Sarit Thanarat

Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat (also spelt Dhanarajata; สฤษดิ์ ธนะรัชต์, ; 16 June 1908 – 8 December 1963) was a Thai general who staged a coup in 1957, replacing Plaek Phibunsongkhram as Thailand's prime minister until Sarit died in 1963.

He was born in Bangkok, but grew up in his mother's home town in Isan-speaking northeastern Thailand and considered himself from Isan.

His father, Major Luang Ruangdetanan (birth name Thongdi Thanarat), was a career army officer best known for his translations into Thai of Cambodian literature.

He had partial Chinese ancestry.

Sarit Thanarat was educated at a monastery school, and entered Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy in 1919, not completing his military studies until 1928, after which he was commissioned as a second lieutenant.

During World War II he served as commander of an infantry battalion and took part in the invasion and occupation of the Shan States in Burma.

Unlike many of his fellow officers, Sarit was not discharged at the end of the war.

Instead, he was promoted to command the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Bangkok-based Guards Division.

As a colonel, he played a leading role in the 1947 military coup that overthrew the government of Prime Minister Thawal Thamrong Navaswadhi, a protege of Pridi Phanomyong, reinstalling the previously deposed Field Marshal Luang Phibunsongkram as premier.

Sarit thereafter took a lasting interest in politics.

During the early-1950s, the Phibun government grew increasingly unpopular.

This paved the way for the rise of Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat.

He became Commander of the Royal Thai Army in 1954.

The passing of the 1955 Political Party Bill led to the proliferation of more than twenty-five political parties.

The government's Legislative Committee was revamped into the Seri Manangkhasila Party which was headed by Phibun with Sarit as deputy chief and Phao as secretary-general.

Sarit did not play a significant role in the election process and generally left Phao in charge.

Although the Seri Manangkhasila Party beat the Democrat Party, the latter was seen to have won a moral victory.

The Democrat Party and the press accused the government of rigging the vote and using hooligans to terrorize both candidates and voters.

In a bid to repress public discontent, Phibun declared a state of emergency and Sarit was appointed as the supreme commander of military forces.

However, Sarit effectively disassociated himself from the corrupt party when he commented that the 1957 elections.

"were dirty, the dirtiest. Everybody cheated."

In 1957, one of Isan's worst droughts occurred.

It prompted a mass exodus of people from the northeast to Bangkok, which led to social problems.

The government seemed to regard this diaspora as natural and said that it could neutralize peasant discontent.

The Minister of Agriculture, Field Marshal Phin Choonhavan, said that northeasterner's migration to the city and their consumption of frogs and lizards was normal and that there was nothing to worry about.

At Hua Lamphong railway station in Bangkok, there were so many refugees arriving daily that students and monks had to set up emergency help stations.

On 10 August, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Phin, was sent by helicopter to survey the Isan region where he found nothing amiss.

A second survey, also done by air, was published and again indicated that there was no crisis in Isan as all the land was in acceptable condition.

In a final attempt to resolve the issue, the Phibun government allocated 53 million baht, which was to be divided equally among the 53 Isan representatives.

Before the government could recover from its inept management of the Isan crisis, its integrity was once again questioned.

Thailand was loaned US$66 million for the Bhumibol Dam, a dam 154 meters high on the Ping River in Tak.

The project was to take six years and had to pay for itself after completion.

Many MPs were against the loan as it came immediately after the Isan famine.

Out of respect for the king, the plan for the dam was not rejected.

Things further escalated when Thiem Khomrit, Director-General of the Forestry Department, was forced to resign and was charged with administrative incompetence.

Enraged by the charges, Thiem went to the press to reveal the real reason for his dismissal.

He stated that several powerful figures in the Thai government wanted to establish the Forestry Company of Thailand which would merge with other private companies and thereby control the lumber and teak industries.

Phin, who headed this project, wanted to suspend all forestry licenses when other companies refused to collude.

The plan to establish the Forestry Company of Thailand involved the Bhumibhol Dam project, as members of the Forestry Company wanted to monopolize the cutting of timber in the areas to be flooded by the dam.

Thiem further revealed that the Seri Manangkhasila Party had submitted an early application for a license to cut down trees in the area.