ลยัน มาร์ฉัล - Yan Marchal
2d·
(โพสต์ภาษาอังกฤษ เรื่องปรีดีพนมยงค์ครับ)
Today I accompanied Thai exiled dissidents to the French national center of diplomatic archives. They had the info that old documents about Pridi Banomyong would just become declassified.
Pridi Banomyong was a revolutionary and a key figure in putting an end to the absolute monarchy in 1932, in favor of a constitutional monarchy. He briefly ruled the country but was soon overthrown by a military coup and had to go into exile, first in Malaysia, then in China, and then in France where he lived until his death.
There were supposed to be two series of documents, but the one that had just been declassified will only be available on Friday. The documents we viewed today brought not much new, and probably fell short of the public expectation that had been building up in the activist scene.
I was tasked with reading them in French and translating them into Thai on the fly while being on live video, and this is way above my abilities. I often couldn't find words in Thai. Many viewers complained, like why don't you get a proper translator? Well, if a proper translator is willing to volunteer, I would happily give them my seat!
Also, it was not to the taste of the staff there that we came in a group of five people oozing excitement while handling historic documents. At some point they cut our session short because they feared documents would get damaged.
So I did not get to read everything, but I think I got the gist of it anyway.
Most documents are communications between French embassies in Asia and the French ministry of interior about the matter, and they take place while Pridi is in China and is willing to obtain the right to become a refugee in France. He had two daughters in China with him and one son studying in France.
Most of his income came from rental properties he still onwned in Bangkok, and he was said to be financially strained and willing to have his whole family in one place in order to lower his expenses.
In China he was not free to communicate in confidence with French officials as all conversations were monitored. French officials were even told by his daughters to use Chinese diplomatic communication channels.
Pridi was characterized by French officials as a liberal leftist, an idealist with limited practical skills, but not a communist. He was reluctant to being used by China as a proxy to try and spread pro-Chinese communist ideals in Thai public opinion. He was assumned to still have influence over left-wing sympathizers in the Thai public.
While China was communist, the USA were willing to promote the Thai monarchy, which they saw as a bulwark against communism. The Thai power in place was royalist and pro-America, and they wanted to cast Pridi as an extremist communist in a bid to discredit him. They spread rumors that Pridi had a role in the unexplained death of 10-years-old king Ananda - which French officials refer to as "probably a suicide".
There was much tergiversation among French diplomats about which stance and action to take regarding Pridi's desire to come to live in France. They appeared to agree over the fact that a polarized Thailand with a mere choice between hardcore pro-USA royalists and radical pro-China communists was not the best thing, and a middle-ground option would be preferable, especially if freed from the influence of superpowers. They hoped Pridi could play a moral leader's role in that sense, if that was his mindset (which they would have to assess).
French diplomats spoke like they had Thailand's best interests at heart, but of course France still had amitions in Southeast Asia at the time and was viewing China and the USA as competitors, so there's that too.
French diplomats feared that granting asylum to Pridi right away would trigger an angry reaction from Bangkok, and harm the diplomatic relationship between both countries.
It transpires that this relationship was already strained to some extent. In pro-establishment Thai media, France was often presented as conspiring with China in order to impose communism in the region. At some point, when Thai authorities suspected Pridi was in France, they did not officially ask confirmation from French diplomats. They asked British diplomats to inquire with France.
So, to work around the edges, French diplomats suggested that Pridi should apply for Asylum in Switzerland first, and then later on, when the pressure was down, quietly be given the right to travel to France, and eventually make France his home.
This was deemed unworkable by Pridi's relatives though, as Switzerland would not give him special treatment. He had no valid passport, and no credible reason to want to live in Switzerland.
That's it so far. Sorry for the long post!
สำหรับวันที่ 5 ดูที่
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=703310185226612&t=0
