Thianwan Wannapho: A remarkable Siamese of low birth but high ideals

Few have exerted such an influence on civic and social life in Siam in the last quarter of the nineteenth century as Tienwan or Thianwan Wannapho. This was not obvious because he did not belong to the elite, the so-called Hi so who ruled the kingdom.

Thianwan Wannapho, one of nine children from a Mon family, was of rather humble origins. However, his parents, small merchants, claimed that he had distant noble ancestors, but no conclusive evidence has ever been found to substantiate the claim of blue blood in the family. Not much is known about his childhood years. It is certain that he went to school in the Siamese capital in a Buddhist monastery. And apparently he was also allowed to attend an educational institution on Ratanakosin Island, in the periphery of the palace.

Some sources even mention an education at the court, but here too no historically provable traces can be found. What is certain is that he embarked on the junks that sailed between China and Southeast Asia before he was sixteen. At first he was active on a trading ship that sailed up and down the Chao Phraya, but a little later he turned up in Hong Kong and Macau, among other places. The few historically reliable sources about his childhood years show that he subsequently returned to the monastery to become proficient in Pali and Sanskrit. Not long after graduating from college, he returned to trading and turned up in Singapore.

It was probably there that he came into contact with and was impressed by the British colonialists and their very efficient way of governing. Shortly afterwards he returned to Bangkok to study English and law. In 1875 the time had come and he graduated as a lawyer. Due to his eloquence and knowledge of the case file, he quickly gained a solid reputation as a lawyer, but this perception was not always well received, especially in the higher circles, because he mainly used his legal and oratorical talents to defend not only the poor and the poorest but also – and that was really unprecedented – of women before the often very arbitrary and corrupt courts. He didn't mince his words and he soon gained a reputation as a troublemaker who was feared for his well-founded criticism of the largely feudal system and the corruption by the upper classes.

Rama V (DMstudio House / Shutterstock.com)

His regime-critical attitude was not always welcomed, certainly in the highest circles. His thinly veiled criticism of King Rama V, among other things, earned him a great deal of enmity. It was clear that sooner or later he would have to foot the bill for his bold and bold demeanor. At the time, the lese majestylegislation that is so lavishly used today to silence critics of the monarchy and so Thianwan Wannapho, following yet another run-in with a court in 1882 for 'contempt of court' arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. So he had more than enough time to think about how to proceed. It became clear in 1885 that his influence extended beyond the walls of the prison.

In that year, eleven eminents, including three princes, presented a petition calling for the introduction of a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy. In this petition, a lance was broken for the active fight against corruption, the implementation of far-reaching tax reforms and the promotion of civil servants no longer based on family ties, but on merit. In addition, the petitioners advocated equal rights for all citizens, justice and absolute freedom of the press… Rama V rejected the petition, but it had become clear to all observers that the ideas of reformers such as the regime-critical citizen Thim Sukkhayang, the journalist and publisher Kulap Kritsanon whether the jurist Thianwan Wannapho had reached the highest circles… Thianwan Wannapho would write – under the pseudonym Tor Wor Sor Wannapho – no less than 37 books, tracts and poems in his cell.

Thianwan Wannapho was released in 1898, more determined than ever not to bow to the system. In numerous articles he argued for radical reforms, ranging from the prohibition of gambling, opium use and betel chewing to the abolition of slavery and polygamy, to the creation of new industries or the introduction of a parliamentary system. He was clearly inspired by Japan. After more than two centuries, Japan's self-imposed isolationism among the Japanese had come to an end in 1854 shoguns of the Edo period. The Land of the Rising Sun finally reopened its borders to international trade by signing the Kanagawa Convention.

In the years that followed the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the new Japanese rulers went all out for reforms that were not only intended to centralize state authority and restore the prestige of the emperor, but above all to modernize the country . A modernization, which in the eyes of an important part of the administrative elite, was vital if Japan was to be taken seriously by the Western countries. The same Western countries, Britain and France in the lead, were rapidly realizing their colonial ambitions in Southeast Asia. An evolution that was followed with suspicion and also unrest from Tokyo, but also in Bangkok. The means to achieve this, according to these Japanese reformists, was wkon-yosai, using Western techniques in a Japanese spirit.

Thianwan Wannapho advocated a similar approach to modernize Siam in a Western sense. In his view, this was the only way to prevent the Western powers from attacking the Land of Smiles or from economically dominating Siam. Despite this critical attitude towards the West, he made no secret of his admiration for the West. He pushed his pro-Western attitude to such an extent that he was the first 'ordinary citizen' in Bangkok to have a Farang-style haircut and European clothing and footwear.

This remarkable lawyer, activist and reformer died in 1915. Not one street name, let alone a monument, reminds us of him. Nevertheless, in my humble opinion, especially in these times, which emphasize the relevance of his work more than ever, he deserves a place in the collective memory of Thailand…