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80 Years Ago in Southeast Asia

During the 1920s, Thai nationalism began to grow and the special privileges enjoyed by Europeans in Siam were cut back. The Thai government, however, did not follow the Japanese model of reform. Instead of an authoritarian and increasingly militaristic government--that is a dictatorship by the military--Siam attempted to follow a more democratic path. By the mid-1930s, the Japanese government was securely in the control of the generals. In Siam, the competition between the civilian and military authorities remained unresolved. When the Depression forced cuts to the army and civil service, the monarchy lost the support two key allies. On June 24, 1932, a bloodless coup led to the radical government of professor Pridi Phanomyong. The royalists staged a counter-coup, but then the army staged a coup of its own, effectively taking control of the government in 1938 under Marshal Phibun Songkram (he had been a colonel in 1932 and an influential leader after the revolution). The monarch survived all of this upheaval, serving in a largely ceremonial role.

As a sign of a new and more militant Thai nationalism, the name of the kingdom was officially changed to Thailand from Siam in 1939. Deepening hostility was felt towards the more economically advanced Chinese minority, and the Thai government began to take a harder stand against Britain and France. Although by nature a pacifist religion, Buddhism, the state religion, developed a militant form. Under the army dominated governments, military spending was increased. Purchases of ships and weapons from Italy and Japan began to replace Britain as the principal supplier, although the Thai army was equipped with British tanks. These military purchases showed the split in Thai policy, pulled towards Japan by its rapid growth in power and prestige, but still wishing to maintain ties with Britain and the United States.

1918 saw the first meeting of the People's Council of the Dutch Indies parliament (the modern state of Indonesia). It was made up out of elected members, with 30 Indonesians, 25 Dutch and five from other Asian nationalities. However, the council was only an advisory body and real power still lay in the hands of the Dutch-appointed governor. The majority of the native population of the Dutch colony was still without an effective political voice, but in 1927, Indonesian nationalists set up the PNI or the Nationalist Party of Indonesia, led by Achmed Sukarno. They were opposed to Dutch rule.

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