Thailand History - The Reign and Reforms of King Chulalongkorn (1868-1910)

King Chulalongkorn faced the Western world with a positive, eager attitude: eager to learn about Western ideas and inventions, positively working towards Western-style "progress" while at the same time resisting Western rule. He was the first Thai king to travel abroad; he went to the Dutch and British colonial territories in Java, Malaya, Burma, and India, and also made two extended trips to Europe towards the end of his reign. He did not just travel as an observer or tourist but worked hard during his trips to further Thai interests. For instance, during one of his European sojourns he obtained support from Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and the German Kaiser Wilhelm II to put Siam in a stronger international position, no longer dominated by Britain and France.

The King also traveled within his own country. He was passionately interested in his subjects' welfare and was intent on the monarchy assuming a more visible role in society. He wanted to see at first-hand how his subjects lived and went outside his palace often, sometimes incognito. His progressive outlook led him, in what was his first official act, to forbid prostration in the royal presence. He considered that such prostration was humiliating to the subject and apt to engender arrogance in the ruler. Influenced by Buddhist morality and Western examples, he gradually abolished both the corvee system and the institution of slavery, a momentous and positive change for Thai society.

During this reign, Siam's communications system was revolutionized. Post and telegraph services were introduced and a railway network was built. Such advances enabled the central government to improve its control over outlying provinces. One of the central issues inaugurated in 1892 of King Chulalongkorn's reign was the imposition of central authority over the more distant parts of the kingdom. The King initiated extensive reforms of the administration, both in the provinces and in Bangkok. Western-style ministries were set up, replacing older, traditional administrative bodies. The old units, which were remodeled according to the Western pattern, were those of the Interior, of War, of Foreign Affairs, of Finance, of Agriculture, of the Palace, and of Local Administration. Completely new ministries were also created, such as the ministries of Justice, of Public Instruction, and of Public Works. This new ministerial system of government was

King Chulalongkorn's contribution to education was also to prove of great significance to modern Thailand. During this reign "public instruction" or education became more secular than ever before in Thai history. Secular schools were established in the 1880's aimed at producing the educated men necessary for the smooth functioning of a centralized administration. One of the pressing issues of the reign was the necessity to prove to the Western colonial powers that Siam had become a "modern" and "progressive" country: the problem, however, was that the King and his advisers had very little time in which to do so.

The King was eager to send Thais abroad for their education partly because the country needed skills and knowledge from the West and partly because Thai students abroad could come into direct contact with Europe's elite. Conversely, the King also hired several westerners to act as advisers to the Thai government in various fields, among them the Belgian Rolin-Jacquemyns (a "General Adviser" whose special knowledge was in jurisprudence) and the British Financial Advisers H. Rivett-Carnac and W.J.F. Williamson. Such policies were deemed to be essential for Siam's survival as a sovereign state and its progress to modernity.

Thai foreign policy during King Chulalongkorn's long reign was a series of precarious balancing acts, playing off one Western power against another, and trying to maintain both sovereignty and territorial integrity. Siam's heartland had to be preserved at all costs, even to the extent of conceding to Britain and France some peripheral territories whenever the pressure became too intense.

Even Siam's subtle and supple foreign policy was not always enough to offset the appetite for territory. In 1893, Siam ceded all territories on the east ("left") bank of the Mekong River to France, then building up its Indochinese Empire. In 1904, the Thais had to cede all territories on the west bank of the Mekong to France.

The Thai government wanted to put an end to the clauses concerning extra-territoriality, land tax, and trade duties in the treaties concluded with Western countries during King Mongkut's reign. In return for the mitigation of treaty disabilities, the Thais had to cede several territories. For example, in 1907 the Khmer provinces of Siem Reap, Battambang, and Sisophon were ceded to France in return for French withdrawal from the eastern Thai province of Chanthaburi and the abandonment of French extraterritorial claims over their "protected persons" (mostly Asian and therefore not properly French at all). In 1909, Siam gave up its claims to the Malay states of Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, and Trengganu, all of which became British protectorates. This cession of territory was again agreed to by Siam in return for a lessening of certain treaty disabilities. It was fortunate indeed for the Thai kingdom that Britain and France had agreed in 1896 to keep Siam as a "buffer zone" between British and French territorial possessions in Southeast Asia.

King Chulalongkorn kept Siam an independent sovereign state in spite of all these crises, and all the while he strove to uphold Thai cultural, artistic, and religious values. The Thammayut order of monks founded by King Mongkut thrived during this reign, extending its influence from Bangkok to the provinces.

When King Chulalongkorn died in 1910 a new Siam had come into being. The Thai kingdom was now a more centralized, bureaucratic state partly modeled on Western example. It was also a society without slaves, with a ruling class that was partly westernized in outlook and much more aware of what was going on in Europe and America. Technologically, too, there had been many advances: there were now railroads and trams, postage stamps and telegraphs.

With so many achievements to his credit, and a charisma that was enhanced by his longevity, it was no wonder that the Thai people grieved long and genuinely for King Chulalongkorn when he died. October 23, the date of his death, is still a national holiday, in honour of one of Siam's greatest and most beloved kings.