Revolution in Siam

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21308, 30 October 1934, Page 10

Revolution in Siam

The bloodless revolution in Siam reported in the cable news is a matter of small moment to Europe; but in the East it will be deeply significant. Politically and culturally, as well as geographically, Siam lies between India and China. The factors in her political problem are a traditional ruling caste, a group of teachers, officials and students educated in Western schools and universities, and a peasantry still bound by traditional allegiances but vaguely stirred by promises of social reform. The situation is similar in China and over a large pari of India. In Siam, as elsewhere in the East, the future is in the hands of the educated few, who are the spearhead of the Western cultural and economic invasion. But so far the influence of t'.v.i minority has been largely destructive. TI:-.., '.:.v/c. without much difficulty weakened the influence of Buddhism and the monarchy and aroused a sense of discontent in the masses. What they have not done is to discover social and political alternatives to the old order they are destroying. Educated for the most part in England | and France, they began with thu idea of transplanting to Siam the orthodox ciru:' re of parliamentary government. In this they had for a while the st'ppor' "f the present king; and it was generally expected that on April 1, 1932, the date on which the d- —n:iy celebrated the 150 th anniversary of the founder, a l:';:ral constitution would be proclaimed by royal decree. At ths last minute, however, Kin.™ iJrajadhipok, swayed by his European advisers, decided that the time was not ripe for an experiment in representative government. Unqucs j tionably he was right; but the educated minority felt it had been be- j trayed. On June 24, 1932, a group of army officers and civil servants I took advantage of the king's absence from the capital to install a revolutionary government. The new constitution, formally adopted at tlie end of last year, was very different from the liberal democratic projects hitherto fashionable among the intelligentsia. By this time it was realised that without a politically conscious electorate, represen ■ tative institutions on the European model would be an impossibility. Universal adult suffrage was conceded, but only for the election of village councils. The People's Senate, the supreme legislative power, is chosen by three stages ojj indirect elections; and the selection of candidates is carefully controlled by the People's party, an organisation reminiscent of the Kuomintang in China. Indeed, the new constitution is a blend of the Russian soviet system and the constitution now in force in northern China. Thus, the democratic movement in Siam has ended in the establishment of a system that is the negation of democracy, a system that is little more than the dictatorship of a Westernised minority greedy for power. The movement started by Sun Yat-sen has undergone a similar degeneration; and it may reasonably be asked whether democracy in India has any better prospects.