Puey Ungphakorn

Puey was born the fourth child of an immigrant Chinese fishmonger and a second generation Thai Chinese mother, with ancestry from Raoping.[3] In 1934 he was among the first group of students to enrol at the newly opened Thammasat University, from which he graduated in 1937. After having briefly worked as a translator, Puey earned a government scholarship to study economics at the London School of Economics in 1938.

In 1966 Puey became the dean of the Faculty of Economics at his alma mater, Thammasat University, where his work with the Rockefeller Foundation and with foreign scholars dramatically upgraded the training of Thailand's future technocrats. He also instituted a long-term research project on raising the productivity and economic level of Thai villagers. It was during this period that he was invited to serve as a visiting professor at both Cambridge and Princeton universities and was appointed to the governing boards of such organisations as the International Council for Educational Development, the East-West Center (EWC), the Asian Institute of Management, and the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Puey played an instrumental role in the establishment of the Bangkok-based Asian Institute of Technology (AIT),[5] previously the Graduate School of Engineering of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO)[6] in 1967. Dr Puey became the first chairperson of the AIT Board of Trustees from 1968 to 1973.

After the ousting of Thanom's regime in October 1973, Puey was catapulted into political prominence and, along with M.R. Kukrit Pramoj, was broadly promoted as one of the two major candidates for the post of prime minister in the elected government that would follow the palace-picked interim administration of Sanya Thammasak. However, after a great deal of self-examination, Puey disavowed all interest in such a candidacy and returned to Thammasat, where he was appointed rector. Puey's explanation was that when he had joined the Free Thai Movement he had taken an oath never to seek or accept political appointment until after reaching the age of retirement. Some have argued, however, that Puey's withdrawal was based upon his mature understanding of the nature of society and that he had accurately foreseen that the upcoming democratic period would be inherently unstable, dangerous, and short-lived.

Puey Ungphakorn's relief in the 6 October 1976 Massacre Memorial, Thammasat University, Bangkok

Despite his service, honesty and international reputation, Puey was branded a communist and "destroyer of unity" by the political right of Thailand. Although he spoke out against the unending student demonstrations of 1975–76 as being both ineffective and self-destructive, and even denied his students any use of the Thammasat campus as a base for mounting public demonstrations, he was nevertheless assigned blame for their occurrence.

On the evening of the bloody 6 October 1976 Massacre, Puey resigned from his position as rector of Thammasat in protest against the bloodbath that had occurred that day on the university campus. Realising he was a marked man, Puey went to Don Mueang airport where he was met by a lynch mob. Only with the help of the Royal Thai Air Force Air Police, who had been instructed by King Bhumibol's privy council office to help him leave, did he evade death and get on a plane bound for London.[7]

While living abroad, Puey met with Thais and influential figures in several countries, including those in the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Japan, and Australia to speak about the incident and to call for a peaceful transition to democracy in Thailand. In 1977, Puey gave testimonials before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs investigating human rights in Thailand following the incident of 6 October 1976 Massacre.

In September 1977, Puey suffered a haemorrhagic stroke and was confined to a hospital for three months. The illness left Puey with a speech impediment resulting in mumbling speech. He could walk by himself, but was unable to control his right hand. Puey died in London on 28 July 1999.[8]

Puey's status as a hero derives from several obvious, but special, features of his career and character. His most significant, if paradoxical, attribute was his willingness to work for the Thai bureaucratic establishment and yet maintain his moral independence, intellectual creativity, and sense of social responsibility. His capacity to strike a compromise between what was objectively possible and morally desirable was an extraordinary accomplishment. It had a particular impact on younger people, almost all of whose models have traditionally been either successful rogues who manipulate their social environment for their own advantage or martyrs who succumb to it.

Even more commendable was his deep sense of incorruptibility. Over the years, he held a variety of jobs and served on a number of commissions that, in terms of standard Thai corrupt practices, could have made him a very wealthy man. Further, Puey's incorruptibility was more than merely passive. As an economist he was keenly aware that official corruption was depriving the Thai treasury of inordinately large sums, and in public addresses and statements he would often include selections of thinly veiled, but cutting, poetic attacks against the specific acts of the very highest government officials.

Puey's career is also powerful evidence of how education—in contrast to wealth, political power, and connections—could be used to climb the Thai status ladder. In 2015 he was recognised by UNESCO for his high ethical standards.[9]

• Jon Ungpakorn, Peter Ungpakorn, Giles Ji Ungpakorn, his sons with his English wife, Margaret Smith
• Prachuap Ungpakorn, nephew[11]

• Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation
• The Quality of Life of a South-East Asian: A Chronicle of Hope from Womb to Tomb by Puey Ungphakorn, 1980
• Goodbye to Thailand, Sir Anthony Rumbold to Mr. Brown, 18 July 1967 : In Paragraph 9, a departing UK ambassador's advice to his successor in re Dr. Puey
• Violence and the Military Coup in Thailand, From the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, v. 9, No 3, July–September 1977 Special Supplement – October 1976: The Coup in Thailand
• A Letter from Dr Puey Ungpakorn: The Violence and the October 6, 1976 Coup, Intention and Brutality
• Puey Ungphakorn was the model of a great citizen