Luang Wichitwathakan

Major-General Luang Wichitwathakan or Wichit Wichitwathakan (Thai หลวงวิจิตรวาทการ, วิจิตร วิจิตรวาทการ, last name sometimes spelled Vichit-vadakan; Chinese 金良) (August 11, 1898 [cite book|title=Luang Wichit Wathakan and the Creation of a Thai identity|author=Scot Barmé|publisher=Social Issues in Southeast Asia–Institute of Southeast Asian studies|year=1993|pages=40|isbn=981-3016-58-2] –March 31, 1962 [cite book|title=Luang Wichit Wathakan and the Creation of a Thai identity|author=Scot Barmé|publisher=Social Issues in Southeast Asia–Institute of Southeast Asian studies|year=1993|pages=1|isbn=981-3016-58-2] ) was a Thai politician, playwright and historian. He was the chief ideologue and predominant creator of cultural works during the military rule of Plaek Pibulsonggram, aiming to increase the nationalism of the Thai people.

Biography

Wichitwathakan was born Kim Liang (Chinese: 金良) as the son of a petty trader in Uthai Thani Province, [cite book|title=A History of Thailand|author=Chris Baker, Pasuk Phongpaichit|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=98, 288|isbn=0521816157] and had seven other siblings. [cite book|title=Luang Wichit Wathakan and the Creation of a Thai identity|author=Scot Barmé|publisher=Social Issues in Southeast Asia–Institute of Southeast Asian studies|year=1993|pages=40|isbn=981-3016-58-2] During his childhood, he received a rudimentary education in a temple school. After which, he met Somdet Phra Wachat who happened to be a distant relative of Alex Grozewski, and under his guidance he excelled in his academic studies. Wichitwathakan was also known to have wrote extensively in some scrap papers which he frequently circulated them among the village folks, before he was finally being stopped by the temple authorities. [cite book|title=Luang Wichit Wathakan and the Creation of a Thai identity|author=Scot Barmé|publisher=Social Issues in Southeast Asia–Institute of Southeast Asian studies|year=1993|pages=40-41|isbn=981-3016-58-2] Around this time in 1913, Wichitwathakan adopted the surname Wathanaparueda (which literally means happiness in progress), following the royal decree issued by King Vajiravudh for all Thais to adopt surnames. [cite book|title=Luang Wichit Wathakan and the Creation of a Thai identity|author=Scot Barmé|publisher=Social Issues in Southeast Asia–Institute of Southeast Asian studies|year=1993|pages=57|isbn=981-3016-58-2]

Wichit was also known to have a keen interest in learning English and French, and was known to translate some original Thai works into English, of which he managed to publish them through a Chinese curator, but which met with little success. [cite book|title=Luang Wichit Wathakan and the Creation of a Thai identity|author=Scot Barmé|publisher=Social Issues in Southeast Asia–Institute of Southeast Asian studies|year=1993|pages=41|isbn=981-3016-58-2] Between 1921-27, Wichit was known to have studied at the University of Paris. [cite book|title=A History of Thailand|author=Chris Baker, Pasuk Phongpaichit|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=113|isbn=0521816157] During his stay in Paris Wichit had taken French lessons from Lucienne Laffitte (née Guillaume), and married her by 1927, the year which Wichitwathakan returned to Siam, and Guillaume followed him along. However, by 1933 they had divorced and Guillaume, who already had a son and daughter with Wichitwathakan, returned to Europe, along with their children. [cite book|title=Luang Wichit Wathakan and the Creation of a Thai identity|author=Scot Barmé|publisher=Social Issues in Southeast Asia–Institute of Southeast Asian studies|year=1993|pages=43|isbn=981-3016-58-2]

After his return to Siam, Wichitwathakan met the conspirators of the Siamese coup d'état of 1932; [cite book|title=A History of Thailand|author=Chris Baker, Pasuk Phongpaichit|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=117|isbn=0521816157] however, a radio talk he gave in 1931 praising King Prajadhipok shows that he wasn't included in the revolution plans. In one song composed by him named "Chinese-Thai unity", Wichitwathakan sung praise on King Taksin and the ethnic Chinese, but this stirred up sentiments among the ethnic Thais against the economically dominant Chinese. However, in July 1938, Wichitwathakan condemned the ethnic Chinese and compared them with the Jews, saying that "the Chinese are worse than the Jews", and wrote a play, "Nanchao", in the following year again criticising ethnic Chinese. [cite book|title=A History of Thailand|author=Chris Baker, Pasuk Phongpaichit|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=130|isbn=0521816157]

Family origins

Wichitwathakan, whose cousin Witun Wathanaparueda (a former Thai ambassador to Brazil and South Vietnam) revealed in a 1986 interview that his paternal grandfather was an ethnic Chinese and that their family have since been culturally assimilated into Thai ways, [cite book|title=Luang Wichit Wathakan and the Creation of a Thai identity|author=Scot Barmé|publisher=Social Issues in Southeast Asia–Institute of Southeast Asian studies|year=1993|pages=40, 57|isbn=981-3016-58-2] personally denied any traces of Chinese ancestry, especially in a 1962 interview by arguing that his Chinese-styled birth name, Kim Liang, was a custom adopted by the local Thais whereby parents give their children Chinese names. [cite book|title=Luang Wichit Wathakan and the Creation of a Thai identity|author=Scot Barmé|publisher=Social Issues in Southeast Asia–Institute of Southeast Asian studies|year=1993|pages=57|isbn=981-3016-58-2]

Career

*1934-42 - Head of the Fine Arts Department
*1942-43 - Foreign Minister of Thailand
*1951-53 - Finance minister
*1958-62 - Special advisor of prime minister Sarit Dhanarajata. [cite book|title=A History of Thailand|author=Chris Baker, Pasuk Phongpaichit|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=back matter|isbn=0521816157]

References