Word: sarit
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Thailand's grief over Sarit's death was in stark contrast to the ghoulish glee it provoked in neighboring Cambodia.Neutralist Prince Norodom Sihanouk long hated Sarit, whom he labeled a Western toady, two years ago broke off diplomatic relations with Thailand in a flurry of epithets. On receiving news of the death, special concerts were scheduled to celebrate the occasion. Prince Sihanouk allowed civil servants to report for work two hours later for a fortnight so that they could "dance and amuse themselves...
...official proclamation, a government broadcast said that "thanks to divine protection, all Cambodia's enemies suffer complete destruction. Ngo Dinh Diem and Ngo Dinh Nhu were killed by bullets. Their friend Sarit, who mistreated Cambodia incessantly, met with sudden death. Moreover, the great boss of these aggressors met the same fate." When the U.S. officially protested these words, Cambodia denied any derogatory intentions toward President Kennedy, but it huffily recalled its ambassador from Washington...
...Although the Red Chinese are wooing the Buddhists everywhere, there is no real evidence so far that the Reds are using South Viet Nam's Buddhists, as the Diem government charges. On the other hand, Diem has not succeeded in using them either-unlike Thailand's Strongman Sarit Thanarat, who has shown that, when handled properly, they can be a solid, anti-Communist force...
Some Foreign Help. Sarit cracked down hard on the Communists, outlawed trade with Red China. Helped by more than $750 million in U.S. aid, he stabilized the economy, achieved a hefty trade balance, and socked away more than $500 million in foreign-exchange reserves that encouraged foreign investment and industrial expansion. The U.S.-built Friendship Highway, from Sara Buri to Korat, facilitated the movement of crops to market, and the government began an agricultural diversification program to lessen dependence on rice, Thailand's single cash crop...
...army will work to perfect its counterinsurgency techniques. More than its neighbors, Thailand has a motive to fight against a potential Communist takeover; of all the nations in Southeast Asia, Thailand alone has never been dominated by a colonial power, has been independent since the 13th century. Sarit is confident that his program will keep it so. "The situation was quite serious," he admits, "but since we started to move in the northeast, the danger has become less acute." Adds a top military aide: "Thailand is in the vaccination stage. We don't have the disease of Communism...