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“TRIBUTE TO M.R. SENI PRAMOJ” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S1979-S1980 on Feb. 2, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO M.R. SENI PRAMOJ
Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I rise to offer congratulations and best wishes to M.R. Seni Pramoj, one of America's great friends, and one of Asia's most accomplished democratic leaders, as his 90th birthday approaches.
And as we prepare to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, I would like to remind the Senate of Seni's great service as Thai Ambassador to the United States when the war began.
Seni Pramoj began his career in the 1930's, as one of Thailand's first legal scholars. During that decade, he helped to draft many of Thailand's modern laws, including the law abolishing the unequal treaties Thailand was forced to sign during the colonial era. He lectured to a generation of students at Thammasat School of Law, and before the end of the decade was made a judge on Thailand's Supreme Court.
These accomplishments gained him national recognition far beyond the legal field. And in 1940, at the young age of 35, Seni found himself appointed Ambassador to the United States.
[[Page S1980]] A year and a half later, on the day of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Army entered Thailand. A powerful faction within the Thai Government, favoring collaboration, ordered the Thai military not to resist. And later in December, now in full control, they signed a military alliance with Japan.
Their next step was to order Seni by cable to deliver a formal Declaration of War to the U.S. Government. As a patriot and a man of conscience, Seni did not hesitate to do his duty as he saw it. As he recounts the story, he went to the State Department the day after receiving this cable, and told then-Secretary of State Cordell Hull:
Sir, I regret to say that I have been instructed by my government to declare war on the United States. But I refuse to do it because there is no reason, and I have already cut myself loose from Bangkok. I cannot bring myself to declare war on the United States.
Seni placed the Declaration of War in a safe at the Embassy on Kalorama Road, where it remained for the rest of the war. He refused further to leave the Embassy when the ruling faction in Bangkok ordered him to do so. And instead, he devoted himself to the Allied cause, writing every Thai student in the United States to announce his decision to form a resistance force called the Seri Thai or Free Thai movement.
Virtually all of the 110 Thai students in the United States at the time joined the Seri Thai. Seventy of them trained under the OSS as guerrilla fighters. Others served as technical experts. Some carried out broadcasts in the Thai language. Still others helped American military authorities to identify sites of great cultural and historical value to Thailand, in order to preserve them from Allied bombing raids toward the end of the war.
The Seri Thai movement was equally successful inside Thailand. Inspired by Seni's wartime broadcasts, and trained by his student recruits, it ultimately armed about 50,000 Thai partisans. And following the Japanese surrender, Seri Thai formed the first postwar government, with Seni himself as Prime Minister.
Seni's career since then has been just as distinguished. He was a founder of the Prachatipat or Democrat Party--now Thailand's oldest political party, and ably led by Prime Minister Chuan. He has been, as well, a highly successful lawyer and musician; and Prime Minister once again in the 1970's.
Altogether, it is no exaggeration to say that for the past 60 years, Seni has been at the center of Thai law and politics. And his sincere commitment to democracy, moderation, and the rule of law has helped Thailand become the prosperous democracy so many people around the world admire today.
In a letter to President Franklin Pierce, written in 1856 and reprinted in the book ``A King of Siam Speaks,'' which Seni and his brother Kukrit Pramoj edited some years ago, King Rama IV expressed the hope that the United States and Thailand would forever regard one another with ``friendship and affection,'' and support one another in times of difficulty. And nearly 150 years later, few have done more to make the King's hope a reality than Seni Pramoj.
All American friends of Thailand join in wishing M.R. Seni Pramoj best wishes as his 90th birthday approaches. And we thank him for a service to both our countries which we will not forget.
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