Word: banomyong
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...orderly (one of the plotters described it as "very straightforward and very kind-hearted") but a little hard for Westerners to understand. The first point to get straight is that all Siamese politics turns around the rivalry between royalist Field Marshal Phibun (pronounced "fee bun") Songgram and republican Pridi Banomyong, who both went to school in France in the 1920s. The coup simply put Phibun's men in, tossed Pridi Banomyong...
...Pridi Banomyong's henchman, Prime Minister Thamrong-Nawasawat, was dancing a tango at a charity ball one moonlit night two weeks ago when a friend whispered warning words in his ear. The Premier took it on the lam for a lamasery. Meanwhile Phibun's military friends, using Siam's 20 or so ancient little Swedish and Japanese tanks and armored cars, took over Bangkok. Phibun, as new Supreme Commander of Siamese Forces, entered the Defense Ministry on the shoulders of cheering soldiery. Many officers prostrated themselves in homage...
...ordered officials to kiss their wives when they left for their Government offices. Violators of Phibun's decrees were whisked off to "self-improvement centers." When the Japanese took over Siam, Phibun collaborated with them and declared war on the U.S. and Britain. But Chief Political Rival Pridi Banomyong (under the code name "Ruth") helped to organize a Free Siamese underground to help the Allies. In August 1944, Phibun resigned and retired to his country house. After the war, Pridi Banomyong seesawed...
Meanwhile Rival Pridi Banomyong's man, Premier Thamrong-Nawasawat, failed to steer Siam off the postwar economic rocks. "Pridi Banomyong has soft ears," said the Siamese; self-seekers seemed able to talk him into anything. The cost of living doubled. Official corruption was almost universal...