What Makes 'A Good True Thai'?

Had my eye on Sunisa Manning’s ‘A Good True Thai’ (October, 2020), and read it once the book was published. I enjoyed it. I'm always curious about Thai history and politics. It's very painful to plough through fiction written in Thai. I can, but it takes ages, so I’d rather read news articles and journals in Thai, which would be shorter. Heh.

Set in Thailand in the 1970s, the plot references the 1976 Thammasat Massacre, against the backdrop of political change of Prime Ministers. 44 years ago on October 6 at the University’s Tha Prachan campus, more than 100 students were killed by the military and right-wing security forces. The incumbent government doesn’t give air-time to the events of 1976, and the general Thai public keeps silent about it. Till today, Thailand is a country where democracy is a dirty word, and lèse majesté laws reign supreme.

The author doesn't embellish the narrative with too many useless details. She worked in each character, and thought about their revolutionary paths. She worked in Thai history with their life choices. The author had a page of notes at the end detailing the parts where fiction doesn't square with historical events, and the artistic leeway taken in the narrative. 

You could make a comparison of the 1976 event with what's happening in Hong Kong, and what's happening in Bangkok now. Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in September to demand for reforms to the monarchy and the Constitution. The protest movement had begun on academic campuses and campaigned against Prayut Chan-o-cha's government. This month, the student-led protests also wanted to oust the Prime Minister, and comment on the state of the King's government. Thailand declared a state of emergency on October 15 for a week in order to quash the protests.

Plus it's quite eyebrow-raising to have the current King live in Germany for most of his time, and govern from his residence in the Bavarian Alps. This is a flashpoint. Most Thais don't talk about politics publicly, and most certainly not with random friends and acquaintances. During the week of October 11, Germany took the unusual step of warning the Government of Thailand that their King shouldn't be conducting state business from German soil, 

Ms Adebahr, the foreign ministry spokeswoman, said the Thai authorities had assured Berlin that “it is the Prime Minister who conducts government business, and the King of Thailand, as the head of a constitutional monarchy, which Thailand is, lives in Germany in a private capacity”. But “if there were any evidence that the king was indeed conducting government business from here, and that would require a reaction from us, then we would have to assess the situation when that occurs”, she added. 

The book opens with the death of Akarand’s (his nickname is Det) mother Kongkwan, a noble who is the granddaughter of the king who married a commoner. However, his father Udom is illustrious and worked his way up to become the Minister of Education. If Des marries the right wife from a noble family, he gets to keep all the privileges bestowed upon him by his mother's station in life. If he marries a commoner, the royal family doesn't consider the father's achievements as notable, and he loses every privilege, except his education and current assets. 

Det and Chang are childhood friends. Det, Chang and Lek are a trio of good friends at University in the 1970s. Their backgrounds can’t be more diverse, and Lek is of course the romantic love interest of the boys. Lek is the daughter of Chinese immigrants who can't speak Thai fluently. She's a student activist, a dissident labelled by the Ministry of Justice. Chang is a radical, and an eventual Communist. Det shows promise as heir to his mother’s royal bloodline, but if he marries a commoner, he loses all privileges, all connections and all social standing. He joins his friends. He’s a royalist because he believes Communism can co-exist with the monarchy. He becomes part of history. Chang makes a reference to the title in the story. Towards the end, he wondered if things could have been different if he had been "more flexible—in fact, more Thai— would those students have lived? What, if they lived, would they have gone on to do?"

The story pans out... painfully, as history is. Det, Chang and Lek’s stories aren’t theirs alone. Thousands of students share their passions, beliefs and their fate. The students stood on many opposing ideological fronts, each believing their own and skeptical of positive changes, especially any talk of pardon by the incumbent government. 

Chang thinks that he might go back and get a degree in agriculture at one of the northern universities. Forsake political science and a career in journalism. In another life, Lek would teach at university, deliver papers, rile the ruling class, but they talk about making the scale of their revolution smaller. They talk about changing how people believe in the system.

They could try farming. Here. Lek could teach at the local school. Lek says she'll do this if they can bring Det's father to live with them. Then he'll be with the baby, who can still live with Dao.

At this rate they can't build a house, Chang says, they'll have to build a compound. 

As long as she can get books shipped out here, and their intellectual friends can come stay whenever they want.

"We'll be flooded if people come whenever they get sick of Prasert," Chang answers.

They laugh, then are silent. There are those friends who won't come, who can't.

Lek says that by writing the book she gets to live with Wit and Det. Over time, recounting their exploits, her men are speaking, moving, shouting. Maybe if she never stops writing they will live in her mind.