The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXIV, Part 1-2, 1976 - Khamkoo

REVIEWS 385
Puey Ungphakorn,Best Wishes for Asia (Klett Thai Publications, Bangkok
1975), pp. 107.
For the past fifteen years, Dr. Puey U ngphakorn bas held-or has
had thrust upon him-a unique position in Tbai society. In a nation that
has been somewhat bereft of living heroes, he has become a major symbol
of Thai integrity: ao economist and educator of considerable talent and
influence who has also embodied honesty, rationality, humanism,
patriotism, and a delightful subtlety in the conduct of his public affairs.
This small volume is a testament to some of these qualities.
Urged (or perhaps harrassed) by some of bis friends to bring his
views together in a single place, Dr. Puey prepared this collection of
sixteen lectures, essays, and interviews given during the period 1967-1974.
Reflecting the complexity of the man, the tone and purpose of the papers
is highly varied. A few are religious-philosophical statements, almost
ritualistic in intent; others, mainly the public addresses, are expositions
on the interrelationships between the technical decisions of bureaucrats
and the daily lives of the Thai people; and others are statements of Dr.
Puey•s views on contemporary Thai and Southeast Asian political issues.
The most striking attribute of the essays is the attitude of pragmatic
humanism that they convey. Dr. Puey is a man preoccupied with enhancing
the quality of life of the Thai people, and these pages are studded
with numerous specific suggestions for accomplishing this end. In a 1974
interview, he recommends a program for subsidizing the nation's poor, a
policy that was later taken taken over by the 1975 Kukrit government.
Equally imaginative-but, unfortunately, ignored-was his recommendation
in December 1973 that "in a spirit of national reconciliation" (following
the events of October 1973) the government should declare a truce in its
military operations against various insurgent groups and attempt to
bring insurgent leaders to the conference table where differences might
be ironed out.
The book contains two selections that are required reading for any
person who claims an interest in Thailand. One is his 1972 letter from
"Khem Yenying', (his World War II nom de guerre) to "My Beloved