Plaek Phibunsongkhram - Prime Minister of Thailand

Prime Minister of Thailand

In 1938, Phibunsongkhram replaced Phraya Phahol as Prime Minister, and consolidated his position by rewarding several members of his own army clique with influential positions in his government.

Phibunsongkhram began to increase the pace of modernisation in Thailand. By manipulating the mass media, Phibulsonggram supported fascism and nationalism. Together with Luang Wichitwathakan, the Minister of Propaganda, he built a leadership cult in 1938 and thereafter. Photographs of Phibunsongkhram were to be found everywhere, and those of the abdicated King Prajadhipok were banned. His quotes appeared in newspapers, were plastered on billboards and were repeated over the radio.

"Aimed to uplift the national spirit and moral code of the nation and instilling progressive tendencies and a newness into Thai life", a series of Cultural Mandates were issued by the government. These mandates encouraged that all Thais were to salute the flag in public places, know the new national anthem, and use the Thai language, not regional dialects. People were encouraged to adopt western attire, as opposed to the traditional dress of Thai men and women. Similarly, people were encouraged to eat with a fork and spoon, rather than their traditional hands. In Phibunsongkhram's perspective, these policies were necessary for Thailand to change the minds of foreigners that Thailand was an undeveloped and barbaric country. In the interest in progressivism, Thailand needed to be recognised by foreigners as a civilized and modernized country.

In 1939, Phibunsongkhram changed the country's name from Siam to Thailand. In 1941, in the midst of World War II, he decreed January 1 as the official start of the new year instead of the traditional April 13. On 5 August 1941, Thailand joined a group of nations that recognized the puppet state of Manchukuo.

His administration also encouraged economic nationalism, in which the Thai people were to purchase as many Thai products as possible and therefore destroy the Chinese proportion in markets. Anti-Chinese policies were imposed. In a speech in 1938, Luang Wichitwathakan compared the Chinese in Siam to the Jews in Germany.

While ardently pro-Japanese at the beginning, Phibunsongkhram and his administration soon considerably, but cordially, distanced itself from Japan following the aftermath of the French-Thai War, which lasted from October 1940 to May 1941, when Japanese territorial ambitions were skilfully realized during the peace talks. The Japanese gained the right to occupy French Indo-China. Being threatened by the war, Phibunsongkhram stated that the Japanese would be the transgressors. The administration also realized that Thailand would fend for itself when the Japanese invasion came, considering the deteriorating relationships with the major Western powers in the area.