The ancestors of radical and revolutionary Thai thinkers
King Narai of Ayutthaya (Nuntiya / Shutterstock.com)
We know pretty well the progressive thinkers and the uprisings in Thailand during the last 50-60 years, but what was it like before? What was the source of all those new ideas? Indigenous or foreign? Here is a short and incomplete guide in which Tienwan in particular is put in the spotlight.
The beginning: court poets
The favorite poet Sriprard in the court of King Narai of Ayutthaya (reigned 1656-1688) wrote satirical verses about the court in addition to many hymns to the monarch. As punishment, the king banished him to the South, where he was first warmly welcomed as a bearer of royal culture. But Sriprard, a man of humble origins, also poked fun at the harem of the local governor, who, enraged, condemned him to beheaded. The story goes that before the sword fell in the sand he wrote with his finger:
Let the earth bear witness to this
That I possess an equal ability of thought.
If I am guilty, behead me, I accept that
If not, your blood also will smear this sword in retribution.
And so it happened, says history. King Narai was enraged when he learned that his favorite poet had been beheaded without his consent. With the same sword the governor's head also fell.
Let's move forward almost 200 years, to the time of King Rama III (reigned 1824-1851). At his court we meet the poet Phramahamontri. Most of his work fits into the old traditions where almost the only subjects are the king, his court and his palace described in glowing terms. The king is like a god, wise and merciful. His face is radiant, his clothes are fragrant of jasmine and roses, his palace is of gold studded with jewels, his wives are of heavenly beauty, etc.
But Phramahamontri also wrote a similar story about a beggar named Raden Lundai, in the royal language, a language very far removed from the spoken language. Let me make a feeble attempt to give an example:
"Raden, after his divine meal of a bowl of spoiled glutinous rice, clad in his sacred dung and piss-smelling velvet rags, strode out past the colorful and scented hedge of thorns around his gold-and-jeweled hut, where barking dogs paid homage."
Piss and shit, of course, in the royal words: phrabangkhonbao and phrabangkhonnak. Phramahamontri wanted to show the essential equality of king and beggar by addressing them both in the royal language.
He also wrote a vehement attack on a corrupt and brutal court official, Phraya Mahatepsepkasat.
Of course, these two poets were part of the court and enjoyed the privileges that came with it. But they saw through the hypocrisy and the injustice. We don't know how many others shared their thoughts and feelings. Certainly they did not want to commit revolutionary acts to change social relations. Their work remained hidden for a long time and only became public in the years 1973-1976.
King Chulalongkorn (Rama V)
Tienwan and the beginning of a more public intellectual struggle
I have come across the name Tienwan (also spelled Thianwan or referred to as TWS Wannapho) a few times in historical literature as a free-spirited intellectual, especially on women's rights, but knew little else about it. The source below gives me a better look at his life, work and ideas for the first time.
He was born in 1842 as one of nine children from an originally Mon family. Like most young men of that time, he received his early education in a temple school. At a young age he signed up on Chinese cargo boats that sailed between China and Southeast Asia. He later returned to the temple where he devoted himself to Buddhist scriptures, English, Pali and Sanskrit. After a renewed brief stint on Western freighters, he studied law and at the age of 33 became the lawyer of one of the very rare Thai merchants. In that position he often came into contact with noble figures and royal officials.
Where others kept their mouths shut, the intrepid Tienwan regularly criticized the social system and especially the judicial process. That may have been part of the reason why a petition Tienwan submitted to King Chulalongkorn was seen as sedition and lèse-majesté, and he subsequently served 17 years in prison from 1882 to 1898 when the king pardoned him. In prison, like many political prisoners after him, he wrote 37 books, essays and poems that were surreptitiously distributed.
After his release, he embarked on a journalistic career. He founded a newspaper entitled 'Laat het Recht Speak' and later, after a bankruptcy, the magazine 'Goede Verhalen', which also went bankrupt after a few years. He died in 1915.
Tienwan's radical new ideas
Let me briefly describe Tienwan's radical world of ideas for his time, a world that did not so much stem from Western ideas, but was mainly based on his own experiences and thoughts.
Tienwan mainly targeted the existing class system, called 'sakdina' and the hierarchy, often described as comparable to the feudal system in Europe, rather than individuals. He saw two morbid anomalies in society: firstly the arbitrary application of the law, the corruption, the pursuit of self-interest and the associated oppression by the elite and the government, and secondly the ignorance and immorality of the population, but he found that the real cause and also the cure for the latter mainly lay with the government.
He denounced judges and courts and called for a revision of the laws on defamation and defamation and he advocated freedom of speech.
In a poem he called bowing, kneeling and prostrating in front of superiors an obstacle to the progress of civilization, as well as the still existing slavery.
Incidentally he criticized the monarchy and he wanted more democracy with a parliament.
'Traditions are not all good', he wrote, 'there are good, bad and neutral traditions. Let's leave the bad ones behind.'
Polygamy was a thorn in his side because it relegated women to sexual objects and he considered a strong role for women in society indispensable.
'Build schools, not temples', he wrote. There had to be general education in which women had to participate with the same educational package as men and not just learn 'home economics' as was often suggested and done.
Before his time, his ideas were unheard of and shocking. When a reader once criticized him for being ahead of his time, he replied:
“I do what I think is right, even if I have to die for it. I don't know if the result will pay off.'
He influenced later thinkers and revolutionaries like Pridi Panomyong (fled and exiled in 1947), Kulap Saipradit (imprisoned 1952-1957, exiled to China) and Jit Phumisak (killed in 1966), and many others such as during the communist uprising between 1965 and 1988
I wonder how many of the issues Tienwan was involved with and opposed to are still relevant today.
He is now almost forgotten, most history books, especially the official ones, are silent about him, and there is no statue either. Occasionally he appears in Thai-language blogs and one of his books appears on a list of 'One hundred books that every Thai should read.
Main source
Dr. Yuangrat Wedel and Paul Wedel, Radical Thought, Thai Mind: the development of revolutionary ideas in Thailand, ABAC, 1987
About this blogger
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Born in 1944 in Delfzijl as the son of a simple shopkeeper. Studied in Groningen and Curacao. Worked as a doctor in Tanzania for three years, then as a general practitioner in Vlaardingen. A few years before my retirement I married a Thai lady, we had a son who speaks three languages well.
Lived in Thailand for almost 20 years, first in Chiang Kham (Phayao province) then in Chiang Mai where I liked to bother all kinds of Thai with all kinds of questions. Followed Thai extracurricular education after which a diploma of primary school and three years of secondary school. Did a lot of volunteer work. Interested in the Thai language, history and culture. Have been living in the Netherlands for 5 years now together with my son and often with his Thai girlfriend.
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Beautiful Tino, thanks! Let me add some important figures from the period late 19th, early 20th century:
Phraya Suriyanuwat (1862-1936) was a progressive member of nobility. He, too, focused on the heaviness workers faced. He used his knowledge of political economy to analyze Thai society at the time. According to his view, society had a lot of inequality and the state had the task of improving the quality of life of the less fortunate. Phraya's book (Economics) was suppressed.
Narin Phasit (1874-1948) was a former governor who stepped down from his bureaucratic position to fight for the poor. He was accused of being crazy, rebellious, dangerous to the state, a threat to faith, a communist and much more. Narin himself saw himself simply as someone who loved justice and who was aware of the injustice towards the weak in society who were often ignored and forgotten, while they were entitled to be treated with equal respect as people of higher status. Narin was the first Thai to go on a hunger strike against government policies. He did not eat for 17 days and asked the government for the tax on heads, as well as requiring those who could not pay the tax to do unpaid work in public works. Narin spent his life inside and outside prison. He was not afraid to face the revenge of those in power, the worst they could do to him was to cause his death. For Narin, death was only a small thing.
Besides these people there were many other writers and thinkers. Such as Kulap Saipradit (1905-1974), also known as Sriburapha. He wrote a lot and helped the people to get a better understanding about labor. There was also Thawat Rittidet (1884-1950) who is credited with being the first labor hero. He became deeply involved in the study of labor problems and was instrumental in the establishment of the Khana Kammakaon (Labour Group). This group fought alongside workers in various campaigns. Thrawat was also the driving force behind the creation of Kammakon (The Worker), which was the first newspaper to give a voice to Thailand's working class.
Source: my visit to the Labor Museum in Bangkok. Recommended (I'm working on writing a piece about it)
https://thailabourmuseum.org
Rob,
You call Narin Phasit. That's a man I admire a lot. Here is (another) part of his story.
https://www.thailandblog.nl/boeddhisme/narin-phasit-de-man-die-tegen-de-hele-wereld-vocht/
Too bad you put this rhetorical question in the article:
“I wonder how many of the things Tienwan was involved with and opposed to are still relevant today.”
I think it detracts from the quality of your story
Those who don't know their history are doomed to repeat it.' Quote from writer-philosopher George Santayana (1863-1952)
History is not only about writing beautiful stories about the past, but it should also make us think about the present. Learn lessons from history. William of Orange as an example for the struggle against the German occupation.
Thiawan had beautiful ideals that I, as a progressive person, can agree with. I can certainly imagine that he got into deep trouble with that at the time, that still happens in Thailand today. But he has also been criticized for idealizing the West too much. The 'modern and developed' Europe also had its fair share of blemishes.
From “The Political Development of modern Thailand” by Federico Ferrara I quote:
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Thianwan was an iconoclast in his own way (literally: “iconoclast in his own right”), flaunting sophisticated western-style shoes, clothes and facial hair. He got out of prison after 17 years, which he owed to his work as a lawyer in the service of ordinary people. His proposals included institutional reform—the adoption of a constitution, an elected legislature, a professional bureaucracy, and modern armed forces—as well as improvements to infrastructure, particularly transportation and communications. He wanted an end to slavery, polygamy and the state's dependence on gambling and opium revenues. He was a representative for women's emancipation, a government that took care of the poor, the sick and orphans. In his writing he pointed to the need for a complete Siamese culture change. He called for class unity and free higher education, paid for by collecting taxes from the wealthy. He also wanted a transparent government that did not see the people as 'the enemy'.
King Chulalongkorn rebuked people like Thianwan who idealized European society and history. He pointed out that the European ideals they presented as a model for Siam did not correspond to the European reality. On this point the king was largely right (quite right), Thianwan's writing left little room for the antagonisms, hypocrisy and injustices of the West he so admired.
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Tino! Another item not to be lost!
wiel