Pridi's Widow Passed Away

[ColPyat]

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/05/13...es_30034083.php

Thanpuying Phoonsuk passes away, aged 95

Thanpuying Phoonsuk Banom-yong, the wife of the man who led Siam into the era of constitutional monarchy, passed away yesterday of heart failure. She was 95.

Phoonsuk, widow of Thailand's first elder statesman and former prime minister Pridi, expired just a few hours after the commemoration of what would have been Pridi's 107th birthday. She said in her will: " I wish to have no honours conferred on me."

Phoonsuk was almost 17 when she married Pridi in 1928, when he was working as an assistant secretary at the Juridical Department. Pridi later became a prime minister, the first senior statesman of Thailand and the regent of King Rama VIII.

Phoonsuk always supported her husband, who led the 1932 peaceful revolution in Siam, and during World War II she joined the Free Thai Movement, resisting the invading Japanese side by side with Pridi and other Thais to bring peace to the Thai people and the rest of the world.

When a political storm was brewing around Pridi, Phoonsuk calmly endured injustice several times.

In Novem-ber 1947, Phoonsuk, then 35, faced a political storm herself when a group of "guests" in military uniform visited her Tha Chang residence, informing her that they wanted a change in government.

It was at that moment she realised her peaceful existence was no more.

The soldiers searched her house room by room, eventually leaving having found no trace of Pridi.

The political storm forced Pridi to live in exile while Phoonsuk stayed in Siam to take care of their six children.

In November 1952 Phoonsuk and her son Pal were charged with offences against the internal and external security of the Kingdom.

During 84 days in detention, Phoonsuk slept on the floor of a small cell shared with two other women. Her two youngest daughters were at boarding school. Her eldest daughter and younger son, a sickly lad, continued to live with their grandparents. Although deeply concerned about the welfare of her family, not once did Phoonsuk ask to be released on bail.

"I had done nothing wrong," she said.

When she was freed in February 1953 it was four years since she had last seen her husband.

She immediately made preparations and applied for papers to depart to France.

She did not know exactly where Pridi had sought refuge. She only knew that he was alive and somewhere in China.

"I told myself that I could no longer continue living in Thailand," Phoonsuk told The Nation in an exclusive interview in 2000.

Phoonsuk took two daughters, Dusadee and Wanee, with her to France. They left France to join Pridi in November that year, a few weeks after Phoonsuk received a letter from him. The Chinese government was willing to offer asylum to the entire family.

But the eldest son, Pal, was still in detention, and the eldest daughter, Lalita, had to stay in Thailand because of poor health. Pal went to China after his release in 1957.

After 21 years of peaceful life in China, the family decided to settle in France, which offered more channels of communication with relatives and friends in Thailand.

Phoonsuk went on ahead and spent three years setting up a new family home in Paris. To ensure sufficient income to cover their expense there, Phoonsuk sold the family's assets in Thailand. By that time she had few illusions about the possibility of Pridi returning to the land of his birth.

Phoonsuk was at Pridi's bedside when he drew his last breath on May 2, 1983. Siam's first elder statesman died in Paris after spending more than three decades in exile.

"All Thailand ever gave us was a place to be born. When Pridi died, the Thai government didn't even send a wreath."

Three years later Phoonsuk took Pridi's ashes to Thailand and almost immediately became embroiled in a courtroom battle with Khun Khaimuk Chootoa, who had written an article in the Thai Rath newspaper accusing Pridi of being involved in the mysterious death of King Ananda Mahidol (King Rama VIII). Phoonsuk won the case.

In 2005 Phoonsuk received a UN "Outstanding Women in Buddhism" award for her peaceful courage in the face of grave personal hardship and political crises.

In her handwritten testament, "Directions to My Children", Phoonsuk told them she wanted a simple cremation and did not want any honour bestowed on her.

Phoonsuk leaves five children, daughters Lalita, Suda, Dusadee Boontasanakul and Wanee Saipradit and son Suprida. Pal died at the age of 50.

The bathing ceremony for Phoonsuk was held yesterday morning, after which her children sent her body to King Chulalongkorn Hospital as per her request. A memorial will be held on Sunday, May 20 at the Pridi Banomyong Institute on Sukhumvit 55. For details call (02) 381 3860-1

Subhatra Bhumiprabhas

The Nation

[bendix]

An amazing woman. I work with her and Pridi's granddaughter. Never heard the story that the Thai Government didn't send a wreath when Pridi died, though. That's appalling.

[ColPyat]

An amazing woman. I work with her and Pridi's granddaughter. Never heard the story that the Thai Government didn't send a wreath when Pridi died, though. That's appalling.

Almost everything that the government has done to Pridi is appalling. False accusations of his involvement in the death of Rama VIII, and when he was old and wanted to return and die in Thailand, the government refused to allow him back.

Pride was maybe the most outstanding statesman and visionary Thailand every had, and Thailand might have been a much better place if he would not have been forced out.

[thaibebop]

Has anyone read his work? I was thinking about getting a book written in english callled Pridi on Pridi, his politcal writings I think.