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The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand
Volume XII, 2020

After the enactment of the constitution on 10 December 1932, rumors
about preparations for a new coup started to spread. It was said that the
originators of this coup would be groups of royalists, that is, members of the

“Kana Chat” (คณะชาติิ), whose organization as a political party had been prohibited
by the government. Only the revolutionary group was allowed to found a
political party. Moreover, Prime Minister Manopakorn Nititada severely clashed
with Major Phraya Songsuradej, one of the protagonists of the 1932 revolution,
because many of the revolutionaries, having despised the King back then, disliked
the idea of having to perform an official act of apology. Now, they—led by Major
Phraya Songsuradej—wanted to curb the powers of the King even further by
proposing to the cabinet to abolish the holiday commemorating the foundation
of the Chakri dynasty (Chakri day). In its place, there were supposed to be three
continuous days of celebration of the 1932 revolution instituted as new national
holidays. This proposal resulted in severe verbal clashes between the two sides,
and since then, the factions have been permanently in conflict. 5

Another scandal had to do with the order by the government to free
almost all of the court elephants (with the exception of two white elephants)
into the woods of Uttaradit so that they would have to fend for themselves, as a
measure to save money. There was harsh criticism of the government, and all
newspapers commented so angrily on the incident and gave it so much space that
the government allowed the oldest female elephant, “Mae Pen”, to return to the
palace. The joy of all Siamese about this was greater than at the revolution or at
the enactment of the first constitution in 1932. From a European perspective,

freeing an elephant does not seem to be a significant act, but in fact, the elephant
scandal had an enormous negative effect on the government and hurt its
reputation more than other incidents. Many Siamese now opposed the government
more than ever.

In March 1933, the government asked Luang Praditmanutham to present
the parliament with an economic project. This act led to disagreements among
the members of government and also to differences in opinion between the

5 Preeda Vatcharangkul, 1977. Prapokglao and the Democracy. Bangkok: Pra Nakorn Publishing,
138-139. See also ROUX, Henri. [Bruits à propos d’un nouveau coup d’ État], 43, A, 22 février
1933, 4 p. SHAT. 7 N 3341. In: Research work, Research Project of the French-Thai-Studies, Silpakorn
University, (footnote 1), 185-222

22 A Modern Siam with Constitutional Monarchy - King Prajatibok, The Siamese
“Honourary Diplomat” in Europe 1934

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