You call me one non-corrupt politician, I sometimes hear when I get into a discussion about Thai politics. I hate generalizations and will name three: Chuan Leekpai (former Prime Minister), Surin Pitsuwan (former ASEAN Secretary General) and Chaturon Chaisaeng (former Minister of Education).
Of this trio, Chuan Leekpai is my favorite. I feel a kind of admiration for him. Of simple origin, incorruptible and nice too. He served as Prime Minister of Thailand from 1992 to 1995 and from 1997 to 2001. However, he never denied his origins. “I was born in a house with a straw roof. The walls were woven betel-nut wood and the floor was earth,” he wrote in a 1998 “Letter to My Mother” published in the Bangkok Post. This tribute to her, an illiterate market vendor, can be found below.
First something about the man. Chuan Leekpai (Thai: ชวน หลีกภัย pronounced choean lìe:kphai) was born on July 28, 1938 in Trang Province (Southern Thailand) as the third of ten children. He was educated at a temple school in Bangkok (Wat Amanrintraram), studied law at Thammasaat University and practiced law for some time before entering politics as a member and later leader of the Democratic Party, which dominates South Thailand.
Other times, July 2014. Junta leader Prayuth has flowers delivered to Chuan (BP)'s birthdayTo this day, Chuan Leekpai is the only Thai government leader who does not come from the aristocratic, military or capitalist class. In his time, Democrats strongly opposed military interference in the country's government. Premier Chuan lived in a humble rented house on a potholed road. The mandatory reporting of assets of politicians in 1998 showed 250.000 baht of equity, while the average in his ministerial squad was 66 million baht.
Although Chuan was seen as incorruptible, his cabinets were not corruption-proof. His first government went down due to land sales in Phuket misplacing ministers. The prime minister often dismissed criticism of such politicians. The judge has not yet ruled on them, he said. This depiction of colleagues as beautiful earned him the nickname 'The Painter'.
For the media, Chuan Leekpai was a disaster. He often sent journalists into the woods with answers like
'I have not received any reports yet' or 'The committee is still studying the matter' .
Chuan Leekpai is still politically active as an adviser to the Democratic Party.
Letter from Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai to his mother Tuan, age 84
I was born in a house with a straw roof. The walls were made of woven betel nut wood and the floor was earth.
You and father fought to make ends meet. His salary was insignificant and so you became the breadwinner of the family. You got up at 1am to tap rubber, and after working it and sharpening knives for the next day, it was 5pm.
There was no television then, only norah (a form of dance in the South; TK) and naang talung (shadow puppet show; TK). No one has ever seen you attend those performances. You had little interest in entertainment.
Your self-discipline was greater than any of your children. When we were still schoolchildren, you supplemented father's salary by selling sweets and other delicacies at the market. We learned to make khanom sai sai. Today I buy this sweet even when I'm not hungry because I know it comes from a family like ours, otherwise it wouldn't be made.
Every morning I dragged khanom sai sai to the market. You were a very effective market woman. You were known far and wide for visiting markets in different tambons. The first time I volunteered for a seat in parliament and said I was a son of Mae Tuan, everyone exclaimed, "Oh, the son of zealous Mae Tuan!"
Your grandfather was a kamnan (local administrator; TK)) and so the grandchildren have to finish primary school. But not you, you were a daughter and had to take care of my grandmother who was paralyzed. Yet you managed to win the heart of Khru Niyom, the most highly educated man in the village, because of your devotion to your mother.
You showed us the way to live a decent life. The steadfastness and enduringness of your love for us has been a lesson to listen to, to see and to follow in the family and in the community.
You were illiterate and like a blind man. As a market woman, you relied on your memory, and it was an excellent one. You always knew who owed you and who owed you. We kids used to tease you by saying "Just remember that last one…"
Father knew a lot about nutrition and asked us not to eat rice and noodles together and to refrain from drinking coffee. You didn't understand that because eating those two things together took away your hunger and coffee kept you awake during the nightly rubber tapping.
We children followed father's lessons. I still don't drink coffee. After Dad died at sixty, we grumbled that he knew a lot about nutrition but that others were still alive. Good for a laugh.
It was karma for you and father that all children could learn well, but you had to work hard for it and sometimes borrow money for it. Father had a vision and knew that an education was important for the future, but his salary as a teacher was not enough to support several children.
While the two of you helped us pay for the school, we tried to limit our expenses. When I was in the temple school I made drawings which halved the expenses. I graduated quickly to be able to support the next child.
You called us for a bath at 5 p.m. and then we finished our homework. We didn't have electricity then. You loved children and you had many friends. If you knew children born in the Year of the Tiger like me, you fostered friendship between us and their relatives and they became my relatives.
I participated in many activities and had many friends. That worked out well when I wanted to become a Member of Parliament. Not that you expected it that way!
You like to tie only a sarong over your chest and bosom, not a blouse. When father's boss came to visit, we as scouts shouted that you had to put on a blouse.
It was not until later that an example of your valor came to my ears. When father came back late with the midwife from another district, it turned out that I had already been born! You used your experience of past childbirth to bring me into the world!
I remember you bragging about your children's beautiful navels. At that time I didn't understand how to judge the beauty of a navel. At the time, children up to the age of ten were running around naked. Now I remember all those other kids had bulging navels and we didn't. You said later that it was because you always cut the umbilical cord yourself, with me being your test subject.
Every time I think of this I count myself lucky to be healthy and whole. What happened reflected your courage for you had no knowledge of obstetrics, only the experience of giving birth. Still, you managed to get us both there.
As a politician I don't have much time to visit you. I feel remorse about that to this day. When father died I realized that because of my busy life as a politician I didn't pay him back. Therefore, now that you are concerned, I am even more concerned. The older you get the more concerned I am.
Chuan with his deceased mother. Farewell to a Strong, Admirable Woman (2011)I will take every opportunity to visit you, even if only for half a day.
I've seen country mothers all over the country. I have always admired their courage, patience and dedication in raising their children. You are such a mother, a mother who fulfilled her duties to the fullest extent of your abilities. As long as I have the strength to do so, I will do everything for your children.
I love you, mother,
Chuan Leekpai
Note TK: Chuan's mother passed away in 2011 at the age of 99
Published in Bangkok Post August 12, 1998
Sources:
- Wikipedia Chuan Leekpai
- Not found as a link, but useful as search terms: Letter from the Prime Minister to his mother Tuan (aged 84), Bangkok Post, August 12, 1998
- Philip Shenon, Opponent of Military Dominance named Thailand's Prime Minister, NYTimes, September 24, 1992
- Robert Horn, Associated Press, Thai Cabinet reveals its Wealth, January 12, 1998
Beautiful.
According to my wife (Thaksin supporter) Leekpai stole money for the construction of a police station and a viaduct...
And she was not a “whistleblower”…..
If you then have a story, background, then it is a bit more grounded than "heard say". A publication in a newspaper or something.
Impeccable politician? Is there one politician of any level who does not get his hands dirty, or has to get dirty in power sharing, making choices or compromise? Did this national top politician consider all his administrative actions honorable? Almost certainly not…unless it was a vain with a total lack of morality and/or self-awareness.
Could he maintain his integrity in every decision? Doubtful because apparently he thought collegiality towards fellow ministers was more important than being publicly accountable to the people (voters)?
The problem with this kind of biographical approach is that the man/woman is highlighted and his policy falls between the folds.
Perhaps that man was one of the most honest top politicians Thailand has ever known? But what did his policies do for the country and its people? Was he able to direct (adjust) the state apparatus to achieve policy objectives?
Good for the man for keeping up his reputation. Nice for the man that he was/is being adored. But he was an (elected) policymaker. The accountability of his policies seems to me more relevant to the country and its people than the historical haze of adoration that envelops/gilds/disguises the person.
We all like the naive innocent virgin touchingly personalized storyline, of course, but it is usually more crumpled by the endless smoothing and polishing of pleats?
Dear Mark,
I invite you to write a story about Chuan that describes the points you mention. You are, of course, somewhat right
By the way, in his biography I mentioned quite a few negative things about his political attitude and his policy, or did you miss that? My story wasn't that innocent and virginal. I could mention some more nasty things from Chuan's reign. For example, the resistance of the 'Assembly of the Poor' against the Pak Mun dam was brutally suppressed in 1998.
But I also say this. We all get dirty hands. As a doctor in Tanzania at the time, I had to choose who I would help and who I wouldn't help due to a lack of antibiotics. Some died.
Chuan ruled with coalitions of 2-5 parties. He had to compromise. We all have to do that sometimes/often. I especially wanted to highlight the Chuan person.
I am a great admirer of Chuan. He had to rule on a razor's edge, surrounded by corrupt figures such as Suthep, and over his shoulders was the army that had held power since 1932 and had only just let go.
In an interview with the Bangkok Post, he stated that there were in fact 800 too many civil servants, but that he could not fire them because it would cause social carnage, but with this statement he signed his political death warrant, because the civil service has Thailand at least as much power as the military. That's why Prayuth gave them a raise just after the coup. He also did not appreciate his analysis that 000% of all teaching staff would have to be fired in order for the thorough, much-needed reform to succeed.
Chuan is indeed mister clean hands, but he was no match for his corrupt environment, including those in the private sphere.
It is also he who, after the Thom yun Khung crisis, straightened things out again and straightened out the catastrophic state finances after the Banharn policy.
There are 2 Thai statesmen that I admire, namely Chuan Leekpai and Kukrit Pramoy.
What few may know is that Thaksin still held a ministerial post under Chuan as foreign minister. Where its main achievement is the drastic increase, more than doubling, of the financial extension conditions.
Thank you for this nice addition, which I completely agree with. I thought Chuan was a sometimes vague and cowardly figure, but your comments correct that image. Besides Chuan and Kukrit, I would like to mention Pridi Banomyong (or Phanomyong) as a Thai statesman I greatly admire, the bourgeois leader of the revolution of June 1932. Agree? Here is my story about him:
https://www.thailandblog.nl/achtergrond/pridi-banomyong-vader-van-de-echte-thaise-democratie-en-hoe-zijn-visie-teloor-ging/
Sorry Tino, I didn't mean to detract from your article on Chuan Leekpai.
The personalized approach, almost adoration, caught my eye (a bit like a thorn). It seemed to me a bit too much agenda setting with the aim/result of influencing perception. Nowadays they call that “framing”.
It is often a (subconscious?) choice of the sender (writer) to make his message receptive to the receiver (reader), but is also strongly determined by the medium itself. New fast media contribute strongly to this. “The medium is the message” wrote Marshall McLuhan in a visionary way back in 1964, long before the Internet era when black-and-white television emerged in the Western world.
Various additions via reactions and references place the man in a broader context. In my experience, this allows a better interpretation of the figure, including its “uncookability”. It is educational and definitely worth reading. No doubt about that 🙂