Articles
King Bhumibol - Learning for Life
(2010)
- Paul Wedel
This essay describes King Bhumibol’s lifelong interest in education. Written less than six years before the king’s death, it explains how he developed thoughts on education that differed from standard practice in Thailand and why his philosophy was often ignored by Thai leaders. King Bhumibol insisted that education had to be put to practical use and he disdained the pursuit of paper qualifications rather than knowledge. “This is your time to gain knowledge, not a time to get grades for their own sake,” he told students He called on Thais to seek knowledge throughout their lives. “Education is for everyone and endless,” he said. The article shows the impact of Buddhism on the king’s thinking and describes his meditation practice.
With interviews from many of the people closest to the king and his educational projects, the article describes the royal institutions that support education ranging from a Thai encyclopedia to distance learning to a school for lepers. It also discusses the king’s own teaching and writing.
The article is based on research and interviews I undertook for the 2011 book King Bhumibol Adulyadej, A Life’s Work published by Editions Didier Millet that provides a detailed, multi-faceted account of the king’s life and work. Yuangrat translated many of the king’s speeches as part of this research.
Cambodia: Marxism or Sadism?
(1979)
- Yuangrat Wedel
This article was originally published in Rattasatsarn, The Journal of Political Science, in 1979. It describes the brutal administration of Cambodia by the Communist Party of Kampuchea, widely known as the Khmer Rouge. Based on interviews with survivors of the campaign along with embassy studies and published reports, the article looks at the extent to which the Khmer Rouge regime was guided by the theories and ideas of Marx and Marxist thinkers.
The Thai language article, translated by the author, identifies the doctoral thesis of Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan as the key to actions taken by the Khmer Rouge in emptying the cities and forcing the whole population into agricultural work camps. It concludes that this thesis violated Marxist principles in ignoring the ultimate humanitarian goals of Marx. This flaw was greatly magnified in the implementation of the Khmer Rouge economic plan. That implementation was made more deadly by the atmosphere of fear and uncertainty that pervaded Cambodia after the defeat of the Lon Nol government. Administration by Khmer Rouge soldiers and officials brutalized by a vicious war made the impact of the policies even worse.
A Quick Historical View of Thailand’s Current Political Conflict
(2014)
- Dr. Yuangrat Wedel and Paul Wedel
This opinion piece was published in the Bangkok Post during the political unrest of 2014 when massive street demonstrations organized by the conservative People's Democratic Reform Committee sought the ouster of the elected government led by the Pheua Thai party. The demonstrations were marked by road closures, hate-filled rhetoric and occasional violence. Some said the situation was close to anarchy and that a return to strong, authoritarian rule was needed. We sought to point out that such political conflict was nothing new in Thailand. We noted that past conflicts, ranging from the ouster of the traditional monarchy in 1932 to the violent Communist insurgency of the 1970s to the October violence of 1973 and 1976 was far worse. After each bout of political violence, the Thai people have managed to return to calm and normal life.
Occupying a unique place in the development of Thai radical thought is the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT). Owing to its underground nature and its foreign connections, it has operated somewhat apart from the internal development of radical philosophy in Thailand. Its own philosophy has hardly developed at all since its formal founding in 1942. What changes in thought it has gone through are almost entirely the result of changes in China. The influx of radical activists after the bloody crackdown by military and police in 1976, however, exposed the party to a new strain of thinking far broader that the Maoism ingrained in the party leaders by the Chinese patrons.
Because of its strict adherence to the doctrine of democratic centralism, it was difficult to get a clear picture of the debate within the party. Only the final result of that debate is supposed to be made public. The sharp rise in defections from the party in the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, have provided a window into those debates and the processes by which the party reacted to the challenges posed by radical thinkers who questioned the devout Maoism of the leadership.
A free download of The Communist Party of Thailand and Thai Radical Thought is not yet available, but one is being prepared.
The Communist Party of Thailand and Thai Radical Thought
- Yuangrat Wedel
This article, written in 1979, was based on a talk I gave to the American Chamber of Commerce. I was filling in for the UPI Bureau Chief Alan Dawson, the real expert on Indochina who had to go to Hanoi on short notice. This talk was my first public speaking appearance as a journalist. In the talk I described the powerful Vietnamese influence in Laos, the prospects for a Vietnamese withdrawal from Cambodia and the economic and social problems plaguing Vietnam, caused, in part, by the economic and human cost of Vietnamese military efforts in Cambodia and Laos as well as the incarceration of more than 50,000 people in re-education camps. I also noted Vietnam’s dependence on military and economic aid from the Soviet Union and Vietnamese interest in getting diplomatic recognition from the United States.
Indochina: The Immediate Future (1979)
- Paul Wedel
This article analyzes the newly elected government of Chuan Leekpai in 1992 from a business and economic perspective. In it I outlined the challenges of infrastructure, education, pollution, trade and corruption facing the government. I noted the advances made under the preceding Anand government but said a major challenge was the delicate task of controlling the political and financial ambitions of the military, which had not disappeared despite the public rejection of a military leader in 1991. I wrote this article in my role as a director of the PacRim Consulting Group, the job I took after leaving UPI.
Thailand’s New Government (1992)
- Paul Wedel
Biographical Dictionary of Marxism: Thai articles (1986)
- Yuangrat Wedel
In 1986, Yuangrat was asked to contribute to the Biographical Dictionary of Marxism, edited by Robert A. Gorman. She provided short biographies of Pridi Panomyong, Gularb Saipradit, Asani Ponlajan and Jit Pumisak with a bibliography for each.
This article, written in 1983 with support from the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, explores the conflicts between the Communist Party of Thailand and the Thai radicals who fled to the jungle to escape right-wing violence. It is based on interviews with 22 of the leading radicals who defected from the party. It focuses on the ideological differences between the party and the radicals. The article shows that the common desire to overthrow the existing Thai government and make radical social, political and economic change was insufficient to overcome those differences. The ideological problems initially arose from the party’s fervent Maoism. With the failure of Maoism in China, however, the basic conflict was between the party’s loyalty to China and the Thai nationalism of the radicals.