Puey Ungpakorn - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Puey Ungpakorn, MBE

MBE

MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...

(Thai

Thai language

Thai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...

: ป๋วย อึ๊งภากรณ์, Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

: 黃培謙, March 9, 1916 - July 28, 1999) was an extremely successful bureaucrat who played a central role in the shaping of Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

's economic development and in the strengthening of its system of higher education. Puey was the Governor of the (Central) Bank of Thailand

Bank of Thailand

- History :The Bank of Thailand was first set up as the Thai National Banking Bureau. The Bank of Thailand Act was promulgated on 28 April 1942 vesting upon the Bank of Thailand the responsibility for all central banking functions...

for 12 years, a Dean

Dean (education)

In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...

of the Faculty of Economics

Economics

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

, and also a rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

of Thammasat University

Thammasat University

Thammasat University , or in brief TU , is Thailand's second oldest university. Officially established on 27 June 1934, the university was originally named by founder Pridi Banomyong, University of Moral Science and Politics , reflecting the political fervor of the time...

in Bangkok

Bangkok

Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...

. Puey was a member of the Free Thai Movement

Free Thai Movement

The Free Thai Movement was a Thai underground resistance movement against Imperial Japan during World War II. Seri Thai were an important source of military intelligence for the Allies in the region, and were notable for being the only World War II resistance movement to use fighter aircraft of its...

during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. He was a Magsaysay Award winner in the field of public service in 1965.

Puey is the author of The Quality of Life of a South-East Asian: A Chronicle of Hope from Womb to Tomb or later known as From Womb to Tomb, which is still one of the most influential writings about social security

Social security

Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...

in Thailand.

Early years

Puey was born the fourth child of an immigrant Chinese fishmonger and a second generation Thai-Chinese

Thai Chinese

The Thai Chinese are an overseas Chinese community who live in Thailand. Thailand is home to the largest, oldest, most prominent, and most integrated overseas Chinese community in the world with a population of approximately 9.5 million people...

mother, with ancestry from Raoping

Raoping

Raoping County is a county in eastern Guangdong Province, to the west of Fujian Province, near the South China Sea. The city with the same name has 135,600 inhabitants .It is under the jurisdiction of Chaozhou....

. In 1934 he was among the first group of students to enrol at the newly opened Thammasat University

Thammasat University

, which he graduated from in 1937. After having briefly worked as a translator Puey earned a government scholarship to study economics at the London School of Economics

London School of Economics

The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

in 1938.

Following the outbreak of the Pacific War

Pacific War

The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...

in Decmebr 1941, Puey joined the Free Thai Movement

Free Thai Movement

in Britain, and having undergone vigorous training with the Special Operations Executive

Special Operations Executive

The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...

, parachuted into northern Thailand in late 1944. He was captured almost immediately, and remained technically a prisoner of war until the Japanese surrender in September 1945, though he in fact made contact with Free Thai members of the Thai police and was able to work with them from his jail cell.

After the war, Puey was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

in the British forces and was awarded an MBE

MBE

MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...

. He resumed his studies, and in 1949 received one of Thailand's first Ph.D.'s in Economics from the London School of Economics

London School of Economics

BOT governor

When he became Governor of the Bank of Thailand, Puey quickly attracted the attention of international agencies, foreign governments, and the international financial community for the integrity of his financial planning and management. His international stature was recognised ceremoniously in 1964 when he became the first Thai to receive the Magsaysay Award for public service. Equally important, this international recognition gave him an influence with Field Marshals Sarit Thanarat, Thanom Kittikachorn

Thanom Kittikachorn

Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn was a military dictator of Thailand. A staunch anti-Communist, Thanom oversaw a decade of military rule in Thailand from 1963 to 1973, until public protests which exploded into violence forced him to step down...

, and their cohorts which far exceeded his bureaucratic position. They sought his aid and advice as a troubleshooter for Thailand's monetary interests, particularly in matters they had botched or in which they were suspected to have their own private interests, such as remedying Sarit's mishandling of Thailand's participation in an International Tin Council and preventing a kickback scandal over the foreign printing of Thailand's currency.

Academic career

In 1966 Puey became the dean of the Faculty of Economics at his alma mater, Thammasat University, where his work with the Rockefeller Foundation

Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...

and with foreign scholars dramatically upgraded the training of Thailand's future technocrats. He also instituted a long-term research project on raising the productivity and economic level of Thai villagers. It was during this period that he was invited to serve as a visiting professor at both Cambridge and Princeton universities and was appointed to the governing boards of such organisations as the International Council for Educational Development, the East-West Centre, the Asian Institute of Management, and the International Food Policy Research Institute

International Food Policy Research Institute

The International Food Policy Research Institute is an international agricultural research center founded in the early 1970s to improve the understanding of national agricultural and food policies to promote the adoption of innovations in agricultural technology...

.

After the ousting of Thanom's regime in October 1973, Puey was catapulted into political prominence and, along with M.R. Kukrit Pramoj

Kukrit Pramoj

Mom Rajawongse Kukrit Pramoj was a Thai politician and scholar. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives of Thailand 1973-1974 and was the thirteenth Prime Minister of Thailand, serving in office from 1975-1976.- Early years:Of royal descent, M.R...

, was broadly promoted as one of the two major candidates for the post of prime minister in the elected government that would follow the palace-picked interim administration of Sanya Thammasak. However, after a great deal of self-examination, Puey disavowed all interest in such a candidacy and returned to Thammasat, where he was appointed rector. Puey's explanation was that when he had joined the Free Thai Movement he had taken an oath never to seek or accept political appointment until after reaching the age of retirement. Some have argued, however, that Puey's withdrawal was based upon his mature understanding of the nature of society and that he had accurately foreseen that the upcoming democratic period would be inherently unstable, dangerous and short-lived.

Exile

Despite his service, honesty and international reputation, Puey was branded a communist and "destroyer of unity" by the political right of Thailand. Although he spoke out against the unending student demonstrations of 1975-76 as being both ineffective and self-destructive, and even denied his students any use of the Thammasat campus as a base for mounting public demonstrations, he was nevertheless assigned blame for their occurrence.

On the evening of the bloody 6 October 1976 Massacre

6 October 1976 Massacre

The Thammasat University Massacre, or Massacre of 6 October 1976 , was an attack on students and protesters that occurred on the campus of Thammasat University and at Sanam Luang in Bangkok. Students from various universities were demonstrating against the return to Thailand of Field Marshal...

, Puey resigned from his position as rector of Thammasat in protest against the bloodbath that had occurred that day on the university campus. Realising he was a marked man, Puey went to Don Muang airport where he was met by a lynch mob. Only with the help of the Royal Thai Air Force police, who had been instructed by King Bhumibol's privy council office to help him leave, did he evade death and get on a plane bound for London.

While living abroad, Puey met with Thais and influential figures in several countries, including those in the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Japan, and Australia to give facts on the incident and to call for a peaceful transition to democracy in Thailand. In 1977, Puey gave testimonials before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs investigating human rights in Thailand following the incident of 6 October 1976 Massacre

6 October 1976 Massacre

.

In September 1977, Puey suffered a haemorrhagic stroke and had to stay in the hospital for three months. The illness left Puey with speech difficulties in which he could mumble only minimally. Puey lived a simple life in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

to the end of his life. He could walk by himself. While he spoke only little, he could get his will communicated to the surrounding people. As a result of the stroke, he was not able to control his right hand.

Legacy

Puey's status as a hero derives from several obvious, but special, features of his career and character. His most significant, if paradoxical, attribute was his willingness to work for the Thai bureaucratic establishment and yet maintain his moral independence, intellectual creativity, and sense of social responsibility. His capacity to strike a compromise between what was objectively possible and morally desirable was an extraordinary accomplishment. It had a particular impact on younger people, almost all of whose models have traditionally been either successful rogues who manipulate their social environment for their own advantage or martyrs who succumb to it.

Even more commendable was his deep sense of incorruptibility. Over the years, he held a variety of jobs and served on a number of commissions that, in terms of standard Thai corrupt practices, could have made him a very wealthy man. Further, Puey's incorruptibility was more than merely passive. As an economist he was keenly aware that official corruption was depriving the Thai treasury of inordinately large sums, and in public addresses and statements he would often include selections of thinly veiled, but cutting, poetic attacks against the specific acts of the very highest government officials.

Puey's career is also powerful evidence of how education - contrasted to wealth, political power and connections - could be used to climb the Thai status system.

External links

Biography at the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation
The Quality of Life of a South-East Asian : A Chronicle of Hope from Womb to Tomb by Puey Ungphakorn, 1980
Goodbye to Thailand, Sir Anthony Rumbold to Mr. Brown, 18 July, 1967 : In Paragraph 9, a departing UK ambassador's advice to his successor in re Dr. Puey

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.