Evening star., 1950-12-31
Siam: Keystone Of Southeast Asia
No Fighting Now,
But Communists Are
Constunt Threut
BY Lawrence GriswoId

Dy Lawrence SriSWolo
Siam. or Thailand as 1t again
calls itself, is the only nation
in continental Southern Asia
where there is no active lighting
against armed Communists. This
Is true as Of the present mo-
nnent. But within Siam Is q large
army-how large not even the
Siamese know--of trained Chi
nese guerrillas.
So far. these men have con-
fined themselves to drilling and
tactical organization. Since
1916. when they called them
selves the Chinese Youth Move
ment" and claimed anti-Japa-
nese activity as the reason for
their existence, they have in
tested the area around Ayudya
and Lopburi and other parts of
the upper Chao Phya and Me-
kong Rivers. In 1946, they
claimed 10000 active members.
Today that number has been
multiplied.
In Bangkok, tension is climb
ing. Belated efforts to rout out
Communist gangs from the
capital of Siam have accom-
plished little except to add to
the prestige of Gen. Pibul Song
gram, who again occupies the
premiership of his country. Col.
Pibul Songgram Gin 194O was
Premier when the Japanese de-
manded, and received, control
of the Thai government.
Geographically, Muang Thai
land of the Tai peoples To-
Gated between Indo- China and
Burma on a lateral plane, and
between China and Malaga
along the vertical. Actually,
China is cut off from Siam by
arms extending from Burma and
o-China which meet at the
Mekong River as it flows south
ward from the mountains of
Yunnan. Practically, however,
there is no barrier between. The
traffic between Siam and China
is unimpeded in these days of
revolt in Burma and warfare in
Indo-China. Ho Chi Minis
men hold the east bank of the
Mekong and the Burmese Ka-
renS, who are not Communists
but disapprove of Thakin NUS
attempt to deprive them of their
promised autonomy, hold the
west.
Friendly People
So situated, Siam is the key
stone Of Southeast Asia. If
Siam were to fall to the Red
Chinese, Indo- China, Malaga
and Burma would be untenable
to the French, the British and
Thakin NUS bemused but COM
paratively conservative govern
ment in Rangoon. Siam itself
would probably continue as it
has always done. without the
slightest disturbance ruff1ing its
Buddhist calm.
It is not true that Gilbert
and Sullivan invented Siam. but
Gilbert and Sullivan wrote about
it in the "Mikado," even though
they may have thought their
locale was japanese. The SIAM
ese people have an irrational
charm. a friendliness and a Sc
rene acceptance of things as
they are which is both battling
and irritating to one of the bar
barian West. OF all the tabled
Orient, only in Siam does the
frustrated Occidental sense that
endless stream of eternity which
his watch and calendar deny.
The government of Siam is
something else again. Perhaps
in the days of Chulalongkorn,
some vestiges Of communion
with the people may have re-
manned, but the stigma of West
ern politics lies heavily upon
the parliamentarians of today.
Where in ancient times the right
of the overload to oppress the
people was ordained by the gods
and undisputed. the inroads of
popular government have laid a
burden of intellectual toll upon
the ambitious politician who
now is forced to scheme his
proper squeeze from the ma
tional appropriations and public
works contracts.
It cannot be said that the
Siamese statesman is any more
venal than his contemporaries
in other lands; it is only that
it is easier for them since the
Thai people are, by and large,
uninterested in government; the
newspapers are generally muz-
~U