratic mandate in 1983. Thereafter the country remained a democracy apart from a brief period of military rule from 1991-1992. The populist Thai Rak Thai party, led by prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has governed since 2001.

Revolution

The Democracy Monument in Bangkok, built in 1940 to commemorate the fall of the absolute monarchy in 1932, was the scene of massive demonstrations in 1973, 1976 and 1992.

In October 1973 enormous demonstrations were held in Bangkok, demanding the end of military rule. General Thanom Kittikachorn responded with force, and up to 70 demonstrators were killed in the streets — something not seen in Thailand for many years. This prompted Rama IX to make his first intervention into politics by withdrawing his support for the military regime, and on October 14 1973 Thanom resigned and left the country.

The events of October 1973 amounted to a revolution in Thai politics. For the first time the urban middle class, led by the students, had defeated the combined forces of the old ruling class and the army, and had gained the apparent blessing of the king for a transition to full democracy, symbolised by a new constitution which provided for a fully elected unicameral legislature.

Unfortunately Thailand had not yet produced a political class able to make this bold new democracy function smoothly. The January 1975 elections failed to produce a stable party majority, and fresh elections in April 1976 produced the same result. The veteran politician Seni Pramoj and his brother Kukrit Pramoj alternated in power, but were unable to carry out a coherent reform program. The sharp increase in oil prices in 1974 led to recession and inflation, weakening the government's position. The democratic government's most popular move was to secure the withdrawal of American forces from Thailand.

The wisdom of this move was soon questioned, however, when the victorious communists took power in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in May 1975. The arrival of communist regimes on Thailand’s borders, the abolition of the 600-year-old Lao monarchy, and the arrival of a flood of refugees from Laos and Cambodia, turned public opinion in Thailand back to the right, and conservatives did much better in the 1976 elections than they had done in 1975. The left wing of the student movement did not accept this and continued to agitate for radical change.

Military rule

By late 1976 moderate middle class opinion had turned away from radicalism as the students, with their base at Thammasat University, grew more militant. The army and the right-wing parties fought back against the radicals though paramilitary groups such as the Village Scouts. Matters came to a head in October when Thanom returned to Thailand to enter a monastery. Violent student protests were met by equally violent counter-protests. On 6 October 1976 the army unleashed the paramilitaries, and used the resultant orgy of violence, in which hundreds of students were killed, to suspend the constitution and resume power, with the apparent approval of the king.

The army installed an extremely conservative former judge, Thanin Kraivichien, as prime minister, and carried out a sweeping purge of the universities, the media and the civil service. Thousands of students and other leftists fled Bangkok and joined the Communist Party’s insurgent forces in the north and north-east, operating from safe bases in Laos. The economy was also in serious difficulties. The new regime proved as unstable as the democratic experiment had been. In October 1977 the army dropped Thanin and General Kriangsak Chomanand became prime minister, but he was overthrown in February 1980 by General Prem Tinsulanonda.

Prem Tinsulanonda

Under Prem, Thai forces had to deal with the situation resulting from the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia. There was another flood of refugees, and both Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge forces periodically crossed into Thai territory, sparking clashes along the borders. To strengthen the country’s security, Prem invited the U.S. back to Thailand, and also forged a tacit alliance with China. The Chinese government agreed to end support to Thailand's communist movement; in return, the Thai authorities agreed to give safe haven to the Khmer Rouge forces fleeing west following the invasion of Cambodia. Revelations of the crimes of the defeated Khmer Rouge also sharply reduced the appeal of communism to the Thai public.

In 1981 extreme right-wing officers tried to overthrow Prem’s government, but were foiled when the king refused to accept their coup. This episode raised the prestige of the monarchy still further, and also enhanced Prem’s status as a relative moderate. A kind of compromise was therefore reached. The insurgency ended and most of the ex-student guerillas returned to Bangkok under an amnesty. The army returned to its barracks, and yet another constitution was promulgated, creating an appointed Senate to balance the popularly elected National Assembly. Elections were held in April 1983, giving Prem, now in the guise of a civilian politician, a large majority in the legislature (an arrangement which came to be known as Premocracy).

Prem was also the beneficiary of the accelerating economic revolution which was sweeping south-east Asia. After the recession of the mid 1970s, economic growth took off. For the first time Thailand became a significant industrial power, and manufactured goods such as computer parts, textiles and footwear overtook rice, rubber and tin as Thailand’s leading exports. With the end of the Indo-China wars and the insurgency, tourism developed rapidly and became a major earner. The urban population continued to grow rapidly, but overall population growth began to decline, leading to a rise in living standards even in rural areas, although the north-east continued to lag behind. While Thailand did not grow as fast as the “Asian tigers” like Taiwan and South Korea, it achieved sustained growth.

Prem held office for eight years, and remained personally popular, but the revival of democratic politics led to a demand for a more adventurous leader. In 1988 fresh elections brought former General Chatichai Choonhavan to power. But Chatichai proved both incompetent and corrupt. By allowing one faction of the military to get rich on government contracts, he provoked a rival faction, led by Generals Sunthorn Kongsompong and Suchinda Kraprayoon, to stage a coup in February 1991. The military brought in a civilian prime minister, Anand Panyarachun, who was still responsible to the military in the form of the National Peacekeeping Council with General Sunthorn as chairman. Anand's anti-corruption measures proved popular, but in March 1992 the military strongman General Suchinda, stepped in and took power himself, breaking a promise he had made to the king.

But the Thailand of 1992 was not the Siam of 1932. Suchinda’s coup brought hundreds of thousands of people out in the largest demonstrations ever seen in Bangkok, led by the former governor of Bangkok, Chamlong Srimuang. Suchinda brought military units personally loyal to him into the city and tried to suppress the demonstrations by force, leading to a massacre in the heart of the city in which hundreds died. The navy mutinued in protest, and the country seemed on the verge of civil war. In May the king intervened. In a televised confrontation, he reprimanded Suchinda, who promptly resigned.

Chuan Leekpai

The king re-appointed Anand Panyarachun as prime minister until elections could be held in September, which brought the Democratic Party under Chuan Leekpai to power, mainly representing the liberal voters of Bangkok and the south. Chuan was a competent administrator who held power until 1995, when he was defeated at elections by a coalition of conservative and provincial parties led by Banharn Silpa-acha. Banharn’s government was derailed by the 1997 Asian economic crisis. As first the currency and then the economy collapsed, Banharn’s government fell and was succeeded by one led by Chawalit Yongchaiyudh.

Chawalit’s attempts to deal with the crisis were ineffectual, and in November Chuan returned to power. Chuan came to an agreement with the International Monetary Fund which stabilised the currency and allowed the economy to begin to recover. In contrast to the country's previous history, the crisis was resolved by civilian rulers under democratic procedures.

In the early part of the 21st century, Thai politics has been dominated by the populist Thai Rak Thai ("Thais Love Thais") party of telecommunications millionaire Thaksin Shinawatra. Chuan’s second government was as competent as his first, but he was no match for Thaksin’s demagogic appeal to the mass electorate. Thaksin campaigned effectively against the old politics and against corruption (despite being himself far from above suspicion in this respect), and in January 2001 he had a sweeping victory at the polls, winning a larger popular mandate than any Thai prime minister has ever had in a freely elected National Assembly.

In power, Thaksin has presided over the rapid recovery of the Thai economy. By 2002 Thailand, and Bangkok in particular, was once again booming. As low-end manufacturing moved to China and other low-wage economies, Thailand moved upscale into more sophisticated manufacturing, both for a rapidly expanding domestic middle class market and for export. Tourism, and particularly sex tourism, also remained a huge revenue earner despite intermittent "social order" campaigns by the government to control the country's nightlife. Thus by 2004 Thai democracy and prosperity seemed firmly established, but the dominance of Thaksin, whose rule was highly personalised and in some ways authoritarian, was seen by many commentators as an unhealthy development.