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Free Thai Movement

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The Free Thai Movement or "Khabuankarn Seri Thai" (Thai ขบวนการเสรีไทย) was an underground resistance movement against Japan during World War II. This movement was one of the important sources to the Allies for military intelligence in this region.

Japanese forces invaded Thailand early on the morning of December 8, 1941 - shortly before the attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Thai military immediately resisted, but the Prime Minister, Field Marshal Phibunsongkram, ordered a ceasefire at noon when it was realised that the Japanese war machine could not be halted.

The armistice allowed the Japanese to use Thai military installations in their invasion of Malaya and Burma. On December 21, a formal military alliance with Japan was concluded. Confidence of an imminent Japanese victory in the Far East soared, prompting the Phibun regime to declare war on Great Britain and the United States on January 25, 1942. Those who disagreed with the decision were removed from the government. Among them were Direk Chaiyanam, the prominent foreign minister who advocated resistance against the Japanese, and Pridi Phanomyong, who was appointed to the apparently powerless post of regent to the absent King Ananda Mahidol.

Concerned about the fate of his family in Bangkok, the Thai ambassador in London dutifully delivered the declaration to the British government. However, Mom Rajawongse Seni Pramoj, the Thai ambassador to Washington, refused to do so. Instead, he began organising a resistance movement amongst Thai students in the United States. He financed the movement from Thai government funds in Washington.

Despite the reciprocal British declaration of war, a parallel resistance movement was formed by the Thais in Britain. Beyond the legation staff, some of whom sympathised with the students but were afraid to speak out, the natural leaders of the Thai community in England were three high-ranking members of the royal family, Prince Chula Chakrabongse, a grandson of King Chulalongkorn; Queen Ramphaiphanni, the widow of the late, self-exiled King Prajadhipok; and the Queen’s brother, Prince Suphasawatwongsanit Sawatdiwat, a former Thai army officer who had accompanied the royal couple into exile. Prince Chula declined involvement in Free Thai activities, opting instead for wartime services with the British home guard. In contrast, the Queen and her brother made clear their Free Thai sympathies and used their connections to assist like-minded students.

In late June, British foreign secretary Anthony Eden at last gave his seal of approval to plans to utilise Thai volunteers. Eden suggested that they be organised into a military unit from which “individuals could at a later date be chosen when required for any particular purpose.”

British authorities advised the men to join the Pioneer Corps, a military labour unit open to enemy aliens, with the understanding that “special qualifications possessed by individuals should be made use of in other branches of the armed forces later on.” The latter was a critical inducement because the Thai students, most of them from the upper crust of society, considered the Pioneer Corps very low and dishonourable. Thirty five males passed physicals and entered military service on August 7; one additional volunteer joined later. Prince Suphasawat, who continued to work actively behind the scenes, secured a major’s commission in the British army. Sixteen other Thai, including Queen Ramphaiphanni and three other women, volunteered for non-military tasks. The Queen also sponsored a send-off party for the military volunteers at a London Chinese restaurant.

Meanwhile, Pridi Phanomyong, the regent, headed the Seri Thai's largest contingent, which operated within the country. Aided by elements of the Thai military and police, secret airfields and training camps were established while Allied agents slipped in and out of the country.

By 1945, preparations were being made for a rising against the Japanese occupiers. Thousands of Seri Thai volunteers were now under arms and eager to drive the invaders from their nation. Phibun had been forced to resign, and the new prime minister, Khuang Abhaiwongse, was himself a member of the Seri Thai. Thai air force officers were performing liaision duties with South East Asia Command in Kandy and Calcutta.

Although several attacks were made by the Seri Thai on isolated Japanese units, Pridi gave in to Mountbatten's wishes that the Seri Thai delay the rising in order to coordinate with a planned Allied invasion. However, the atomic bombings by the United States of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to the surrender of Japan and the rising thus did not take place.

Nevertheless, the Seri Thai are remember as having preserved Thailand's honour by demonstating that despite Phibun's actions, the Thais were not willing partners of Japanese imperialism. The British government demanded three million tons of rice from Thailand as reparations, but Thailand would have been treated much more harshly by the war's victors without the actions of the Seri Thai, and the efforts of Betty McKenzie, a citizen of the USA. Mrs. McKenzie worked for the State Department, in the Southeast Asia Department, target area Thailand, broadcasting news and commentaries to combat the Japanese propoganda. During their weekly meeting with the Southeast Asia department, State Department directors would tell the broadcasters which news areas to emphasize, but would also always urge them to say "America will help any people who will fight for their own freedom." A few months after the war ended, news came to the Southeast Asia Department that Thailand was being ceded to Britain. Mrs. McKenzie asked her department head to fight the treaty, but he refused, so she mounted a letter-writing campaign, to the President and Vice-President, Cabinet members, Senators and Congressmen, newspaper publishers and journalists, and asked all her friends and friends of friends to do the same. Hundreds of letters were sent within a few weeks. One paragraph of the letter to President Truman:

We have made many allowances for the sake of Allied unity. However, I cannot feel that our desire for such unity should take us to the point of sacrificing basic American principles, as set forth in your Navy Day address. It is time that we live up to our much-proclaimed role of leader toward a better world, and insist that the British live up to their commitments of "no territorial aggrandizement" and "respect for the rights of man."

Many of the letters were acknowledged, and several news stories and editorials were published. In time, the Southeast Asia Department received a wire on Dec. 19, 1945, saying "Acting Secretary of State Acheson told his press converence today, that the United States had earnestly represented to Great Britain and Siam the hope that they would not conclude an agreement as long as American discussions with Britain are going forward. ... Acheson said that we had asked for delay several times when it appeared that final action seemed imminent."

On January 28, 1946, Mrs. McKenzie received a letter from John Carter Vincent, the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs of the State Department, which indicated the successful completion of her effort. The text of the letter follows:

Dear Mrs. McKenzie:

I have received by reference from the Secretary of State and the President your letters of December 5 and 6, 1945 regarding the situation in Siam. I regret that this reply has been so long delayed.

As you are now doubtless aware, Great Britain and Siam signed an Agreement on January 1, 1946 terminating the state of war which existed between the two countries. On January 5 diplomatic relations between Siam and Great Britain and between Siam and the United States were resumed.

Mrs. McKenzie with Pridi
Enlarge
Mrs. McKenzie with Pridi

Concerning the terms of the British-Siamese Agreement, this Government had been in close contact with the British Government for a number of months with the result that certain of the original British terms were considerably modified to prevent any possible interpretation which might seem to place Great Britain in a position inimical to Siam's freedom and independence. It is believed that the final Agreement in no way infringes upon the complete sovereignty and independence of Siam.

Pridi Phanomyong, on his way to visit President Truman, stopped in Los Angeles to thank Mrs. McKenzie for her efforts. A dinner was held in her honour at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Several of the key figures in the wartime Free Thai underground – including Thawin Udom, Thawi Thawethikul, Chan Bunnak, and Tiang Sirikhanth – were subsequently eliminated in extra-legal fashion by by the Thai police, run by Phibun’s ruthless associate Phao Sriyanond. Fortunately, most of the OSS and SOE Thai officers had returned to their studies in the USA and Britain shortly after the end of the war, so they avoided direct embroilment in the political violence of the late 1940s. Among the best and brightest of their generation, many went on to distinguished careers in bureaucratic service or in private business, often in both.

The most well known Free Thai veterans are Puey Ungphakorn from the British side and Siddhi Savetsila from the American. Puey gained renown for his economic expertise, heading the Bank of Thailand from 1959 to 1971. He subsequently served as rector of Thammasat university before being falsely accused of inciting student protestors during a violent right-wing coup in 1976. He found refuge in England, where he died in 1999. Air Chief Marshal Siddhi, meanwhile, rose through the national security bureaucracy to become foreign minister in the 1980s, under Prem. He still serves as a privy counsellor.

List of famous Free Thai members

Further Reads

External links

 

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