Chronik Thailands

กาลานุกรมสยามประเทศไทย

von

Alois Payer

Chronik 1892 (Rama V.)

Zitierweise / cite as:

Payer, Alois <1944 - >: Chronik Thailands = กาลานุกรมสยามประเทศไทย. -- Chronik 1892 (Rama V.). -- Fassung vom 2017-02-07. -- URL: http://www.payer.de/thailandchronik/chronik1892.htm    

Erstmals publiziert: 2013-09-25

Überarbeitungen: 2017-02-07 [Ergänzungen] ; 2017-01-28 [Ergänzungen] ; 2017-01-19 [Ergänzungen] ; 2016-12-03 [Ergänzungen] ; 2016-09-18 [Ergänzungen] ; 2016-09-02 [Ergänzungen] ; 2016-08-20 [Ergänzungen] ; 2016-03-24 [Ergänzungen] ; 2016-02-26 [Ergänzungen] ; 2015-11-27 [Ergänzungen] ; 2015-10-04 [Ergänzungen] ; 2015-09-04 [Ergänzungen] ; 2015-08-30 [Ergänzungen] ; 2015-06-18 [Ergänzungen] ; 2015-04-15 [Ergänzungen] ; 2015-03-03 [Ergänzungen] ; 2015-02-21 [Ergänzungen] ; 2014-12-12 [Ergänzungen] ; 2014-11-26 [Ergänzungen] ; 2014-11-10 [Ergänzungen] ; 2014-10-17 [Ergänzungen] ; 2014-03-19 [Ergänzungen] ; 2014-03-04 [Ergänzungen] ; 22013-12-26 [Ergänzungen] ; 013-12-20 [Ergänzungen] ; 2013-12-05 [Ergänzungen] ; 2013-11-28 [Ergänzungen] ; 2013-11-10 [Ergänzungen] ; 2013-10-06 [Ergänzungen] ; 2013-09-28 [Ergänzungen]

©opyright: Dieser Text steht der Allgemeinheit zur Verfügung. Eine Verwertung in Publikationen, die über übliche Zitate hinausgeht, bedarf der ausdrücklichen Genehmigung des Herausgebers.

Dieser Text ist Teil der Abteilung Thailand von Tüpfli's Global Village Library

ช้างตายทั้งตัวเอาใบบัวปิดไม่มิด

 

 

Gewidmet meiner lieben Frau

Margarete Payer

die seit unserem ersten Besuch in Thailand 1974 mit mir die Liebe zu den und die Sorge um die Bewohner Thailands teilt.

 

Vorsicht bei den Statistikdiagrammen!

Bei thailändischen Statistiken muss man mit allen Fehlerquellen rechnen, die in folgendem Werk beschrieben sind:

Morgenstern, Oskar <1902 - 1977>: On the accuracy of economic observations. -- 2. ed. -- Princeton : Princeton Univ. Press, 1963. -- 322 S. ; 20 cm.

Die Statistikdiagramme geben also meistens eher qualitative als korrekte quantitative Beziehungen wieder.

 

1892 undatiert

1892/1893 - 1915

Schaffung von Monthons (มณฑล) als Verwaltungseinheiten

"The dates for the establishment of monthons vary from one source to another. I have listed them according to three standard printed sources, and have presented a new list based on manuscript and other printed sources.
Year Source
  Damrong Ratchasena Chakkrit MSS.
1892/1893 Phitsanulok (มณฑลพิษณุโลก)
Prachin Buri (มณฑลปราจีนบุรี)		   Prachin Buri (มณฑลปราจีนบุรี)  
1893/1894   Prachin Buri (มณฑลปราจีนบุรี)   Nakhon Ratchasima (มณฑลนครราชสีมา)
Prachin Buri (มณฑลปราจีนบุรี)
1894   Phitsanulok (มณฑลพิษณุโลก) Phitsanulok (มณฑลพิษณุโลก) Phitsanulok (มณฑลพิษณุโลก)
1895   Ayutthaya (มณฑลอยุธยา)
Nakhon Chai Si (มณฑลนครชัยศรี)
Nakhon Sawan (มณฑลนครสวรรค์)		 Ayutthaya (มณฑลอยุธยา)
Nakhon Chai Si (มณฑลนครชัยศรี)
Nakhon Sawan (มณฑลนครสวรรค์)
Phuket (มณฑลภูเก็ต)		 Nakhon Chai Si (มณฑลนครชัยศรี)
Nakhon Sawan (มณฑลนครสวรรค์)
Ratchaburi (มณฑลราชบุรี)
1896   Chumphon (มณฑลชุมพร)
Nakhon Si Thammarat (มณฑลนครศรีธรรมราช)
 		 Burapha (มณฑลบูรพา)
Chumphon (มณฑลชุมพร)
Nakhon Si Thammarat (มณฑลนครศรีธรรมราช)		 Burapha (มณฑลบูรพา)
Chumphon (มณฑลชุมพร)
Nakhon Si Thammarat (มณฑลนครศรีธรรมราช)
Ayutthaya (มณฑลอยุธยา)
1897   Kedah (มณฑลเกดะห์) Kedah (มณฑลเกดะห์) Kedah (มณฑลเกดะห์)
1898   Phuket (มณฑลภูเก็ต)   Phuket (มณฑลภูเก็ต)
1899   Phetchabun (มณฑลเพชรบูรณ์)
Udon (มณฑลอุดร)		 Phetchabun (มณฑลเพชรบูรณ์) Phetchabun (มณฑลเพชรบูรณ์)
Udon (มณฑลอุดร)
1900     Udon (มณฑลอุดร)
Isan (มณฑลอีสาน)		  
1901   Nakhon Ratchasima (มณฑลนครราชสีมา)    
1902   Phayap (มณฑลพายัพ)    
1903   Burapha (มณฑลบูรพา)    
1906   Chanthaburi (มณฑลจันทบุรี)
Pattani (มณฑลปัตตานี)		 Chanthaburi (มณฑลจันทบุรี)
Pattani (มณฑลปัตตานี)
Phayap (มณฑลพายัพ) (1902 - 1906)		 Chanthaburi (มณฑลจันทบุรี)
Pattani (มณฑลปัตตานี)
 
1910       Isan (มณฑลอีสาน)
1912   Roi-Et (มณฑลร้อยเอ็ด)
Ubon (มณฑลอุบล)		 Roi-Et (มณฑลร้อยเอ็ด)
Ubon (มณฑลอุบล)		 Roi-Et (มณฑลร้อยเอ็ด)
Ubon (มณฑลอุบล)
1915   Maharat (มณฑลมหาราษฎร์) Maharat (มณฑลมหาราษฎร์) Maharat (มณฑลมหาราษฎร์)
Phayap (มณฑลพายัพ) (1902 - 1915)

[Quelle: Tej Bunnag [เตช บุนนาค] <1943 - >: The provincial administration of Siam from 1892 to 1915 : a study off the creation, the growth, the achievements, and the implications for modern Siam, of the ministry of the interior under prince Damrong Rachanuphap. -- Diss. Oxford : St. Anthonys College, Michaelmas Term 1968. -- 429 S., Schreibmaschinenschrift. -- S. 408ff. -- Faire use]

Vgl. die folgende Darstellung aufgrund von  Wikipedia (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monthon. -- Zugriff am 2017-02-06) :

1893

1894

1895

1896

1897

1898

1899

1900

1903

1906

1912

1915

1892

"When Phraya Maha-ammattayathibodi (Seng Wirayasiri) [พระยามหาอำมาตยาธิบดี (เส็ง วิรยศิริ)], one of the ablest officials in the history of the modern Ministry of the Interior, joined the Ministry in 1892, he was sure that his superiors knew the frontier towns only "by names, that they could not locate them on a map, and that they were scarcely aware of frontier incidents." By modern standards, this is a harsh indictment, but, by the standards of 1892, these faults were understandable. It implied that the officials were not familiar with maps, and this is excusable, for the first reliable map of Siam had only been published in 1887. It meant that towns on the frontiers were so remote that not only were the officials unfamiliar with them but even news of them hardly reached Bangkok."

[Quelle: Tej Bunnag [เตช บุนนาค] <1943 - >: The provincial administration of Siam from 1892 to 1915 : a study off the creation, the growth, the achievements, and the implications for modern Siam, of the ministry of the interior under prince Damrong Rachanuphap. -- Diss. Oxford : St. Anthonys College, Michaelmas Term 1968. -- 429 S., Schreibmaschinenschrift. -- S. 2. -- Faire use]

1892


Abb.. Buddhistisches Verdienst-Fest (ทำบุญ), Bangkok, 1892

1892



Abb.: Saovabha School (เสาวภา) für Adlige, Koh Sichang (เกาะสีชัง), 1892


Abb.: Lage von Koh Sichang (เกาะสีชัง)
[Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]

1892 - 1896

Dürre in Kambodscha und Südostsiam

1886 - 1892

Wegen Schülermangel müssen 11 staatliche Schulen schließen:

1892


Abb.: Staatliche 1-Tical-/1-Baht-Banknote, 1892. Beschriftung: Thai, Jawi, Chinesisch, Englisch


Abb.: Rückseite der staatlichen 1-Tical-/1-Baht-Banknote, 1892

1892

Herkunft der Staatseinnahmen:


Abb.: Herkunft der Staatseinnahmen 1892 (15,38 Mio. Baht)
[Datenquelle: Ingram (1971), S. 185]

1892/93

Staatsausgaben:

Davon (die drei größten Posten):

1892 - 1941

Staatliche Investitionen in Eisenbahnen und Bewässerung


Abb.: Staatliche Investitionen in Eisenbahnen und Bewässerung 1892 - 1941 (in Mio. Baht)
[Datenquelle: Feeny, David <1948 - >: The political economy of productivity : Thai agricultural development 1880 - 1975. -- Vancouver : University of British Columbia Press, 1982. -- (Asian studies monographs ; 3). -- Zugl.: Diss. Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison. -- 238 S. ; 24 cm. -- S. 78]

1892

Der deutsche Chef des siamesischen Eisenbahnwesens, Karl Bethge (1847 - 1900), stellt die Deutschen Hermann Gehrts (1854-1914) und Luis Weiler (1836-1918) an.

"Luis Weiler (* 9. September 1863 in Amurrio, Spanien ; † 16. Januar 1918 auf See vor Lourenco Marques, Mosambik) war ein deutscher Eisenbahn-Bauingenieur.

Leben

Weiler wurde als Sohn des Eisenbahn-Bauingenieurs Karl Weiler geboren, der in Deutschland, Russland und Spanien Eisenbahnstrecken baute und dessen spanischer Frau Maria Asuncion, geborene de Lezama y Urquijo.

Nach seinem Abitur 1882 am Realgymnasium in Wiesbaden folgte ein Studium des Bauingenieurwesens an der Technischen Hochschule Hannover und der Technischen Hochschule Charlottenburg. In Hannover wurde er 1883 Mitglied des Corps Hannovera.[1] Anschließend absolvierte er ein Referendariat als Bauführer in Stettin und Wiesbaden. Nach bestandenem 2. Staatsexamen wurde er zum Regierungsbaumeister (Assessor) ernannt und arbeitete 1891/1892 in Köln.

Tätigkeiten in Siam und China

Von 1893 bis 1897 arbeitete er als Sektionsingenieur für die Strecke von Ayutthaya (อยุธยา) über Saraburi (สระบุรี) nach Kaeng Khoi (แก่งคอย) und Hinlap (หินลับ), einem 65 km langem Teilstück der Koratbahn, in Siam. Bei der Koratbahn handelt es sich um eine ca. 200 km lange Eisenbahnstrecke von Bangkok nach Nakhon Ratchasima (นครราชสีมา,,auch: „Korat“ - โคราช). Anschließend war er gesundheitlich angeschlagen und litt an Schwarzwasserfieber (Hämoglobinurie). Deshalb fuhr er zurück nach Deutschland, wo er am 18. Juni 1898 in Wiesbaden Elisabeth Jung heiratete. Noch am gleichen Tag reiste er nach China, um am Bau der Shandong-Bahn (膠濟鐵路) mitzuwirken. In Shandong (山東) angekommen, wurden ihm die ersten 60 Kilometer der Bahn als Sektion zugeteilt. Im Juni 1901 verließ er Shandong. Es folgte 1902 ein weiterer Aufenthalt bei der Eisenbahndirektion Köln.

1903/1904 war er am Bau der Haifabahn, einer Anschlußlinie der Hedschasbahn ( ‏سكة حديد الحجاز), in Palästina beschäftigt. Die Hedschasbahn sollte Damaskus ( ‏دمشق) mit Mekka (‏مكة) und Medina ( ‏المدينة المنورة) verbinden, ausgeführt wurde die 1.302 Kilometer lange Strecke bis Medina mit den Seitenbahnen Haifa-Akka (17 km) (עכו) und Der'a-Bosra (28 km).

Am 1. Juli 1904 wurde er für 13 Jahre Generaldirektor der siamesischen Staatsbahn. Unter seiner Leitung wurde der Ausbau der Eisenbahn in Thailand weiter vorangetrieben. In nur rund fünf Jahre ab seinem Amtsantritt wurde das Streckennetz von 457 km auf 925 km mehr als verdoppelt.

Nach dem Beginn des Ersten Weltkriegs kam der Eisenbahnbau nahezu zum Stillstand, viele deutsche Ingenieure verließen das Land. Thailand konnte seine anfängliche Neutralität auf Dauer nicht aufrechterhalten. Am 22. Juli 1917, nachdem Siam auf Drängen Großbritanniens Deutschland den Krieg erklärt hatte, wurde er, ebenso wie alle anderen Deutschen, aus dem siamesischen Staatsdienst entlassen und interniert, nachdem er noch kurz zuvor mit dem Weißen-Elefanten-Orden II. Klasse ausgezeichnet worden war. Erkrankt und vorzeitig aus der Gefangenschaft entlassen, verstarb er 1918 auf der Heimreise nach Deutschland an Bord des dänischen Schiffes Magdala bei Lourenco Marques vor der Ostküste Afrikas.

Technikgeschichtliche Bedeutung hat die briefliche Korrespondenz mit seinem Vater. Diese wird heute im Deutschen Museum München aufbewahrt. Da auch Karl Weiler Eisenbahningenieur war, tauschten sich Vater und Sohn als technische Fachleute aus. Luis Weiler versah diese Briefe mit zahlreichen detaillierten Zeichnungen. Diese Briefe Weilers sind die einzige umfassende und über Jahre gehende Dokumentation eines im Ausland tätigen deutschen Ingenieurs."

[Quelle: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Weiler. -- Zugriff am 2014-11-26]

1892

Es erscheint:

Wershoven, F. J. (Franz Josef) <1851 - 1928>: Lehr- und Lesebuch der siamesischen Sprache und deutsch siamesisches Wörterbuch : Zum Selbststudium mit phonetischer Aussprachebezeichnung, Übungsaufgaben und Lesebuch. -- Wien : Hartleben, 1892. -- 181 S. ; 18 cm. -- (Bibliothek der Sprachenkunde) (Kunst der Polyglottie ; 38)


Abb.: Einbandtitel

1892

Das siamesisch-italienische Joint Venture Siam Canals, Land & Irrigation Company erhält die Konzession für den Kanalbau während 25 Jahren in ganz Siam.

"In 1892 a company called the Siam Canals, Land, & Irrigation Company obtained a concession to dig canals there and to construct locks. According to the contract, people settling along the canal banks were to pay the company certain dues; and on the completion of each klong the company had the right to sell or to cultivate the land adjacent. This excellent idea, called the Rangsit system, was doomed from the outset. As soon as the company started working, people appeared armed with title deeds just granted by the Minister of Agriculture. The company made the mistake of taking the law into its own hands; it turned out the people instead of appealing to the Government. The muddle that followed was increased with time, and only after prolonged and painful litigation was it resolved. The company failed, but not before it had made the fortune of a number of concessionaires."

[Quelle: Thompson, Virginia <1903 - 1990>: Thailand the new Siam. -- New York : Macmillan, 1941. -- S. 516.]

1892

Es gibt ca. 12.000 bezahlte Staatsbeamte.

1892

Schaffung von 11 Ministerien:

Die Minister und zwei weitere Departementleiter bilden den Ministerrat (Council of Ministers - สภาเสนาบดี)

1892

Die Berufs-Armee besteht aus 4440 Mann, von denen 1495 (34%) tatsächlich einsatzfähig sind.

Von 4785 "Freiwilligen" sind 3963 (82% "verloren gegangen", davon

Nur 882 "Freiwillige" (18%) bleiben im Dienst.

1892

Die Kriegsmarine besteht aus 6000 Mann. In den südlichen Küstenregionen ist Dienst bei der Marine obligatorisch, auch für Chinesen.

1892 - 1893

Nur drei Offiziere der Armee werden im Ausland ausgebildet: einer in Großbritannien, zwei in British India.

1892

Rama V. wendet sich an den Wirtschaftsexperten Evelyn Baring, 1. Earl of Cromer (1841 - 1917), den britischen Generalkonsul in Ägypten, wegen einer Reform des siamesischen Steuer- und Finanzsystems. Earl Cromer empfiehlt den Briten Alfred Mitchell-Innes (1864 – 1950)  als Finanzexperten (1893 - 1896).


Abb.: "The maker of modern 'Egypt'": Evelyn Baring, 1. Earl of Cromer
[Bildquelle: Leslie Ward (1851 - 1922) in Vanity fair. -- 1901-01-02]

1892

Gustave Henri Ange Hippolyte Rolin-Jaequemyns (1835 - 1902) wird Berater von Rama V.


Abb.: Gustave Henri Ange Hippolyte Rolin-Jaequemyns (1835 - 1902)
 [Bildquelle: Twentieth century impressions of Siam : its history, people, commerce, industries, and resources / ed. in chief: Arnold Wright. -- London [etc.] : Lloyds, 1908. -- S. 91]


Abb.: Gustave Henri Ange Hippolyte Rolin-Jaequemyns mit Gattin Emilie und Tochter, gekleidet für einen Kostümball
[Bildquelle: Tips, Walter E. J.: Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns and the making of modern Siam : the diaries and letters of King Chulalongkorn’s general adviser. -- Bangkok : White Lotus, 1996. -- 493 S. : Ill ; 23 cm. -- ISBN 974-8496-58-9. -- S. 314]

"Gustave Henri Ange Hippolyte Rolin-Jaequemyns (* 31. Januar 1835 in Gent; † 9. Januar 1902 in Brüssel; zur Schreibweise des Vornamens siehe Literatur) war ein belgischer Jurist, Politiker und Diplomat. Im September 1873 gründete er zusammen mit dem Schweizer Juristen Gustave Moynier das Institut de Droit international (Institut für Völkerrecht), eine 1904 mit dem Friedensnobelpreis ausgezeichnete und bis in die Gegenwart bestehende Institution. Er war von 1873 bis 1878 der erste Generalsekretär des Instituts und wurde 1892 zum ersten Ehrenpräsidenten ernannt. Darüber hinaus wirkte er als Mitglied für die Unitaire Liberale Partij, der ersten in Belgien gegründeten politischen Partei, und von 1878 bis 1884 als Innenminister seines Heimatlandes. Obwohl er ein zutiefst religiöser Mensch war, galt er auf Grund seines überzeugten Eintretens für die Trennung von Religion und Staat als antiklerikal und setzte sich im Rahmen der Auseinandersetzungen zwischen klerikalen und antiklerikalen Strömungen in den Jahrzehnten nach der Belgischen Revolution für die Ziele der Liberalen ein.

Durch seine Tätigkeit als Berater von König Chulalongkorn von Siam (Rama V.) spielte er ab 1892 eine wichtige Rolle bei der Reformation des heutigen Thailand zu einem Land mit modernen westlichen Standards in Rechtsprechung und Verwaltung. Da er auf diese Weise dazu beitrug, das Land vor einer Eingliederung in das Kolonialreich Frankreichs zu bewahren, wurde ihm der Ehrentitel Chao Phaya Abhai Ratcha (Thai: เจ้าพระยาอภัยราชา) verliehen, die höchste Anerkennung des Landes für Ausländer. Er galt bereits zu Lebzeiten als ein ausgewiesener Experte im Bereich des Völkerrechts, was unter anderem in seiner Aufnahme in mehrere nationale Akademien zum Ausdruck kam. Von verschiedenen Universitäten wurde ihm die Ehrendoktorwürde verliehen, darüber hinaus erhielt er eine Reihe hochrangiger staatlicher Auszeichnungen. Sowohl in seinem Heimatland Belgien als auch in Thailand steht er bis in die Gegenwart in hohem Ansehen.

Leben Kindheit und Jugend

Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns wurde 1835 als ältestes von 14 Kindern von Hippolyte Rolin und Angélique Hellebout in Gent geboren (zur Zahl der Geschwister siehe Literatur). Sein Vater hatte Rechtswissenschaften an der Universität von Leuven studiert und seine Studien später in Berlin bei Friedrich Carl von Savigny und Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel fortgesetzt. Mit dem Beginn der Belgischen Revolution im Jahr 1830 war er in die Nationalversammlung gewählt worden, ab 1848 gehörte er der Abgeordnetenkammer des belgischen Parlaments an und war Minister für öffentliche Angelegenheiten.

Sein Sohn Gustave besuchte mit guten Leistungen das Gymnasium in seiner Heimatstadt und zeigte bereits früh musikalische Begabungen. Im Alter von 16 Jahren unternahm er deshalb Reisen nach Großbritannien und Frankreich, wo er in Paris mit einem ersten Preis am Lycée Charlemagne ausgezeichnet wurde. Im Anschluss an seine Rückkehr nach Gent studierte an der dortigen Universität Rechtswissenschaften und ging anschließend wie sein Vater nach Berlin für weitere Studien. Bereits im Alter von 25 Jahre wurde ihm 1860 der Lehrstuhl für moderne Politikgeschichte in Gent angeboten, den er jedoch ablehnte, um in der Anwaltskanzlei seines Vaters zu arbeiten.

Im Jahr 1859 heiratete er Emilie Jaequemyns und führte fortan den Doppelnamen „Rolin-Jaequemyns“. Aus der Ehe gingen zwei Söhne (Edouard und Paul) und drei Töchter (Marie-Jeanne, Henriette und Nelly) hervor. Als sein Schwiegervater, der als Anhänger des niederländischen Königshauses Oranien eine Vereinigung von Belgien mit den Niederlanden unterstützte, für diese Ansichten angeklagt wurde, verteidigte ihn der Vater von Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns. Da Emilie Jaequemyns einer wohlhabenden und einflussreichen Familie entstammte, war Gustave im Rahmen der Ehe nicht darauf angewiesen, den Lebensunterhalt zu verdienen. Auf Grund dessen konnte er sich mit sozialen und juristischen Angelegenheiten auseinandersetzen.

Aktivitäten im Bereich des Völkerrechts

Bereits früh zeigte Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns großes Interesse für wohltätige Aktivitäten und Fragen des Allgemeinwohls. Im Jahr 1862 gründete er in Brüssel die Association International pour le Progès des Science Sociales (Internationale Vereinigung für die Weiterentwicklung der sozialen Wissenschaften). Während eines Kongresses der Vereinigung traf er mit dem niederländischen Juristen Tobias Asser und dem Engländer John Westlake zusammen. Gemeinsam begründeten sie unter dem Titel Revue de Droit International et de Legislation Comparée (Zeitschrift für internationales Recht und vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft) die erste akademische Zeitschrift für Völkerrecht. Die erste Ausgabe erschien zum Ende des Jahres 1868 mit einer Reihe von Beiträgen anerkannter Rechtsexperten der damaligen Zeit. Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns, der zu diesem Zeitpunkt noch über keine nennenswerten Erfahrungen im Bereich des internationalen Rechts verfügte, wirkte fortan als Chefredakteur. Die Beiträge, die er selbst in der Folgezeit in der Zeitschrift veröffentlichte, waren vor allem als Chronique de droit international bezeichnete Analysen und Kommentare zu aktuellen Ereignissen und Entwicklungen. Schwerpunktthemen der ersten Ausgaben waren neben Aspekten des internationalen Privatrechts beispielsweise die Abschaffung der Todesstrafe sowie Rechtsreformen im sozialen Bereich wie Bildungsgesetze und die Reglementierung der Kinderarbeit.

Nach dem Deutsch-Französischen Krieg von 1870 bis 1871 erhielt er Briefe des deutsch-amerikanischen Juristen Francis Lieber und des Schweizers Gustave Moynier, die unabhängig voneinander die Gründung einer internationalen Organisation zur Weiterentwicklung des Völkerrechts anregten. Gustave Moynier war in diesem Bereich bereits als Präsident des 1863 gegründeten Internationalen Komitees vom Roten Kreuz (IKRK) tätig. Francis Lieber hatte unter anderem durch den Lieber Code einen wichtigen Beitrag zum humanitären Völkerrecht geleistet sowie Schriften zum Eigentums- und Arbeitsrecht sowie zu bürgerlichen Freiheiten verfasst. Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns war auf Grund seiner guten Kontakte zu vielen Juristen in verschiedenen Ländern in einer ausgezeichneten Position, um durch Konsultationen die von Lieber und Moynier angeregte Idee umzusetzen. Darüber hinaus galt Belgien zur damaligen Zeit als Zentrum des internationalen Rechts. Neben Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns waren in diesem Bereich beispielsweise Alphonse Rivier an der Universität Brüssel sowie der Rechtshistoriker François Laurent tätig, mit denen Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns in freundschaftlichem Kontakt stand.

Entsprechende Beratungen im Verlauf des Jahres 1872 sowie Anfang 1873 mit Moynier sowie dem an der Universität Heidelberg wirkendem Schweizer Juristen Johann Caspar Bluntschli führten schließlich zur Gründung des Institut de Droit international (Institut für Völkerrecht) im Rathaus von Gent am 8. September 1873, nachdem am Abend zuvor eine Vorbesprechung im Haus von Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns stattgefunden hatte. Die elf an der Gründung beteiligten Juristen waren die ersten Rechtsexperten der Geschichte, die sich selbst explizit als Völkerrechtler sahen und dabei, unter anderem auf Anregung von Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns, eine als ésprit d'internationalité bezeichnete international orientierte Geisteshaltung als gemeinsame Anschauung propagierten. Sie begründeten damit eine auf einheitlichen normativen Grundlagen basierende Tradition des internationalen Rechts, die sich grundlegend von der durch Hugo Grotius und Francisco Suárez veröffentlichten naturalistisch-philosophischen Auffassung unterschied. Auch über das daraus entstandene europäische Staatsrecht (Le droit public de l'Europe), das vor allem auf diplomatischen Prinzipien beruhte und auf zwischenstaatliche Probleme von Souveränität, Eigenstaatlichkeit, Krieg und Frieden beschränkt war, ging diese neue Ansicht deutlich hinaus.

Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns wurde mit der Gründung der erste Generalsekretär des Instituts und übte dieses Amt bis 1878 aus. Mit dem Institut, das noch heute besteht, war erstmals eine dauerhafte Institution entstanden, die sich auf die Weiterentwicklung des internationalen Rechts konzentrierte. Die Entstehung des Instituts gilt aus diesem Grund als die Geburtsstunde des Völkerrechts als eigenständiger Rechtsdisziplin. Seine Mitglieder leisteten im Laufe seiner Geschichte wichtige Beiträge zum Völkerrecht. Zwei Jahre nach dem Tod von Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns wurde die Institution im Jahr 1904 mit dem Friedensnobelpreis ausgezeichnet.

[...]

Die Modernisierung Thailands

Nachdem sein Bruder das Vermögen der Familie durch spekulative Investitionen verloren hatte, nahm Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns im Jahr 1891 eine Stelle an den sogenannten Gemischten Gerichtshöfen in Kairo an. Diese bestanden seit 1875 in Ägypten, das sich durch den Bau des Sueskanals stark verschuldet hatte und faktisch unter der Herrschaft der Staatsschuldenverwaltung stand, die durch den britischen Generalkonsul geleitet wurde. Die gemischten Gerichtshöfe dienten dabei der Schlichtung von Streitigkeiten zwischen Einheimischen und Ausländern. Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns wurde in Kairo, auch auf Grund seiner musikalischen Talente, schnell zu einem angesehenen Mitglied der städtischen Gesellschaft. Während eines Festessens, das im Dezember 1891 vom britischen Botschafter veranstaltet wurde, lernte er den thailändischen Prinzen Damrong Rajanubhab kennen. Dieser war zur damaligen Zeit als Botschafter seines Landes auf der Suche nach einem international renommierten Juristen, der helfen sollte, die drohende koloniale Aufteilung Thailands zwischen Großbritannien, Frankreich und Japan zu verhindern.

Das zufällige Zusammentreffen – Prinz Damrong war nach enttäuschend verlaufenden Verhandlungen mit den Kolonialmächten bereits mit Vorbereitungen für seine Rückreise beschäftigt – wurde zu einem Wendepunkt im Leben von Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns und in der thailändischen Geschichte. Nach Konsultationen zwischen dem Prinzen und König Chulalongkorn erhielt er das Angebot, für ein Jahresgehalt von 3.000 britischen Pfund als General Adviser (Hauptberater) des Königs tätig zu sein. Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns akzeptierte das Angebot trotz gesundheitlicher Probleme und gegen den Widerstand seiner Frau, da er die Chance sah, seine Vorstellungen über die Prinzipien des Völkerrechts in die Praxis umzusetzen und damit zu demonstrieren, dass die Einhaltung internationaler Rechtsstandards auch ein kleines Land vor einer Vereinnahmung durch Großmächte bewahren könnte. Am 27. September 1892 kam er in Bangkok an. In seiner Funktion als General Adviser oblag ihm die Leitung einer Gruppe von ausländischen Beratern, die seit den 1860er Jahren ins Land gekommen waren. Hierzu zählten unter anderem 58 Briten, 22 Deutsche, 22 Dänen, neun Belgier und acht Italiener.

Frankreich hatte zu diesem Zeitpunkt mit Französisch-Indochina bereits ein eigenes Kolonialreich in Asien etabliert und plante die Umwandlung Siams in ein Protektorat. Die Entsendung von Kriegsschiffen und Feuergefechte am 13. Juli 1893 mit der Besatzung des Chulachomklao Forts in der Nähe der auf der Westseite an der Mündung des Flusses Chao Phraya gelegenen Stadt Samut Prakan, die als „Paknam-Vorfall“ in die Geschichte eingingen, hatten die Spannungen weiter verschärft. Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns erkannte, dass das Königreich Siam nur eine Chance auf den Erhalt seiner Unabhängigkeit hatte, wenn es moderne Standards in der Rechtsprechung und Verwaltung einführen sowie der Bevölkerung einen angemessenen Lebensstandard ermöglichen würde. Unter Zuhilfenahme seiner Beziehungen über das Institut de Droit international erreichte er zunächst einen Waffenstillstand zwischen Frankreich und Siam.

Nach der Abwendung dieser unmittelbaren Bedrohung begann er, als Berater von König Chulalongkorn (Rama V.) und mit Unterstützung anderer Juristen aus Belgien und Großbritannien einen Umbau der staatlichen und juristischen Institutionen zu organisieren, die bis dahin auf dem traditionellen buddhistischen System des Dharmaśāstra (Thai: Thammasat – ธรรมศาสตร์) beruhten. Er lernte zu diesem Zweck die thailändische Sprache und ließ umfangreiche Teile der alten Gesetzestexte übersetzen, um sich mit ihnen vertraut zu machen. Im Jahr 1895 schrieb er in einem Brief an den Präsidenten der Internationalen Vereinigung für vergleichende Rechtsstudien, dass eine Analyse der höchst interessanten, aber unbekannten siamesischen Gesetze für die Vorbereitung entsprechender Reformen unentbehrlich sei. Es wäre seiner Ansicht nach falsch, westliche Rechtsstandards einfach zu übernehmen. Stattdessen sollten die Merkmale des traditionellen Rechts erhalten bleiben und durch moderne Rechtsinstrumente und -einrichtungen ergänzt werden.

In der Folgezeit half er bei der Errichtung einer gesetzgebenden Versammlung sowie der Einführung moderner Systeme im Bereich der Verwaltung und der Buchhaltung, und trug zur Reformierung der Regierungsstruktur bei. Darüber hinaus regte er verschiedene öffentliche Projekte an, so den Bau eines Eisenbahnnetzes, das die Hauptstadt mit den weiter entfernten Regionen des Landes verband. Zu den wichtigsten von ihm initiierten Errungenschaften zählt die Gründung der ersten Juristischen Fakultät des Landes in Bangkok. Die Auswirkungen von vielen seiner Reformen sind noch heute im thailändischen Staatswesen sowie im öffentlichen Leben des Landes zu finden.

Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns blieb, von gelegentlichen Reisen nach Europa abgesehen, bis zum April 1901 in Siam, bevor er aufgrund von Gesundheitsproblemen nach Belgien zurückkehrte. Er starb im Januar 1902 in Brüssel.

Rezeption und Nachwirkung Lebenswerk

Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns wird als einer der herausragendsten Juristen in der belgischen Geschichte sowie in der Entwicklung des Völkerrechts angesehen, auch wenn er sich weniger als andere Völkerrechtsexperten seiner Zeit wie beispielsweise August von Bulmerincq oder Friedrich Fromhold Martens rechtsphilosophischen Fragestellungen sowie der Theorie und Systematik des internationalen Rechts widmete. Seine Aktivitäten waren vielmehr vorrangig durch eine praxisorientierte Perspektive geprägt und orientierten sich vor allem an den konkreten politischen und diplomatischen Auswirkungen des Völkerrechts für die Entwicklung und Ausgestaltung der internationalen Beziehungen.

Als bedeutendste Leistung von Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns im Bereich der Rechtswissenschaften gilt sein Wirken für die Herausbildung eines umfassenden und auf einheitlichen normativen Grundlagen basierenden Verständnisses des internationalen Rechts. Hierzu leistete er vor allem mit der Begründung der Zeitschrift „Revue de Droit International et de Legislation Comparée“ sowie durch seine Rolle bei der Entstehung und Entwicklung des Institut de Droit international, für die er bereits 1892 zum ersten von bisher fünf Ehrenpräsidenten des Instituts ernannt wurde, wesentliche Beiträge.

Auch sein Sohn Edouard Rolin-Jaequemyns, sein Bruder Albéric Rolin sowie dessen Sohn Henri Rolin wirkten später als Juristen im Bereich des internationalen Rechts und waren Mitglieder des Instituts. Albéric Rolin wurde 1923 ebenfalls zum Ehrenpräsidenten ernannt, und Edouard Rolin-Jaequemyns folgte seinem Vater von 1926 bis 1927 auch im Amt des Innenministers Belgiens. Die Genter Familie Rolin gestaltete damit rund ein Jahrhundert lang die Entwicklung der Völkerrechts sowie die nationale Politik und die internationalen Beziehungen Belgiens wesentlich mit.

Auszeichnungen und Würdigung

Bereits in der wenige Jahre nach seinem Tod von 1905 bis 1909 erschienenen sechsten Auflage von Meyers Großem Konversations-Lexikon wurde Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns als „einer der bedeutendsten Juristen des 19. Jahrhunderts“ bezeichnet. Seine Verdienste um die Entwicklung der thailändischen Gesellschaft sowie den Erhalt der Unabhängigkeit des Landes wurden schon zu Lebzeiten gewürdigt, indem König Chulalongkorn ihn mit dem Orden des Weißen Elefanten sowie dem Ehrentitel Chao Phaya Abhai Ratcha (Thai: เจ้าพระยาอภัยราชา) auszeichnete, der zuvor nur zwei anderen Ausländern verliehen worden war. Er wurde vom König mit den Worten „Die Fähigkeiten und das Auftreten dieses Mannes, der für die Regierung Siams von so entscheidender Bedeutung war, werden für immer in unserer Erinnerung erhalten bleiben“ gewürdigt (sinngemäße Übersetzung; Herkunft und Wortlaut des Zitats siehe Literatur). Auf dem Campus der Juristischen Fakultät der Thammasat-Universität in Bangkok wurde zum Andenken an ihn eine Statue errichtet.

Ausdruck der Anerkennung von Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns in akademischen Kreisen war seine Aufnahme in mehrere nationale Akademien, so beispielsweise 1870 in Montreal, 1872 in Madrid, 1874 in Belgien und 1881 in Konstantinopel. Darüber hinaus wurde ihm von mehreren Universitäten die Ehrendoktorwürde verliehen, darunter die Universität Cambridge, die Universität Oxford und die Universität Edinburgh. Zu den wichtigsten staatlichen Auszeichnungen, die er für sein Wirken erhielt, zählten unter anderem die Aufnahme als Grand Officier (Großoffizier) in die französische Ehrenlegion, der Orden vom Niederländischen Löwen als höchster ziviler Verdienstorden in den Niederlanden, der russische Orden der Heiligen Anna und der Orden der Aufgehenden Sonne, die höchste Auszeichnung, die in Japan an Ausländer verliehen werden kann. In Belgien ist er bis in die Gegenwart eine bekannte und populäre Persönlichkeit. In der im Jahr 2005 durchgeführten Fernsehumfrage „De Grootste Belg“ („Die größten Belgier aller Zeiten“) wurde er aus 554 nominierten Personen auf Platz 373 gewählt.

Literarische Darstellung

Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns und sein Wirken in Siam waren die Vorlage für die literarische Figur Auguste Rolin in dem 1999 erschienenen Buch „The Siam Question“ („Die Siam-Frage“). Bei diesem von Timothy Francis Sheil verfasstem Roman handelt es sich um ein Pastiche, also eine Nachahmung eines anderen Autors, da die Hauptfigur der fiktive Detektiv Sherlock Holmes des britischen Schriftstellers Arthur Conan Doyle ist. Teil der Handlung sind Todesdrohungen gegen Auguste Rolin, im weiteren Verlauf wird darüber hinaus auf ihn geschossen. Durch die Ermittlungen von Sherlock Holmes und die Unterzeichnung eines Vertrages zwischen Frankreich und Siam wird die Gefahr für sein Leben schließlich gebannt.

Zum Wirken von Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns in Siam sind 1992 und 1996 zwei dokumentarische Bücher von Walter E.J. Tips erschienen, der seit rund 25 Jahren in Bangkok lebt und als Assistent Professor an der Abteilung für die Entwicklung des menschlichen Siedlungswesens am Asian Institute of Technology tätig ist.

[...]

Literatur

Hauptgrundlage für den Artikel, insbesondere für allgemeine biographische Informationen zum Leben von Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns sowie zu seinen innenpolitischen Aktivitäten und zu seinem Wirken in Thailand, war die Abschiedsrede von Jacques Herbots, Jura-Professor an der Katholischen Universität Leuven, anlässlich seiner Emeritierung im Mai 2002. Als Quelle für einige biographische Informationen diente darüber hinaus der entsprechende Eintrag in Meyers Konversations-Lexikon in der vierten Auflage. Weitere Angaben zu seiner Zeit in Thailand entstammen einem Buch von Pasuk Phongpaichit, Wirtschaftsprofessor an der Chulalongkorn-Universität in Bangkok.

  • Jacques Herbots: Een comparatist in het land van de witte olifant. In: Jura Falconis. Wissenschaftliche Studentenzeitschrift der Juristischen Fakultät der Katholischen Universität Leuven. Jahrgang 38, 2001/2002, Heft 4; Online unter Afscheidsrede van Prof. Dr. J. Herbots
  • Rolin-Jacquemyns, Gustave. In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon. 4. Auflage. Band 13, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1885–1892, ‎ S. 894.
  • Rolin-Jacquemyns, Gustave. In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon. 4. Auflage. Band 19, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1885–1892, ‎ S. 786. – (Jahres-Supplement 1891–1892)
  • Christopher Baker und Pasuk Phongpaichit: A History of Thailand. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2005, ISBN 0-52-101647-9

Die Beschreibung seiner Aktivitäten im Bereich des internationalen Rechts beruht neben den historischen Angaben auf der Website des Institut de Droit international vor allem auf einem Artikel und zwei Vorträgen von Martti Koskenniemi, Professor für internationales Recht an der Universität von Helsinki. Die Angaben zur Rolle von Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns im Rahmen der belgischen Kolonialbestrebungen im Kongo basieren auf einem Kapitel eines Buches des gleichen Autors.

  • Website des Institut de Droit international. Online unter IDI-History
  • Martti Koskenniemi: Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns and the Establishment of the Institut de droit international (1873). In: Revue belge de droit international. 37(1)/2004. Centre de Droit International de l'Institut de Sociologie de l'Université Libre de Bruxelles et du Centre de Droit International de l'Université Catholique de Louvain, S. 5–11, ISSN 0035-0788
  • Martti Koskenniemi: Nationalism, Universalism, Empire: International Law in 1871 and 1919. Beitrag zur Konferenz Whose International Community? Universalism and the Legacies of Empire. Columbia University, 29.–30. April 2005
  • Martti Koskenniemi: The civilizing mission: International law and the colonial encounter in the late 19th century. Beitrag zum Rechtshistorikertag. Bonn, 12.–17. September 2004
  • Martti Koskenniemi: Sovereignty as terror - the Congo. In: The Gentle Civilizer of Nations: The Rise and Fall of International Law 1870–1960. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2004, ISBN 0-52-154809-8, S. 155–166

[...]

Die zitierte Aussage von König Chulalongkorn wurde dem Buch „Chao Phya Abhai Raja Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns. General Advisor of H.M. King Chulalongkorn“ entnommen, das von Gerald van der Straten-Ponthoz im Jahr 2007 in Thailand in einer limitierten Auflage veröffentlicht wurde (siehe Weblinks). Der im Buch angegebene englischsprachige Wortlaut des Zitats ist „The competence and gesture of this person, who was so important to the government of Siam, will be imprinted in our memory forever“.

Weiterführende Veröffentlichungen
  • Walter E.J. Tips: Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns (Chao Phraya Aphai Raja) and the Belgian Advisers in Siam (1892–1902): An Overview of Little-Known Documents Concerning the Chakri Reformation Era. Eigenverlag des Autors, Bangkok 1992, ISBN 9-74-889878-4
  • Walter E.J. Tips: Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns and the Making of Modern Siam: The Diaries and Letters of King Chulalongkorn's General Adviser. White Lotus Press, Bangkok 1996, ISBN 9-74-849658-9
  • Martti Koskenniemi: Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns and the Establishment of the Institut de droit international (1873). In: Revue belge de droit international. 37(1)/2004. Centre de Droit International de l'Institut de Sociologie de l'Université Libre de Bruxelles et du Centre de Droit International de l'Université Catholique de Louvain, S. 5–11, ISSN 0035-0788
  • Chris de Saint-Hubert: Rolin-Jaequemyns (Chao Phya Aphay Raja) And The Belgian Legal Advisors In Siam At The Turn Of The Century. In: The Journal of the Siam Society. 53(2)/1965. The Siam Society, S. 181–190, ISSN 0857-7099
  • Jonathan E. Helmreich: Rolin-Jaequemyns, Gustave Henri Ange Hippolyte. In: Warren F. Kuehl (Hrsg.): Biographical Dictionary of Internationalists. Greenwood Press, Westport 1983, ISBN 0-31-322129-4, S. 625/626"

[Quelle: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Rolin-Jaequemyns. -- Zugriff am, 2011-10-17]

1892

Neubau des Justizgebäudes wird eröffnet.

"It may he interesting, however, to glance for a moment at the results accomplished by the Cabinet before its breakdown. Take the administration of justice, for example. At the grand centenary of the founding of Bangkok in 1882, the foundation-stone was laid with great eclat of the New Royal Courts of Justice, which were announced as the inauguration of a new era of justice and judicial reform for Siam. When the buildings were finished, a grand opening ceremony to inaugurate this reform was announced to take place in 1886, but it never came to pass, and the buildings, erected at an enormous cost, with lofty towers and vast halls, were allowed to decay and moulder in emptiness for nearly six years, till the tower actually fell to pieces and had to be taken down, and the roof became so rotten that it had to be replaced with thatch, as it actually now appears, within a stone’s throw of the Royal Palace gates. At last, in 1892, the various straggling courts of Bangkok—the Slave-cases Court in one corner of the city, the Land Court in another, the Criminal Courts in another, and the Appeal Court inside the Palace,— were collected into this one building and placed under the newly created Minister of Justice, who was to control the whole staff of judges, eradicate corruption, work off the thousands of pending cases, and codify the whole of the laws of Siam! As I have said, Prince Svasti was the first Minister. His strength of character soon led to various floggings of venal judges, and to a general uneasiness in all the courts ; but so far as improvements in procedure or organisation of laws were concerned, it was merely King Stork instead of King Log. New stamp duties and fee exactions were imposed, proving lucrative for the department, but not a blessing to suitors; and the administration of justice remains as complete a farce as it was when I wrote some time ago that "justice is not an unknown quantity in Siam : it does not exist. You might as well look for saccharin in salt or for silver in a pewter pot."

The so-called International Court, which is also under this Ministry, deserves a special mention. It was founded to deal with cases brought by foreigners against Siamese. Cases brought by Siamese against foreigners are heard, of course, in the Foreign Consular Courts "down town," where the native has every facility for getting justice. But when a foreigner has any claim against a Siamese, he first wastes several weeks in efforts to get his Consul to settle it through the Siamese Foreign Office; this in the ease of the British Consul has nearly always been futile of late, owing to the extraordinary subservience of British officials to Siamese desires. But the real farce begins when the case at last comes before the International Court, which is the tool and servant of the same Foreign Minister who has just rejected the suit of the Consul. Here every possible device for procrastinating the trial, burking the evidence, suborning witnesses, and generally "besting" the farang, is resorted to with complete success, till after weeks of fruitless effort the case simply dies a natural death, and the European gives it up as a bad job. This condition of things has become, after years of license, such a great scandal that strenuous efforts are at last being made by the foreign community to improve matters, but the precedent of easy-going acquiescence so long followed at the British Legation has made it a hard task to get the evil remedied. The French officials, on the other hand, have long since refused to have cases submitted to the International Court at all, and wisely insist on the decision of disputed matters at the Foreign Office only. A volume might be written on the manners and customs of this International Court without giving any adequate idea of its unspeakable rottenness and shameless parody of justice in foreign cases. So much for fiction and fact in one branch of government."

[Quelle: Norman, Henry <1858-1939>: The peoples and politics of the Far East; travels and studies in the British, French, Spanish and Portuguese colonies, Siberia, China, Japan, Korea, Siam and Malaya. -- New York : Scribner, 1895. -- S. 453f.]

1892/1893

Ausbeute der Edelsteinminen bei Chiang Khong (เชียงของ): 25.000 Karat (durchschnittlich 125 Karat pro Arbeiter).


Abb.: Lage von Chiang Khong (เชียงของ)
 [Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]

1892

Es erscheint:

Bradley, E. [Emilie] R. (Emilie Royce): หนังสือ ประถมกกาแจกลูกอักษร แลจินดามนีกับประถมมาลา แล ปทานุกรม = Elementary tables and Lessons / revised, anlarged and perfected by D. B. Bradley [Dan Beach Bradley, 1804 - 1873]. -- กรุงเทพมหานคร, 1892


Abb.: Titelblatt


Abb.: S. 22: Behandlung der Zahlen

1892

Es erscheint:

Gerini, G. E. (Gerolamo Emilio) <1860 - 1913>: A retrospective view and account of the origin of the Thet maha ch'at ceremony (Maha jati desana) : or exposition of the tale of the great birth, as performed in Siam. -- Bangkok : Bangkok Times, 1892. -- 65 S.

1892

Es erscheint:

Phongsa-vadan (Les annales officielles siamoises) : Règne de Somdet-Prah-Rama-Thibodi III (Prah-Naraï) / traduction littérale par L. Bazangeon. -- Rochefort sur Mer, 1892. -- 149 S. ; 21 cm. -- Extrait du : "Bulletin de la Soc. de Géographie de Rochefort", 1892

1892

Es erscheint:

Chailley-Bert, Joseph <1854 - 1928>: La Colonisation de l'Indochine : l'expérience anglaise. -- Paris : Colin, 1892. -- 398 S.


Abb.: Titelblatt

"Car l’important n’est pas d'avoir des colonies qui languissent et un empire vaste et qui périclite; c’est d’avoir semé ses idées dans le monde et laissé des héritiers de son génie. La plus glorieuse colonie de l’Angleterre, c’est encore les États-Unis.

Si les nôtres, délivrées de notre tutelle paralysante, devenaient un jour abondantes en habitants et en richesses; si, de colonies, elles s’élevaient un jour à la dignité de nations; si ces nations, filles de la nôtre, devaient perpétuer notre renom sous d’autres cieux et dans d’autres âges, la colonisation apparaîtrait alors parmi les peuples comme un merveilleux moyen de rajeunissement, comme le plus puissant, le seul adversaire de la décadence et de la mort, et il n’en est pas un qui n’en voulùt fonder, même au prix de grands sacrifices, pour leur donner la volée vers l’âge de la puberté et les lancer dans la voie de la liberté féconde."

[a.a.O., S. XIVf.]

 

1892


Abb.: Presbyterianische Mädchenschule (เชียงใหม่) in Chiang Mai (เชียงใหม่ / ᨩ᩠ᨿᨦᩉ᩠ᨾᩲ᩵), 1892
[Bildquelle: McGilvary, Daniel <1812 - 1911>: A half century among the Siamese and the Lāo : an autobiography. -- New York [u. a.] : Revell, 1912.]

1892

Chiang Mai (เชียงใหม่ / ᨩ᩠ᨿᨦᩉ᩠ᨾᩲ᩵): Die Laos Mission gründet die Chiang Mai Mission Press.

"Chiang Mai Mission Press

The Chiang Mai Mission Press was established in early 1892 by the Laos Mission, after several abort efforts dating from the 1860s to introduce a printing press into northern Siam. Dr. S. C. Peoples of the Lampang [ลำปาง] Station successfully acquired the fonts for the press in 1890, and when the press began in 1892 the Rev. D. G. Collins became the press manager. He remained in that position until his death in 1917, when his wife Ada Collins assumed management of the press until her own death in 1923. Beginning in small, cramped quarters, the press grew under the Collins' able management, and it remained the largest and most commercially viable press in the North. The press had to be closed temporarily in 1926 for the lack of a manager, and although opened again in later years it declined in importance. In 1936, the Presbyterian Mission finally took action to rent the press to a local Chiang Mai Christian.

The press was the first and for much of its history the only press printing in the northern Thai script and language. It produced large volumes of Scripture portions, textbooks, and tracts and did substantial job work for local government agencies and businesses."

[Quelle: Dictionary of Thai Christianity. -- http://www.herbswanson.com/dictionary.php. -- Zugriff am 2013-10-05]

1892

George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston (1859 - 1925) besucht Siam.


Abb.: Zigarrenpackung mit Lord Curzon


Abb.: French Indo-china and Siam to illustrate journeys by Hon. G. Curzon, M.P.
[Bildquelle: Turner, William John / Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain), 1892. -- Public domain]

1892


Abb.: Französisches Generalkonsulat, Bangkok, 1892

1892

Siam will in Terengganu (ترڠڬانو) eine Poststation einrichten. Die Briefmarken sollten das Bildnis von Rama V. tragen. Der Sultan besteht darauf, dass die Briefmarken sein Bildnis tragen.


Abb.: Lage von Terengganu (ترڠڬانو)
[Bildquelle: Constables Hand Atlas of India, 1893. -- Pl. 59]

1892

Bildung der groupe colonial in der französischen Abgeordnetenkammer (Chambre des députés).  Sie besteht aus Abgeordneten aller Parteien. Anfänglich gehören zur Gruppe ca. 20% aller Abgeordneten. Wichtige Mitglieder sind u.a.:

1892

In Phnom Penh (ភ្នំពេញ, Kambodscha) gibt es fünf registrierte Prostituierte, 1902 sind es 50

1883 - 1892

Kosten-Nutzen-Rechnung für Frankreichs Kolonialismus in Tonkin (Nord-Vietnam)


Konsten-Nutzen-Rechnung für Frankreichs Annexion von Tonkin, 1883 - 1892 (in Mio. Francs)
[Datenquelle: Tuck, Patrick J. N.: The French wolf and the Siamese lamb : the French threat to Siamese independence, 1858-1907. -- Bangkok : White Lotus, 1995. -- 434 S. : Ill. ; 22 cm. -- ISBN 974-8496-28-7. -- S. 84]

1892

Es erscheint:

Child, Jacob T.: The pearl of Asia :  Reminiscences of the court of a supreme monarch; or, Five years in Siam. -- Chicago, Donohue [u.a.], 1892. -- 339 S. : Ill ; 23 cm.


Abb.: Titelblatt


Abb.: Die Königin
[a.a.O., nach S. 42]


Abb.: Der Kronprinz
[a.a.O., nach S. 176]


Abb.: Blick auf den Königspalast
[a.a.O., nach S. 234]

"As a general thing, the Judges and officials are ignorant and incompetent, frequently corrupt, no one having any confidence in their decisions ; "squeezing," as it is termed in the East, having been reduced to a fine art. At times prisoners are tortured, to make them confess, by mashing their fingere till the nails come off, applying a bamboo band around the head to which is attached a handle which, being struck, the vibration causes the most intense agony, the Siamese term it "death," whipping with a bamboo, the victim being stretched out on the ground, face down, with a man holding his arms and another his feet, stretching him out his full length, and then the executioner almost flays him alive, his weapon a piece of bamboo about four feet in length and three inches in width, which cuts like a knife when it strikes the tightly drawn skin. With the advance of western ideas this is rapidly being abolished, though at times the jailers treat their prisoners brutally."

[a.a.O., S. 21]

1892

Es erscheint

Siam : the land of the white elephant, as it was and is : early first-hand accounts and descriptions of Siam and the Siamese / by J.B. Pallegoix ... [et al.] ; compiled by George B. Bacon [1836 - 1876] ; revised by Frederick Wells Williams [1857 - 1928].  -- New York : Scribner, 1892. -- 296 S. : Ill.


Abb.: View taken from the canal at Ayutthaya (อยุธยา)
[a.a.O., nach S. 30]


Abb.: Lage von Ayutthaya (อยุธยา) und Paknam (ปากน้ำ; heute: Samut Prakan - สมุทรปราการ)
[Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]


Abb.: Paknam (ปากน้ำ; heute: Samut Prakan - สมุทรปราการ) on the Menam (แม่น้ำเจ้าพระยา)
[a.a.O., nach S. 128]


Abb.: General view of Bangkok
[a.a.O., nach S. 76]


Abb.: Paknam (ปากน้ำ; heute: Samut Prakan - สมุทรปราการ) on the Menam (แม่น้ำเจ้าพระยา)
[a.a.O., nach S. 128]


Abb.: Siamese women
[a.a.O., nach S. 234]


Abb.: The palace of the King of Siam, Bangkok
[a.a.O., nach S. 292]

1892 - 1893

Der französische Forschungsreisende, Spion und Diplomat Auguste Pavie (1847 - 1925)  ist französischer Gesandter in Bangkok.

1892

US-Baptisten-Missionar William Marcus Young (永伟里, 1861 - 1936) kommt nach Kentung (ၵဵင်းတုင်, Burma). Er begründet hier die Young-Familie, die später wichtige CIA-Mitglieder in Chiang Mai (เชียงใหม่) stellen wird.

1892 datiert

1892-01

Tropischer Wirbelsturm über Chumphon (ชุมพร) und Chaiya (ไชยา)


Abb.: Lage von Chumphon (ชุมพร) und Chaiya (ไชยา)
 [Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]

[Chumphon (ชุมพร):]

"The place has never recovered from the typhoon of January 1892 when the sea invaded the sand stretch on which the village stands, and the people fled to the hill behind as their houses were blown away bit by bit. It used to be able to supply itself with cocoanuts: now but a few ragged, sorry-looking palms remain. It is a terribly wind-swept place at any time, for the south-west monsoon blows with particular violence across the narrow and comparatively open isthmus, and I never saw it but it was blowing hard here, while from the north-east this place is even less protected."

[Quelle: Smyth, H. Warington (Herbert Warington) <1867-1943>: Five years in Siam : from 1891 to 1896. -- London : Murray, 1898.  -- 2  Bde. : Ill ; 21 cm.. -- Bd 2. -- S. 52]
[Chaiya / ไชยา:]

"Then in 1892 came the cyclonic storm which is still the talk of all. They describe how the sky, air, and sea seemed red as blood, how the wind came all ways at once, and the sea rose till the whole neighbourhood was two feet under water. No houses were left standing and but few trees, as the evidence of our eyes attested. The flood lasted an hour and then was gone, leaving the country littered with fish. A hundred people lost their lives here, and some fear was felt for the elephants, of whom the governor has about forty, but they had wisely retired at the first sign of difficulties. They stampeded en masse to the jungle, where their mahouts subsequently found them. The governor meanwhile rode it out in his rua pet under Kaw Pungunn, and weathered it without damage."

[Quelle: Smyth, H. Warington (Herbert Warington) <1867-1943>: Five years in Siam : from 1891 to 1896. -- London : Murray, 1898.  -- 2  Bde. : Ill ; 21 cm.. -- Bd 2. -- S. 74]

1892-01-08

Rama V. eröffnet die Staatswerft.

1892-01-23

Der Herausgeber der Bangkok Times kritisiert die Erziehungspolitik Siams:

"Referring, apparently, to Morant’s [Robert Laurie Morant, 1863 - 1920] current activities in hiring university-trained Englishmen for the planned schools for princes and princesses, the Normal School, Suankulap [โรงเรียนสวนกุหลาบวิทยาลัย], and private tutoring, which had been announced in the Bangkok Times three days earlier, the editor suggested that the leap the country was attempting to make from monastery education in the old fashion to a modern collegiate course was a considerable one, and very expensive. And, he added,

"Siam ... is committing herself to a scheme which looks only to the latter end of the curriculum, without regard to the preliminary steps, and she will learn an expensive lesson."

But Damrong [Bangkok Times 1892-03-26] replied by stating that

"he hoped to carry out with complete success the programme which had already been made public and which, he saw, had been adversely criticised."

 The commitment was made: as a policy decision, the government was to put its emphasis on education for the elite."

[Quelle: Wyatt, David K. <1937 - 2006>: The politics of reform in Thailand : education in the reign of King Chulalongkorn. -- New Haven : Yale UP, 1969. -- 425 S. : Ill. ; 23 cm. -- (Yale Southeast Asia studies ; 4). -- SBN 300-01156-3. -- S. 142]

 

1892-02

Tod von Kapitan China Tan Kim Ching (陳金鐘甲, 1829 - 1892)

"Kapitan China Tan Kim Ching (Chinese: 陳金鐘甲; pinyin: Chén Jīnzhōng Jia; Wade–Giles: Chen Chin-chung Chia; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tân Kim-tsing Kap; a.k.a. Tan Kim Cheng; 1829 – Feb 1892) was a Singaporean politician and businessman. He was the eldest of the three sons of Tan Tock Seng (陳篤生,1798–1850), the founder and financier of Tan Tock Seng Hospital.[1] He was consul for Japan, Thailand and Russia, and was a member of the Royal Court of Siam. He was one of Singapore’s leading Chinese merchants and was one of its richest men in Singapore at that time. He was also the first Asian member of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.[2][3][4][5] After his father, Tan Tock Seng's death, he became the Kapitan China of the Straits Chinese community.[6] He is believed to have been the Head of the Triad in Malaya.[7]

Businessman

In his day, Tan Kim Ching was one of Singapore’s leading Chinese merchants, one of the richest men in Singapore and had sizable business interests in Singapore, Siam, Vietnam and Malaya. His business boomed with rice mills he owned in Bangkok and Saigon.[8]

After the death of his father, the name of the firm "Tan Tock Seng" - mainly involved in the rice business - was changed to "Tan Kim Ching". The business was carried on at "River-Side" (now known as Boat Quay) from 1851 to 1859 by Tan Kim Ching as sole owner. In 1860, having admitted his brother Tan Swee Lim as a partner, the firm was known as "Tan Kim Ching & Brother", chop Chin Seng Ho, but a few months later Tan Swee Lim left the firm. The business which finally became known as "Kim Ching & Co." chop Chin Seng (成行) attained considerable success, and he bought rice mills at Saigon, Siam and elsewhere which supplied him with his milled rice. In 1888, the company opened a branch in Hong Kong.[4][8]

Apart from the rice business he had mining concessions in Patani, whose workers he could supply with his own rice. He was one of the earliest merchants to import silk from China. He also involved himself in the shipping business.

In 1863, he paid $120,000 to found and set up the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company (the forerunner of today's Port of Singapore Authority), purchased two steamships, "Siam" and "Singapore" and promoted the Tanjong Pagar Dock Co.[9][10][11][12][13][14]

Some historians have said that the history of Kraburi [กระบุรี] began with its Governor[4] Tan Kim Ching. He was a Siamese official and had tin mining operations in the Kra [กระ] province.[15][16]

British Ally

He played a significant role in fostering relationships between Singapore and the Colonial Government on the one hand, and Siam and its ruler King Mongkut (Rama IV) on the other.[14]

He helped Sir Harry Ord secure a new treaty with Kedah in 1867, and played an integral role in ending the Larut wars by getting Abdullah to seek British intervention, which led to the signing of treaties at Pangkor.[17]

[...]

Tan Kim Ching, Anna and The King of Siam

This illustrious scion of the Tan family played a key role in strengthening ties between Singapore and Siam. Tan Kim Ching had a very close relationship with the royal family of Siam and often served as their go-between. In recognising the importance of his role, he was appointed ‘the first Siamese Consul in Singapore’ by King Mongkut in 1863 and in 1885, King Chulalongkorn elevated his title to that of Consul-General. He was bestowed the Royal Title Phraya Astongt Disrarak Siamprajanukulkij.[16] He was also Special Commissioner for Siam in the Straits Settlements.[19][20][21]

He introduced his business partner in Singapore, Read, to the Siamese King in the late 1850s when the King desired to get out of a disadvantageous treaty with France.[22]

He had great influence on the Chinese outside the Colony, especially in the northern Malay States bordering Siam, viz. Kelantan [كلنتن] and Patani [ڤتاني] (originally all the Malay states were vassals of Siam but British intervention brought them under the control of the British Empire as "independent states". Eventually Patani was reannexed in 1909 as part of the Kingdom of Siam). Exercising this influence, during the time of Sir Andrew Clarke [1824 - 1902], Tan Kim Ching was instrumental in settling a difficulty, that arose between the Siamese and Perak [ڤراق] governments.

When King Mongkut of Siam also known as King Rama IV wanted to find someone who would help educate the members of his immediate family without attempting to convert them through use of Christian indoctrination it was to his Consul in Singapore, Tan Kim Ching, that he turned, pointing out "It is not pleasant to us if the school mistress much morely endeavour to convert the scholars to Christianity than teaching language literature etc. like the American missionaries here." In response, and upon a suggestion from William Adamson[23][24][25][26][27][28] of The Borneo Company, Tan Kim Ching recommend a suitable teacher in Singapore at that time who happened to be Anna Leonowens [1831 - 1915], a young widow, looking for work to support herself and two children. The story of the schoolteacher and the King of Siam has been made popular through the films The King And I (Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr) and Anna and the King (Chow, Yun Fatt and Jodie Foster).[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]

When the King and Queen of Siam landed in Singapore in 1890 they stayed at Tan Kim Ching's house, "Siam house", in North Bridge Road. It was reported that The King, who was expected to arrive in Singapore at Tanjong Pagar Wharf on board the royal vessel "Ubon Burratit" on 30 May 1890, had landed at Johnston’s Pier instead. Due to the late arrival, only Tan Kim Ching was at the Pier to receive him.[14]

When His Majesty wished to acquire property in Singapore it was to Tan Kim Ching that he turned, resulting in the acquisition of "Hurricane House" in the vicinity of Orchard Road.[37][38]

[...]

Final years

Towards the end of his life a prosecution was instituted against him for keeping slaves, but he was discharged. He died in February 1892 and his remains were interred at his private burial ground at the thirteenth mile on the Changi Road.

At his death, he was the owner of the steamers "Siam" and "Singapore", and of a large number of concessions, including some at Mount Ophir, Kampong Rusa, Patani and various others, which had not been prospected.

His Funeral

Reports from local and foreign newspapers of the time suggest the high esteem in which he was held and give us an idea of what it was like. For example, an Australian paper, The North Queensland Register, quoting The Singapore Free Press Reports:[57]

"The remains of the late Mr Tan Kim Ching were this morning removed with more than usual pomp and display from his residence in North Bridge Road for interment in his private burial ground at Changi.

Judging by the long lines of spectators and the throngs of Orientals at all the windows and street corners, all along the route of the procession, the ceremony was one of more than ordinary interest to the many sections of the Chinese community who were, thus represented, and who had assembled in thousands to do honour to the head of the Seh Tan, the deceased having, been for years one of the leading citizens in Singapore.

Mr Tan Kim Ching was during his lifetime Consul-General for Siam, and as representing His Siamese Majesty there were in attendance three Siamese priests, who took part in the unwieldy yet orderly procession, which covered more than a mile in length.

Leading the procession, which was unusually picturesque on account of t e numerous, costly and rainbow tinted presentation banners freely subscribed for by the deceased's compatriots, was a gigantic figure which cost 40dol, some 15 feet or more in height, by name the Kye Loh Sin, a kind of Chinese Beelzebub whose functions was to act in some sort as a scarecrow for devils. And sufficiently terrible for this purpose he looked with his stark, staring red face and huge rolling eyes in violent oscillation with every jolt of his wooden car.

Following these were the bearers of the titles of the deceased, which were apparently many and varied, other Mandarin monstrosities, painted Kling, Malay and Malacca bands, and innumerable detachments of discordant Chinese with a never ceasing rumble of drums and banging of brazen instruments.

The coffin according to custom was carried in a most elaborate palanquin with a highly decorated a canopy the whole structure being carried by a band of 72 coolies in mourning costume. In the rear were the females of the deceased's family clad in sackcloth.

The funeral cortege left the house in North Bridge Road shortly after eleven o'clock, and proceeded slowly along, via the Lochore Police Station, past the Gas Works to the thirteenth milestone is on the Changi Koai, the great body of the procession however, dispersing at a refreshment booth on the line of route. The interment proper, all things being favourable, and the astral influences sufficiently benign, will take place this evening about eight o'clock."
Testimonial

Vaughan, Jonas Daniel, 1825-1891 in The manners and customs of the Chinese of the Straits Settlements, 1879, p. 22

"It is usual in the Straits to speak of well-to-do Chinamen as gentlemen but as a fact, very few of them would be entitled to the distinction in China; and none with exception perhaps of the Honorable Mr. Whampoa, a member of the Legislative Council of this Colony, and Consul for China, and Mr. Tan Kim Ching the Siamese Consul who has some Chinese rank, none would be allowed to stand upright in the presence of a Mandarin.""

[Quelle: Tej Bunnag [เตช บุนนาค] <1943 - >: The provincial administration of Siam from 1892 to 1915 : a study off the creation, the growth, the achievements, and the implications for modern Siam, of the ministry of the interior under prince Damrong Rachanuphap. -- Diss. Oxford : St. Anthonys College, Michaelmas Term 1968. -- 429 S., Schreibmaschinenschrift. -- S. . -- Faire use]

1892-02-02

Der US-Amerikaner William Painter (1838 - 1906) erhält das Patent für den Kronkorken.


Abb.: Aus der Patentschrift


Abb.: Kronkorken, Bangkok, 2012
[Bildquelle: David McKelvey. -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/94735786@N00/6906957140. -- Zugriff am 2013-09-24. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung)]

1892-02-26

Singapur: Tod von Tan Kimcheng = Phraya Anukulsiamkit (陳金鐘, 1829 - 1892), Konsul Siams in Singapur und Lobbyist Siams gegenüber Großbritannien.


Abb.: Tan Kim Ching (陳金鐘)

"Tan Kim Ching (Chinese: 陳金鐘; pinyin: Chén Jīnzhōng; Wade–Giles: Chen Chin-chung; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tân Kim-tsing; 1829-Feb 1892) was a Singaporean politician and businessman. He was the eldest of the three sons of Tan Tock Seng (1798–1850), the founder and financier of Tan Tock Seng Hospital (陈笃生医院).[1] He was consul for Japan, Thailand and Russia, and was a member of the Royal Court of Siam. He was one of Singapore’s leading Chinese merchants and was one of its richest men at that time. He was also the first Asian member of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.[2][3][4][5] After his father, Tan Tock Seng's death, he became the Kapitan China of the Straits Chinese community.[6] He is believed to have been the Head of the Triad in Malaya.[7]

Businessman

In his day, Tan Kim Ching was one of Singapore’s leading Chinese merchants, one of the richest men in Singapore and had sizable business interests in Singapore, Siam, Vietnam and Malaya. His business boomed with rice mills he owned in Bangkok and Saigon.[8]

Upon the death of his father, the name of the firm "Tan Tock Seng" - mainly involved in the rice business - was changed to "Tan Kim Ching". The business was carried on at "River-Side" (now known as Boat Quay) from 1851 to 1859 by Tan Kim Ching as sole owner. In 1860, having admitted his brother Tan Swee Lim as a partner, the firm was known as "Tan Kim Ching & Brother", chop Chin Seng Ho, but a few months later Tan Swee Lim left the firm. The business which finally became known as "Kim Ching & Co." chop Chin Seng (成行) attained considerable success, and he bought rice mills at Saigon, Siam and elsewhere which supplied him with his milled rice. In 1888, the company opened a branch in Hong Kong (香港).[4][8]

Apart from the rice business he had mining concessions in Patani (ปัตตานี / ڤتنا), whose workers he could supply with his own rice. He was one of the earliest merchants to import silk from China. He also involved himself in the shipping business.

In 1863, he came up with $120,000 to found and set up the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company (the forerunner of today's Port of Singapore Authority), purchased two steamships, "Siam" and "Singapore" and promoted the Tanjong Pagar Dock Co.[9][10][11][12][13][14]

Some historians have said that the history of Kraburi (กระบุรี) began with its Governor[4] Tan Kim Ching. He was a Siamese official and had tin mining operations in the Kra (กระ) province.[15][16]

British Ally

He played a significant role in fostering relationships between Singapore and the Colonial Government on the one hand, and Siam and its ruler King Mongkut (Rama IV) on the other.[14]

He helped Sir Harry Ord (1819 - 1885) secure a new treaty with Kedah in 1867, and played an integral role in ending the Larut wars by getting Abdullah to seek British intervention, which led to the signing of treaties at Pangkor.[17]

Man of the People in Singapore

When the Hokkien-Teochew Riots which broke out on 5 May 1854 over 400 people were killed during 10 days of violence. In a meeting with British Authorities, Tan Kim Ching represented the Hokkiens (福建人) and with his assurance and that of Seah Eu Chin (佘有進, 1805 - 1883) of the Teochews (潮州人), the situation was brought to an end.

A man of influence in Singapore, Hokkien marriages were often solemnized in his office and the marriage certificates authenticated with the company rubber stamp.

In 1860 the Hokkien Huay Kuan was established in the premises of the Hock Keng Temple at Telok Ayer Street and Tan Kim Ching was installed as its first leader. He held the position of President for 30 years. He was especially noted for his establishment of a marriage registry for the Hokkiens.[18]

In 1864, he was elected to the Grand Jury as one of five Chinese members on the jury.

In 1865 he was made a Justice of the Peace by the British Straits Settlements government.

In 1888, he was appointed to the Municipal Council.

He was also made a Kapitan Cina, responsible for the conduct and administration of the Chinese population in Singapore.

He was fluent in Malay and was arguably the most powerful Chinese leader in the region in the 19th century.

Tan Kim Ching, Anna and The King of Siam

This illustrious scion of the Tan family played a key role in strengthening ties between Singapore and Siam. Tan Kim Ching had a very close relationship with the royal family of Siam and often served as their go-between. In recognising the importance of his role, he was appointed ‘the first Siamese Consul in Singapore’ by King Mongkut in 1863 and in 1885, King Chulalongkorn elevated his title to that of Consul-General. He was bestowed the Royal Title Phraya Astongt Disrarak Siamprajanukulkij.[16] He was also Special Commissioner for Siam in the Straits Settlements.[19][20][21]

He introduced his business partner in Singapore, Read, to the Siamese King in the late 1850s when the King desired to get out of a disadvantageous treaty with France.[22]

He had great influence on the Chinese outside the Colony, especially in the northern Malay States bordering Siam, viz. Kelantan (كلنتن) and Patani (ปัตตานี / ڤتنا) (originally all the Malay states were vassals of Siam but British intervention brought them under the control of the British Empire as "independent states". Eventually Patani was reannexed in 1909 as part of the Kingdom of Siam). Exercising this influence, during the time of Sir Andrew Clarke (1824 - 1902), Tan Kim Ching was instrumental in settling a difficulty, that arose between the Siamese and Perak (ڨيراق) governments.

When King Mongkut of Siam also known as King Rama IV wanted to find someone who would help educate the members of his immediate family without attempting to convert them through use of Christian indoctrination it was to his Consul in Singapore, Tan Kim Ching, that he turned, pointing out "It is not pleasant to us if the school mistress much morely endeavour to convert the scholars to Christianity than teaching language literature etc. like the American missionaries here." In response, and upon a suggestion from William Adamson[23][24][25][26][27][28] of The Borneo Company, Tan Kim Ching recommend a suitable teacher in Singapore at that time who happened to be Anna Leonowens (1831 - 1915), a young widow, looking for work to support herself and two children. The story of the schoolteacher and the King of Siam has been made popular through the films The King And I (Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr) and Anna and the King (Chow, Yun Fatt and Jodie Foster).[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]

When the King and Queen of Siam landed in Singapore in 1890 they stayed at Tan Kim Ching's house, "Siam house", in North Bridge Road. It was reported that The King, who was expected to arrive in Singapore at Tanjong Pagar Wharf on board the royal vessel "Ubon Burratit" on 30 May 1890, had landed at Johnston’s Pier instead. Due to the late arrival, only Tan Kim Ching was at the Pier to receive him.[14]

When His Majesty wished to acquire property in Singapore it was to Tan Kim Ching that he turned, resulting in the acquisition of "Hurricane House" in the vicinity of Orchard Road.[37][38]

Philanthropy Tan Kim Ching And The Tan Tock Seng Hospital

On 25 July 1844, the foundation stone of the Tan Tock Seng Hospital was laid on Pearl's Hill. The stone was laid but the construction took 3 years. After that the hospital stayed empty for another 2 years because of insufficient funding. In 1852, in order to ease overcrowding at the hospital founded by his father Tan Tock Seng, Tan Kim Ching offered timely assistance - to bear the cost of additions to the building which was approximately two thousand dollars ($2,000). His generous gesture led to many other merchants increasing monthly subscriptions to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

By 1854 the additions were completed. An inscription engraved in stone at the hospital gate acknowledges the donation of $3,000 by Tan Kim Ching. After all of that it was decided that the Tan Tock Seng Hospital had to move as the government wanted to build a new building. Tan Kim Ching agreed to the move, on condition that the rebuilt hospital should not cost less than the original one. He also requested for a female ward, which his mother paid for in 1858 to perpetuate the memory of Tan Tock Seng. In 1858, two years after the government's decision to acquire Pearl's Hill, construction work began and Tan Kim Ching donated an additional $3,340.[39][40][41]

Tan Kim Ching And The Tan Si Chong Su

Tan Kim Ching together with Tan Swee Beng donated funds to build an ancestral temple to serve the needs of the Tan Clan (people bearing the Tan surname) and in 1876 the Tan Si Chong Su was built.[42]

Others

In 1849, when the Chinese school Chung Wen Ge was built, he donated $100.

In 1854, he donated $150 towards the construction of the Chui Eng School.

Royal Asiatic Society

In March 1878 the The Straits Asiatic Society (formed on November 4, 1877) was renamed the The Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society and Tan Kim Ching was one of its founding members.[43]

Klang Concessionaire

In 1866 Tan Kim Ching, along with William Henry Macleod Read (1819 - 1909) (Chairman of the Straits Chamber of Commerce), secured the lease for Klang (كلاڠ) from Raja Abdullah bin Raja Jaafar, the administrator of Klang. Among the benefits of this lease arrangement was being able to collect taxes. Their attempts to collect taxes from Raja Mahdi whose father Raja Sulaiman was Klang's Headman, however, sparked off a civil war that became known as The Klang War or The Selangor Civil War.[44]

The Larut Wars and The Pangkor Engagement
See articles at Larut War and Pangkor Engagement

Tan Kim Ching was a member of the Ghee Hin secret society (義興公司) and a supporter of the Raja Muda Abdullah of Perak and the Ghee Hin in Larut. It was Tan Kim Ching who had encouraged Abdullah to write seeking the involvement of the British.

Released from his arrest at sea, and his temporary incarceration on Penang, and forbidden return to Perak, Abdullah ventured to Singapore in October 1873 to seek help from the Ghee Hin there. Had Ngah Ibrahim not already aligned himself with the Hai San, he would not have got it. As it was, he arrived at an accommodation with Tan Kim Ching whose influence among the Chinese, at that time, was without comparison. After going through the introduction provided by the Ghi Hin from Penang Tan Kim Ching offered to put Abdullah on the throne in return for five elevenths (5/11) of all duties collected between Telok Serah and Krian for a period of ten years.[45][46][47][48]

Tan Kim Ching together with an English merchant in Singapore (W. H. M. Read) drafted a letter to Governor Sir Andrew Clarke, which Abdullah signed, in which Raja Muda Abdullah expressed his desire to place Perak under British protection, and "to have a man of sufficient abilities to show him a good system of government."[47]

In British Intervention in Malaya 1867-1877 Parkinson tells us that Sir Andrew Clarke, just weeks after his arrival in Singapore, had already found evidence of the continuing disturbances in Perak and Selangor. Apart from his executive council, he talked to Tan Kim Cheng. Clarke decided that both the Hai San and Ghee Hin should have access to Larut with neither side being excluded, a complete reversal of the policy of his predecessor, Sir Harry Ord. Tan Kim Ching agreed and wrote to the Ghee Hin on Penang to put this to them and advocate peace.

Clarke then sent Pickering to Penang to talk to the respective headmen in Penang. Pickering gave Tan Kim Ching's letter to Chin Ah Yam. Twenty Ghee Hin headmen met through the night at the Ghee Hin Kongsi house considering Tan Kim Cheng's letter. In the morning they met with Pickering and agreed to surrender their forces in seven days time.

Following that outcome and the outcome of a meeting with Chung Keng Quee(鄭景貴, 1821 - 1901)  whom Pickering also met, Sir Andrew Clarke then gathered the main Chinese leaders (principally Chung Keng Quee and Chin Ah Yam and some Malays – including Abdullah – at Pulau Pangkor where the ‘Pangkor Engagement’ was formulated and signed, recognising Abdullah as Sultan, and getting the Chinese to agree to settle their differences in Larut under British arbitration.[49][50][51]

Singapore Syndicates

During the tenure of Chiu Sin Yong's Revenue Farming syndicate in Singapore, backed by Khoo Thean Poh, Tan Kim Ching testified against Cheang Hong Lim and his group who had mobilized all of their allies and affiliates and organized a conspiracy to scuttle Chiu's farming syndicate. Tan Kim Cheng's testimony was a godsend for Chiu and Khoo. Tan Kim Ching and his father Tan Tock Seng, representing most of the Malacca-born Hockien, led the Haizhang group while their arch rivals Cheang Sam Teo and his son, Cheang Hong Lim led the Zhang Hai group, the division between Hockien migrants from Quanzhou and Zhangzhou.[52][53]

Commendations
  • Commander of the Third Class of the Order of the Rising Sun of Japan.
  • Special letter of thanks from the Governor of the Straits Settlements, Sir Andrew Clarke, for his role in settling a difficulty that arose between the Siamese and Perak governments.
  • Special letter and honour from China for his contribution to the Famine Fund in 1890.
[...]Final years

Towards the end of his life a prosecution was instituted against him for keeping slaves, but he was discharged. He died in February 1892 and his remains were interred at his private burial ground at the thirteenth mile on the Changi Road.

At his death, he was the owner of the steamers "Siam" and "Singapore", and of a large number of concessions, including some at Mount Ophir, Kampong Rusa, Patani and various others, which had not been prospected.

His Funeral

Reports from local and foreign newspapers of the time suggest the high esteem in which he was held and give us an idea of what it was like. For example, an Australian paper, The North Queensland Register, quoting The Singapore Free Press Reports:[57]

"The remains of the late Mr Tan Kim Ching were this morning removed with more than usual pomp and display from his residence in North Bridge Road for interment in his private burial ground at Changi.

Judging by the long lines of spectators and the throngs of Orientals at all the windows and street corners, all along the route of the procession, the ceremony was one of more than ordinary interest to the many sections of the Chinese community who were, thus represented, and who had assembled in thousands to do honour to the head of the Seh Tan, the deceased having, been for years one of the leading citizens in Singapore.

Mr Tan Kim Ching was during his lifetime Consul-General for Siam, and as representing His Siamese Majesty there were in attendance three Siamese priests, who took part in the unwieldy yet orderly procession, which covered more than a mile in length.

Leading the procession, which was unusually picturesque on account of t e numerous, costly and rainbow tinted presentation banners freely subscribed for by the deceased's compatriots, was a gigantic figure which cost 40dol, some 15 feet or more in height, by name the Kye Loh Sin, a kind of Chinese Beelzebub whose functions was to act in some sort as a scarecrow for devils. And sufficiently terrible for this purpose he looked with his stark, staring red face and huge rolling eyes in violent oscillation with every jolt of his wooden car.

Following these were the bearers of the titles of the deceased, which were apparently many and varied, other Mandarin monstrosities, painted Kling, Malay and Malacca bands, and innumerable detachments of discordant Chinese with a never ceasing rumble of drums and banging of brazen instruments.

The coffin according to custom was carried in a most elaborate palanquin with a highly decorated a canopy the whole structure being carried by a band of 72 coolies in mourning costume. In the rear were the females of the deceased's family clad in sackcloth.

The funeral cortege left the house in North Bridge Road shortly after eleven o'clock, and proceeded slowly along, via the Lochore Police Station, past the Gas Works to the thirteenth milestone is on the Changi Koai, the great body of the procession however, dispersing at a refreshment booth on the line of route. The interment proper, all things being favourable, and the astral influences sufficiently benign, will take place this evening about eight o'clock."
Testimonial

Vaughan, Jonas Daniel, 1825-1891 in The manners and customs of the Chinese of the Straits Settlements, 1879, p. 22

"It is usual in the Straits to speak of well-to-do Chinamen as gentlemen but as a fact, very few of them would be entitled to the distinction in China; and none with exception perhaps of the Honorable Mr. Whampoa, a member of the Legislative Council of this Colony, and Consul for China, and Mr. Tan Kim Ching the Siamese Consul who has some Chinese rank, none would be allowed to stand upright in the presence of a Mandarin."

[...]

Although he was buried in Changi, his grave was transferred to Bukit Brown in 1940."

[Quelle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Kim_Ching. -- Zugriff am 2015-06-18]

1892-03

Woodyear's Australian Circus besucht Bangkok. Der Zirkus gehört der Kunstreiterin Jane Woodyear, geborene Kendall (ca. 1841 - 1915). Er besteht aus 25 Artisten aus verschiedenen Ländern.

892-03-09

Rama V. macht den ersten Spatenstich für die Eisenbahnlinie nach Korat (โคราช). Konzessionär ist die britische Firma von George Murray Campbell (1845 - 1942). Finanzier ist Jardine, Matheson & Co.

Bauarbeiter sind vorwiegend Chinesen:

"Jardine Matheson & Co., later Jardine Matheson & Co. Ltd., forerunner of today's Jardine Matheson Holdings, was a Far Eastern trading company founded in 1832 with Scotsmen William Jardine (1784 - 1843) and James Matheson (1796 - 1878) as senior partners. Trading in opium, cotton, tea, silk and a variety of other goods, from its early beginnings in Canton (廣州, modern day Guangzhou), in 1844 the firm established its head office in the new British colony of Hong Kong then proceeded to expand all along the China Coast.

By the end of the nineteenth century, Jardine, Matheson & Co. had become the largest of the foreign trading companies in the Far East[1] and had expanded its activities into sectors including shipping, cotton mills and railway construction.

Further growth occurred in the early decades of the twentieth century with new cold storage, packing and brewing businesses while the firm also became the largest cotton spinner in Shanghai.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949, doing business in the country became increasingly problematic. As a result, foreign businesses gradually withdrew from the mainland with Jardines leaving in 1954 to reconsolidate its business in Hong Kong. The firm would not return to mainland China until 1979, following the reform and opening up of the country."

[Quelle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Jardine,_Matheson_%26_Co.. -- Zugriff am 2014-11-26]

1892-03-15

Der US-Ingenieur Jesse Wilford Reno (1861 - 1947) erhält das Patent auf die Rolltreppe.


Abb.: Aus der Patentschrift
[Fair use]


Abb.: Rolltreppen, Siam Paragon, Bangkok, 2013
[Bildquelle: Beam Borwonputtikun. -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/101324506@N02/9694912364. -- Zugriff am 2013-09-28. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, keine kommerzielle Nutzung, keine Bearbeitung)]

1892-03-24

Unterrichtsminister Prinz Damrong (ดำรงราชานุภาพ, 1862 -1943) kehrt von seiner 1891-07 begonnene Reise nach Europa, Ägypten und British India zurück, voller Ideen für das Unterrichtswesen

1892-04-01

Formeller Beginn der Regierung durch ein Kabinett. Das Kabinett besteht aus 12 Männern, wovon 9 Brüder Ramas V. sind. Kabinettsbeschlüsse bedürfen der Bestätigung durch den König.

Neu geschaffen werden:

The Announcement of the Appointment of Ministers stated that the King,

'desiring to increase the development of the country, is going to maintain good traditions and to abolish defective ones. The people will thereby be able to live happily and to work honestly, the Kingdom will then progress towards the state of development attained elsewhere in the world.'

It went on to announce the new principles of government by saying that the King,

'considers that the administration can be made efficient by the division of functions between ministries, so that officials of each ministry will be qualified to do the work which is given to them...There will then be no delays, for when the King desires that something should be done, there will be someone to do it immediately.'"

[Quelle: Tej Bunnag [เตช บุนนาค] <1943 - >: The provincial administration of Siam from 1892 to 1915 : a study off the creation, the growth, the achievements, and the implications for modern Siam, of the ministry of the interior under prince Damrong Rachanuphap. -- Diss. Oxford : St. Anthonys College, Michaelmas Term 1968. -- 429 S., Schreibmaschinenschrift. -- S. 125. -- Faire use]

1892-04-01

Prinz Damrong Rajanubhab (สมเด็จพระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธอ พระองค์เจ้าดิศวรกุมาร กรมพระยาดำรงราชานุภาพ - Somdet Phra Chao Borommawong Thoe Phra Ong Chao Ditsuankuman Krom Phraya Damrong Rachanuphap) (1862 -1943) wird Leiter des Ministeriums für den Norden (Mahatthai - กระทรวงมหาดไทย), aus dem 1894 das Innenministerium wird. Prinz Damrong ist in diesem Amt bis 1915.

Nachfolger Damrongs als Unterrichtsminister wird Phraya Phatsakorawong (Phon Bunnag) [พระยาภาสกรวงศ์ (พร บุนนาค), 1849–1920]. Für das Unterrichtswesen beginnen 10 Jahre des Rückschritts und des Stillstands.

 


Abb.: Denkmal für Prinz Damrong Rajanubhab (สมเด็จพระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธอ พระองค์เจ้าดิศวรกุมาร กรมพระยาดำรงราชานุภาพ) vor dem Innenministerium, Bangkok
[Bildquelle: ScorpianPK / Wikipedia. -- GNU FDLicense]


Abb.: Lage des Innenministeriums
[Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]


Abb.: Prinz Damrong Rajanubhab (สมเด็จพระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธอ พระองค์เจ้าดิศวรกุมาร กรมพระยาดำรงราชานุภาพ)


Abb.: Prinz Damrong Rajanubhab (สมเด็จพระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธอ พระองค์เจ้าดิศวรกุมาร กรมพระยาดำรงราชานุภาพ) mit seiner Mutter Chao Chuom Chum (เจ้าจอมมารดาชุ่ม)

S
Abb.: Töchter Prinz Damrong's


Abb.: Prinz Damrong mit Kamera

"Prinz Damrong Rajanubhab (Thai inkl. Titel: สมเด็จพระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธอ พระองค์เจ้าดิศวรกุมาร กรมพระยาดำรงราชานุภาพ) RTGS Somdet Phra Chao Borommawong Thoe Phra Ong Chao Ditsuankuman Krom Phraya Damrong Rachanuphap) (* 21. Juni 1862; † 1. Dezember 1943) war eine der einflussreichsten thailändischen Persönlichkeiten des frühen 20. Jahrhunderts. Er gilt als der Begründer des modernen Schulsystem Thailands, hat als erster Innenminister Thailands die Provinzverwaltung modernisiert, sowie als Amateur wichtige Beiträge zur thailändischen Geschichtsschreibung geleistet.

Leben und Werk

Geboren wurde Prinz Damrong als Phra Ong Chao Ditsawarakuman (พระองค์เจ้าดิศวรกุมาร - RTGS Prinz Ditsuankuman), Sohn von König Mongkut mit seiner Nebenfrau เจ้าจอมมารดาชุ่ม Thai: Chao Chom Manda Chum. Seine Schulerziehung erfuhr er in einer speziellen Palastschule, die sein Halbbruder König Chulalongkorn eingerichtet hatte. Schon in jungen Jahren wurde er für die Arbeit in der Landesverwaltung vorbereitet, so wurde er 1880 im Alter von 18 Jahren Kommandeur der königlichen Leibgarde.

Wirken für die Absolute Monarchie

In den folgenden Jahren baute er die Militärschulen des Landes auf, bis er 1887 stellvertretender Kommandeur der Armee wurde. Zur selben Zeit holte ihn König Chulalongkorn als Erziehungsminister in ein provisorisches Kabinett. Als dann aber 1892 die Kabinettsreform durchgeführt wurde, bekam Prinz Damrong überraschend die Führung des Ministeriums für den Norden (Mahatthai) zugewiesen, aus dem dann 1894 das Innenministerium wurde.

Auf diesem Posten modernisierte Prinz Damrong das traditionelle System der Provinzen, die von den Gouverneuren mehr als lokale Fürsten regiert und vererbt wurden. Aus den Verwaltern, die sich durch Steuern selbst finanzierten und nur einen Teil als Tribut an die Zentralregierung abtreten mussten, wurden von dieser ausgewählte und bezahlte Beamte. Viele kleinere Provinzen wurden aufgelöst und den Nachbarprovinzen zugeordnet, zum Teil, um die Verwaltung zu straffen, aber auch um unwillige Gouverneure zu entmachten. Zusätzlich wurde eine neue Verwaltungsebene, die Monthon (มณฑล) eingeführt, die mehrere Provinzen zusammenfassten und viele der Verwaltungsaufgaben übernahmen.

Nach dem Tod König Chulalongkorns im Jahr 1910 und der Inthronisierung seines Sohnes, König Vajiravudh, wurde die Zusammenarbeit des mittlerweile zweitmächtigsten Mannes mit dem König deutlich schwieriger. Nach einigen Meinungsverschiedenheiten ließ sich Prinz Damrong 1915 von seinen Aufgaben entbinden - offiziell allerdings aus Gesundheitsgründen, da ein Rücktritt ein Affront gegen den absoluten Monarchen gewesen wäre.

Nach seiner Demission widmete sich Prinz Damrong der Geschichte Thailands. Er schrieb viele Bücher über die historischen Ereignisse und die thailändische Folklore, und sammelte auch einschlägige Literatur und Kunstgegenstände. Aus seiner Sammlung entstand später u.a. die Nationalbibliothek.

Prinz Damrong bewohnte ab 1911 (und auch wieder ab 1942) den Varadis-Palast, (วังวรดิศ) [1] ein ungewöhnliches Gebäude mit chinesisch inspirierter Innenausstattung, das von dem deutschen Architekten Karl Döring erbaut worden war. Das Gebäude unweit der belebten Lan Luang Road in Bangkok wurde 1996 – anlässlich des 53sten Todestags des Prinzen – renoviert und in ein Museum mit angegliederter Bibliothek (das Prince Damrong Rachanupab Museum and Library) umgewandelt.

Nach dem Militärputsch 1932

Während des Staatsstreiches von 1932, der die absolute Monarchie in Thailand beendete, floh Prinz Damrong ins Exil nach Penang in Malaysia. 1942 kehrte er nach Bangkok zurück, wo er auch 1943 starb. Anlässlich seines 100. Geburtstages 1962 wurde er als erster Thai in die UNESCO-Liste der herausragenden Persönlichkeiten aufgenommen. Die wichtigsten größeren Veröffentlichungen von Prinz Damrong sind unten zusammengefasst[2].

Sein Sohn Subhadradis Diskul (หม่อมเจ้าสุภัทรดิศ ดิศกุล, 1923-2003) war ebenfalls Historiker, Archäologe und Kunsthistoriker.

Einzelnachweise

  1. Varadis Palace in Bangkok [1]
  2. Kennon Breazeale: The Writings of Prince Damrong Rajanubhab : a chronology with annotations. Bangkok (2008). ISBN 978-974-06-9741-1.
Veröffentlichungen
  • "Der menschliche Körper" (กายคฦห, Kai kharueha). Wachirayan Bd. 1, H. 2, S. 89-122 (30. Januar 1885). Einfache Erläuterungen zu den Funktionen des menschlichen Körpers und Schmerzen im Gedankenkreis des Buddhismus
  • "Pilgerfahrten zum Heiligen Fußabdruck" (เรีองเทศกาลพระบาท, Rueang thetsakan phrabat). Wachirayan. Eine Abhandlung über den heiligen Fußabdruck des Buddha in Saraburi
  • "Die Widmung von Segenswünschen in der thailändischen Kultur". (เรึ่องให้พร, Rueang hai phon). Wachirayan wiset (1890), Neuabdruck in A Collection of Three Miscellaneous Essays (1926). Abhandlung zum siamesischen Brauch der Segenswünsche.
  • "Die Erziehung von Kindern" (วิชาสำหรับตัวเด็ก, Wicha samrap tua dek). Wachirayan wiset, Bd. 5 (53), S. 625-630 (19. Oktober 1890). Neuabruck in Three Kinds of Knowledge (1923). Abhandlung zu den Stufen des Lernens und die Erziehung von Kindern.
  • "Der Chinesisch-Japanische Krieg" (เรีองสงครามจึนกับญิ่ปุ่น, Rueang songkhram chin kap yipun). Wachiyaran, T. 1 (Oktober 1894), S. 46-53. Darstellung der Vorgeschichte des Ersten Japanisch-Chinesischen Krieges und der Beziehungen zwischen China, Japan und Korea, mit Ansichten zum möglichen Ausgang der andauernden Kämpfe.
  • "Unternehmungen während einer Reise auf einem Dampfschiff nach Europa" (กิจการเรึองโดยสารเรึอเมล์ไปยุโรป, Kitchakan rueang doisan ruea me pai yurop). Wachiyaran, T. 1 (Oktober 1894), S. 53-83. Beschreibungen eines thailändischen Dampfschiffpassagiers während einer Reise nach Europa im Jahr 1891.
  • "Alte Edikte zu den Provinzen [von Siam]" (เรีองท้องตราเกืา, Rueang thong tra kao). Wachiyaran, T. 26 (Nov. 1896), S. 2671-2673. Kurze Einführung in elf Dokumente des Ministeriums für die südlichen Provinzen (Kalahom) aus den Jahren zwischen 1792 und 1850.
  • "Siamesische Gesandtschaften während der Ayutthaya-Zeit" (เรีองทูตานุทูตสยมครั้งกรุงทวาราวดีสรีอยุธยาโบราฌ, Rueang thutanuthut sayam khrang khrung thawara wadi Sri Ayutthaya boran). Wachiyaran, T. 31 (April 1897), S. 3061-3076. Kurze Zusammenfassung siamesische Gesandtschaften von König Narai nach Frankreich und Rom in den 1680er Jahren.
  • Richtlinien für die Provinzverwaltung (ข้อบังดับลักสณะการปกดรองหัวเมีองรัตนโกสินทร์ศก๑๑๖, Kho bangkhap laksana kan pokkhrong hua mueang rattanakosin 116). Bangkok: Bamrungnukunlakit Press 2. A. 1900. Veröffentlicht in seiner Eigenschaft als Innenminister.
  • Eine Königschronik von Bangkok während der Ersten Herrschaft (พระราชพงศาวดารกรุงรัตนโกสินทร์รัขกาลที ๑, Phra ratcha phongsawadan krung rattanakosin ratchakan thi nueng). Bangkok: Bamrungnukunlakit Press 1901. Das Manuskript wurde 1869 von Chao Phraya Thipakorawong Mahakosathibodi (Kham Bunnag) fertig gestellt und von Prinz Damrong verbessert und herausgegeben.
  • Einführung in die Königlichen Chroniken (คำนำว่าดัวยตำนานหนัสืพระราชพงศาวดาร, Khamnam wa duai tamnan nangsü phra ratcha phonsawadan). In: Die Königlichen Chroniken (Royal Autograph Edition), Bd. I, S. 1-30. Hrsg. von der Wachirayan Nationalbibliothek, Bangkok. Bangkok: Bamrungnukunlakit Press 1913. Kommentar zur Geschichte und zu den Versionen der Chroniken von Ayutthaya.
  • Ereignisse vor der Gründung von Ayutthaya (อธิบายเหตุการฌ์เมี่อก่อนสรํางกรุงศรีอยุธยา, Athibai hetkan muea kon sang krung sri ayutthaya). Thai Press 1914. Geschichte der Thai und anderer Völker seit Anbeginn bis 1351, dem Jahr der Gründung von Ayutthaya. Auch: Übersetzung ins Englische durch Josiah Crosby: "Siamese History prior to the Founding of Ayuddhya". Journal of the Siam Society, Bd. 13 (1919), H. 2, S. 1-65.
  • Historische Aufzeichnungen und Königschroniken (ดำนานหนังสือพระราชพงศาวดาร, Tamnan nangsue phra ratcha phongsawadan). Hrsg.: Wachirayan National Library Press. (Bangkok): Thai Press 1914. Übersicht über die Quellen und Versionen der Chroniken von Ayutthaya; es handelt sich hier um eine überarbeitete und erweiterte Fassung der Ausgabe 1913. Oskar Frankfurter übersetzte diese Fassung 1915 ins Englische.
Literatur
  • Tej Bunnag: The Provincial Administration of Siam. 1892-1915. The Ministry of the Interior under Prince Damrong Rajanubhab. Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur u. a. 1977, ISBN 0-19-580343-4, (East Asian Historical Monographs).

[Quelle: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damrong_Rajanubhab. -- Zugriff am 2011-10-11]

1892-04-17

Rama V. an Prinz Prachak Sinlapakhom [กรมหลวงประจักษ์ศิลปาคม, 1856 - 1924], Hochkommissar von Nong Khai [หนองคาย]:

"I have made Prince Damrong [ดำรงราชานุภาพ, 1862 -1943] the Minister of the North, which post is responsible for giving orders to commissioners in northern territories...According to the Siamese way of thinking, it seems that I have made a younger brother and a junior man responsible for giving orders to an elder brother and a senior man...I beg you to understand that I want today's Minister to be a Secretary of State [englischer Ausdruck im Thai Original] and not a fourth or fifth king as in former times. I can either dismiss or transfer him from one ministry to another according to his ability...and I therefore want you to consider him as the King's Secretary, whom the King has entrusted with certain jobs. In this way, it is of no importance that a senior man will receive his orders from a junior one...I hope that Prince Damrong's diligence will gradually remove the inefficiencies and obstructions, the bywords for the Ministry of the North, which have wearied you for a long time."

[Quelle: Tej Bunnag [เตช บุนนาค] <1943 - >: The provincial administration of Siam from 1892 to 1915 : a study off the creation, the growth, the achievements, and the implications for modern Siam, of the ministry of the interior under prince Damrong Rachanuphap. -- Diss. Oxford : St. Anthonys College, Michaelmas Term 1968. -- 429 S., Schreibmaschinenschrift. -- S. . -- Faire use]

1892-05

Der Lehrerbildungsanstalt- (Normal School-) Lehrer George H. Grindrod kommt nach Siam.

"In May 1892, an experienced normal school teacher, G. H. Grindrod [George H. Grindrod], whom Morant [Robert Laurie Morant, 1863 - 1920] had hired in England on behalf of the ministry [of education], arrived in Bangkok. It was his task to establish a school for the training of teachers,

"the main object being to instill into the future teachers of the Vernacular schools the real principles of teaching and of education; so that there might be a sound system of teaching going on in the vernacular schools."

The Normal School [Lehrerbildungsanstalt] opened on 12 October 1892, with only three of its projected ten students. Despite the fact that it awarded monthly stipends of twelve baht to its students as an inducement to enter the school and continue their studies, and in spite of continued generous financial support which provided the school with well-qualified European teachers, the school failed to attract any significant number of students, primarily because most youths could see little merit in careers as teachers when much more lucrative positions in other ministries were going begging. The school graduated only twenty teachers between 1892 and 1898, and even by 1902 it had only seventeen students in the second year of its two-year course, of whom seven were monks. The Normal School in the last decade of the nineteenth century had very little impact on primary education in Thailand, however high the hopes placed in it by Damrong [ดำรงราชานุภาพ, 1862 -1943], Morant, and Phatsakprawong  [พระยาภาสกรวงศ์ (พร บุนนาค), 1849–1920], if for no other reason than its inability to produce any significant numbers of trained teachers."

[Quelle: Wyatt, David K. <1937 - 2006>: The politics of reform in Thailand : education in the reign of King Chulalongkorn. -- New Haven : Yale UP, 1969. -- 425 S. : Ill. ; 23 cm. -- (Yale Southeast Asia studies ; 4). -- SBN 300-01156-3. -- S. 150f.]

1892-05-18

Unterrichtsminister wird Phraya Phatsakorawong (Phon Bunnag) [พระยาภาสกรวงศ์ (พร บุนนาค), 1849–1920] unterrichtet den König über Unterrichtskosten:

  • "The royal children, whose English education was in the hands of two Englishmen in 1892, commanded an annual educational expenditure of 13,440 baht on salaries alone, giving them by far the best instruction at the greatest cost.
  • Next came the sons of the Thai nobility, who were taught in the English division of Suankulap School [โรงเรียนสวนกุหลาบ วิทยาลัย] at an annual cost of 416 baht per student.
  • Far below them came the lower-ranked middle class Thai and Chinese who attended Sunanthalai[โรงเรียนสตรีสุนันทาลัย], where they were taught by American teachers at an annual cost of 190 baht per pupil,
  • and the New School, where they were taught by English-speaking Asians at an annual cost of only 21.5 baht per pupil."

[Quelle: Wyatt, David K. <1937 - 2006>: The politics of reform in Thailand : education in the reign of King Chulalongkorn. -- New Haven : Yale UP, 1969. -- 425 S. : Ill. ; 23 cm. -- (Yale Southeast Asia studies ; 4). -- SBN 300-01156-3. -- S. 67]

1892-05-23 - 1892-12-01 ; 1894-02-04 - 1894-10-20

Die britische Lehrerin Katherine Peterkin Grindrod (1862 - 1940) führt in Siam Tagebuch. Die Tagebücher befinden sich  in den UK National Archives.

1892-06

Draft Education Laws

"The minister’s first proposals reiterated the three-stage system put forward in the 1891 decree, with primary, middle, and higher schools.

He also proposed, however, while indicating that the Cabinet was favorable to the idea, that there be two types of primary schools, reproducing in the abstract laws the concrete situation created by the Cabinet in granting full financial support only to four of the old monastery primary schools. These two types were to be the lower primary schools (rongrian munlasaman chan tam) [โรงเรียนมูลสมานชั้นต่ำ ], monk-taught monastery schools following the traditional curriculum but provided with government textbooks and preparing for examinations at a level below Standard I called "practice standard’’ (prayok som) [ประโยคสม]; and the higher primary schools (chan sung) [ชั้นสูง]. These latter were to be provided with some support from local land taxes where possible, both in Bangkok and the provinces. They were to teach both the "practice standard" and Standard I, and were to keep their examinations open to students from neighboring elementary schools. Phatsakprawong’s plan was to keep all the old government monastery schools operating as elementary schools, except for the four well-established schools at wat

  • Thepsirin [วัดเทพศิรินทราวาส ราชวรวิหาร],
  • Chakkrawat [วัดจักรวรรดิ ราชาวาสวรมหาวิหาร], and
  • Prayurawong [วัดประยุรวงศาวาสวรวิหาร] in Bangkok and
  • Wat Senatsanaram [Senasanaram - วัดเสนาสนารามราชวรวิหาร] in Ayudhya [อยุธยา],

which would, in effect, continue as primary schools, i.e. continue teaching to the level of Standard I.

He hoped that later many of the elementary schools would improve their standards and secure the funds to become primary schools. Meanwhile, the four main monastery schools, plus Suankulap and a few of the special schools, alone would continue to teach at the primary level—the level which had been intended as universal in 1891."

[Quelle: Wyatt, David K. <1937 - 2006>: The politics of reform in Thailand : education in the reign of King Chulalongkorn. -- New Haven : Yale UP, 1969. -- 425 S. : Ill. ; 23 cm. -- (Yale Southeast Asia studies ; 4). -- SBN 300-01156-3. -- S. 52f.]

Aufgrund von Protesten erweitert der König die Unterstützung im Juni/Juli auf die Tempelschulen in

1892-06

Die Regierung streicht alle Zuschüsse für staatliche Primarschulen in allen außer vier Klöstern.

1892-06-19

Für die Rajakumara School of Princes [ราชกุมาร] kommen zwei Lehrer aus London an. Die Schule wird im Palast am 1893-01-07 unter der Leitung des Briten Robert Laurie Morant (1863 - 1920) eröffnet werden. Die Schule hat nur bis 1896 Bestand.

1892-06-20

Königin Saovabha Phongsri (เสาวภาผ่องศรี, 1864 - 1919) gründet eine Schule für Buben und Mädchen auf Ko Sichang (เกาะสีชัง). Sie unterstützt diese aus ihrer Privatschatulle. Ko Sichang ist ein beliebter Erholungsord der königlichen Familie.


Abb.: Lage von Ko Sichang (เกาะสีชัง)
[Bildquelle: OpenStreetMap. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung, share alike)]

1892-06-20

Prinz Damrong [ดำรงราชานุภาพ, 1862 -1943] an Prasit Sanlakan:

"I feel that the next steps to take are more important than any other. Our previous administration of the district, sub-districts, and villages, and our control of the people were largely based on divisions and sub-divisions of the common people. In other words, the government used to mobilize the common people, wherever they lived, through their divisional and subdivisional heads. These men were thereby enabled to give orders with disregard for district boundaries, as a result of which there were struggles over territories and the common people's service and commutation tax. I plan to reorganize this aspect or the administration by reversing the present state of affairs. I want the people to be under the elder of the village or locality in which they live, and then several elders to be under a commune elder. I do not want the people to be the slaves of any lord or the servants of any master or to give service or commutation tax to any division. I want to make them all equal citizens. If we can have such a base for our administration, we will naturally be able to mobilize the people, to investigate crimes, and, in general, to order the people more easily than previously."

[Quelle: Tej Bunnag [เตช บุนนาค] <1943 - >: The provincial administration of Siam from 1892 to 1915 : a study off the creation, the growth, the achievements, and the implications for modern Siam, of the ministry of the interior under prince Damrong Rachanuphap. -- Diss. Oxford : St. Anthonys College, Michaelmas Term 1968. -- 429 S., Schreibmaschinenschrift. -- S. 174f. -- Faire use]

1892-07-12

Brief von Rama V. an Phraya Phatsakorawong (พระยาภาสกรวงศ์) / Phon Bunnag (พร บุนนาค) (1849– 1920):

"This is a fascinating letter, not only for the personal glimpse it affords of the kings family life but also for his concern for the opinions of the foreign community and his continuing apprehensiveness at exposing foreigners to the life of the palace and its gossip. As for

"slanderous rumors, " he wote "you might think these died out years ago, but [foreigners] still believe that we worship the white elephant; and when we tell them we do not, they don’t believe us. And the matter of women is the worst of all. ""

[Quelle: Wyatt, David K. <1937 - 2006>: The politics of reform in Thailand : education in the reign of King Chulalongkorn. -- New Haven : Yale UP, 1969. -- 425 S. : Ill. ; 23 cm. -- (Yale Southeast Asia studies ; 4). -- SBN 300-01156-3. -- S. 165, Anm. 45]

1892-07-19

Pritsdang [ปฤษฎางค์] <1851 - 1935>: Confidential notes on Siamese administration, relations with foreign powers and life in the King’s palace at Bangkok, written for me/Mr. Swettenham (British Resident in Perak) in October 1891 by a Siamese gentleman of rank— now in disgrace / Communicated by Mr. Swettenham—privately— July 19 1892. T.H.S(anderson). -- [Abgedruckt in: Morant, Robert Laurie <1863 - 1920> ; Pritsdang [ปฤษฎางค์] <1851 - 1935>: Two views of Siam on the eve of the Chakri reformation : comments by Robert Laurie Morant and Prince Pritsdang / edited and introduced by Nigel Brailey. -- Whiting Bay : Kiscadale, 1989. -- 163 S. : Ill. ; 23 cm. -- ISBN 1-870-838-25-4. -- S. 49 - 79

"Power of the Queens ’ Party

12. Unless a man is of high moral principle, if he happens to be closely related to the favourite wives of the King, he is apt to be most arrogant and despotic and would commit crimes and oppression with immunity [sic]. There is one high officer of State in the Treasury whose position allows him to enrich himself from receiving bribes from the [tax] Farmers generally and whose life is one of immoral depravity. He could almost drag [off] a poor man’s wife or daughter to satisfy his lust, and openly help a man whose case would be lost when fairly tried and as openly receive a bribe. All the Prince Senabody [เสนาบดี, Departementsvorsteher] talks [sic] about his conduct, but no-one dares to tell the King, much less formally accuse him of his crimes because he is a brother of the mother of the first Queen. Prince Swasti [สมเด็จพระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธอ พระองค์เจ้าสวัสดิโสภณ กรมพระสวัสดิวัดนวิศิษฎ์, 1865 - 1935], a brother of the Queen, could abuse the Senabodi or even the King’s own brother (there are only two of them of the highest rank in the State next to the Crown Prince) even at a great council when all the Senabodies, the Councillors and Privy Councillors were assembled to consider or amend the law of the country, at which the younger real brother of the King presided (the present Minister of War who visited Japan last year)."

[a.a.O., S. 57f.]
"Royal Favourites

17. There is a man, the Master of the Royal Mint and many other minor offices (a man in favour can hold and is generally given several offices and receives separate salaries if his official position gives him no means of making money out of it). He was originally a slave, can neither read nor write, takes ten minutes to sign his

name and is stupid in everything but ingratiating himself with the King and his favourite wives by heaping presents on them and devoting all his time and energy to render agreeable services and undertaking all arrangements for ceremonies and receptions. He is the King’s confidant. He built most of the little palaces for the King’s favourites, furnished them and does everything necessary for the establishment of the household. He has a European architect to advise him, for taste he has none, his house being painted in the colours of the rainbow and of a mixed style. He is allowed to appropriate openly the profits of the Royal Mint and [it] is known to everybody and [he] himself acknowledges it to the amount of 700 catties or $33,600 a year besides ordinary remuneration pertaining to his Rank and offices. He receives more than any of the King’s brothers except his two real [full] brothers and Prince Devawongse [สมเด็จพระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธอ กรม พระยาเทวะวงศ์วโรปการ, 1858 - 1923]. Many Princes, including the writer, made calculations as to profit and offered to work the Mint at half the cost, but although the plan was apparently well received and entertained, no change has been made for the last ten years. The reason [problem?] is, if no such immunity is permitted where is the man to find means for all the expenses incurred in the inner palace at the separate [from his?] household?

Another man who [sic] owes the Government thousands of catties through [tax] farming.28 He is a native of China but rose to position by making presents in the first instance and then got one of his daughters to become a concubine of his master, and when she failed to influence the King to favour him, he adopted the only means of getting into favour himself by supplying the little palaces of the favourites, and with the assistance of his clever and busy wife became a jack of all trades and a factotum of one of the King’s favourites and so his debts were allowed to accumulate. Even now he is a farmer of some revenue or tax. Thus a good deal of the revenue of the country is indirectly wasted."

[a.a.O., S. 59f.]
"Administration of Justice

Contrary to the impression of Europeans who write about Siam, the King is perfectly aware of the oppression of his people and the power of purchasing injustice by money, but it is so universal that it is beyond his power to free his people. Besides, the custom of the country is to be blamed for the want of justice. The King has hundreds of wives and concubines and proportionate numbers of their relatives, and his own brothers and sisters, and those who have influence and power can, to a greater or less extent, interfere with justice and exercise arbitrary authority and set the law at defiance. The King has to provide for these people and he cannot give them all money. Different Offices give his Majesty a ready means to better those immediately or distantly related to him and he has to shut his eyes to what they do notwithstanding his perfect knowledge of their acts.

Sometimes petitions accumulate to such an extent that the King would determine to clear cases himself and do justice to his people as far as he can. About ten years ago [1881-82?] His Majesty began looking through the petitions himself and got them all given to him.

There was a heap of paper piled up for him to look into as high as a man and quite filled one room in the verandah of His Majesty’s Office. The King was in despair hut he began to look into some every day. Meanwhile new petitions were coming in (it being the custom that the King or his substitutes receives petitions of his people twice a month). He found it beyond his power to get through even those newly presented and so left the old to take care of themselves; his good intentions and the assistance of his numerous brothers notwithstanding.

The old petitions—thousands—were consequently left to suffer from the elements, and after a few years lying about in the verandah were found to have been [sic] wet through and through and mouldy, some were eaten by white ants and others rotten and the whole was destroyed.

The cases are supposed to be pending still, but old cases give way to new cases and the parties were left to settle by themselves, i.e., those who suffered never got justice done to them but had beside the direct injustice of which they complain to suffer indirect injustice [sic] in having to spend their money and waste their time in making the complaints.

The reverse of the above is true in special cases, viz: in cases where the complainant is His Majesty’s favourite or a relative of such, or of the judge or influential authority, or in case of His Majesty or of his favourites have a grudge against the defendant. Of this a most glaring instance may be cited: This is the case of adultery which occurred four years ago. The respondent was the wife of Phya Dhamrong [Damrong - ดำรงราชานุภาพ, 1862 -1943], the Minister at the Court of Berlin, who was a loose woman but rich. The co-respondents were several, but the real actors amongst them are Phya Raja, eldest son of the ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs [,] and a younger son of the late Kalahome [กลาโหม - Kriegsminister], who ran away when placed as Charge d’Affaires at Paris. The rest suffered justice because they happened to be in intimate relations with the woman at the time these two fellows had connection with her.

The Royal family hates Phya Raja on account of his inflexibility and haughtiness, specially as he speaks disrespectfully and complains of injustice and the untruthfulness of some of the members of the Royal Family, and on one occasion he gave the King offence by calling a woman under his protection, who was once the King’s concubine but had been discharged from the Palace, by the name she was called as the King’s concubine, and the other on account of his loose habits and because he was an immediate relation of the Kalahome whose power the King was reducing.

Everybody was interested in this case, even the King, all the Princes and Noblemen who claim to be of His Majesty’s party were interested and a special Court was constituted to try the case. More than justice was done and in a few days the trial was conducted and all the parties found guilty. The case was prosecuted by the attorney of the absent Minister and specially tried because it was said he was representing Siam abroad. When the question of damage came for consideration no law could be found as to what grade a Siamese Representative enjoys and the Judges could not determine the amount of damage.

But this want of law could not interfere with justice which they wanted to be done, and, while the case was pending, a decree was published in the Government Gazette authorizing the grade of Siamese Minister at 10,000 "Nah" [นา] (square measure of land) and with the additional grade of the co-respondent damages were adjudged varying in amount from 50 to 180 catties, and His Excellency the Minister [in Berlin] was able to get rid of a wretch and enriched himself to the amount of over 500 catties. He is now promoted to be Phya Yothah [พระยาโยธา] and is about to proceed to London as Minister there.

A man sentenced to imprisonment has no fixed term, even in some cases what [ever] terms are mentioned he does not get off easily unless he has someone to help him out. On the other hand many a prisoner gets released if he has influential persons to help him and often bribery can procure his release. If a prisoner however great is [sic] his crime has a powerful master or is himself a rich man with influential family connections, his imprisonment is merely nominal. Unless there be visitors to the Prison he has no fetters or chain put on him and he is free there only not allowed to go outside and be seen. In some cases a prisoner is allowed to build a temporary residence within the prison walls and to have his numerous wives with him and in one case which came directly under the writer’s notice, the prisoner had a few children born in the prison and the gaoler, instead of being a master there, was a slave to the prisoner and had to crouch before him and pay him every respect due to the rank of a high official.

Numerous other cases of injustice and extortion may be mentioned to show that justice is a sham."

[a.a.O., S. 73ff.]

1892-08-15 - 1894-03-02

 William Ewart Gladstone (1809 - 1894) ist Prime Minister Großbritanniens.


Abb.: Mr. Gladstone in "Punch" / redrawn by Harry Furniss

1892-09-07

Rapport à Monsieur le Gouverneur Général sur les territories du Laos Annamite occupès par les Siamois, le 7 septembre 1892, No. 741. d. 14476, GGI, CAOM.

 


Abb.: Laos wird als vietnamesisches Gebiet dargestellt, 1892-09-07
[Bildquelle: Ivarsson, Søren: Creating Laos : the making of a Lao space between Indochina and Siam, 1860-1945. -- Copenhagen : NIAS, 2008. -- 238 S. : Ill. ; 22 cm. -- (Nordic Institute of Asian Studies monograph series ; 112). -- ISBN 978-87-7694-023-2. -- S. 39]

1892-09-25

Rama V. eröffnet das neue Military College.

1892-09-28

Tod vonSomdet Phra Maha Samana Chao Krom Phraya Pavares Variyalongkorn (สมเด็จพระมหาสมณเจ้า กรมพระยาปวเรศวริยาลงกรณ์, 1809 - 1892). Seit 1821 im buddhistsichen Orden. 1851 - 1892 Abt von Wat Bowonniwet Wihan (aวัดบวรนิเวศวิหาร).


Abb.: Pavares Variyalongkorn (สมเด็จพระมหาสมณเจ้า กรมพระยาปวเรศวริยาลงกรณ์)
[Bildquelle: th.Wikipedia. -- Public domain]

1892-10-07 - 1892-12

Prinz Damrong Rajanubhab (สมเด็จพระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธอ พระองค์เจ้าดิศวรกุมาร กรมพระยาดำรงราชานุภาพ - Somdet Phra Chao Borommawong Thoe Phra Ong Chao Ditsuankuman Krom Phraya Damrong Rachanuphap) (1862 -1943), Leiter des Ministeriums für den Norden (Mahatthai - กระทรวงมหาดไทย), macht eine Inspektionstour durch 18 Provinzen des Nordens.

"PRINCE DAMRONG’S INSPECTION TRIP

Meanwhile, Prince Damrong spent six months familiarizing himself with the work of the Ministry of Interior, making no important changes for the time being. By September he felt that he had a grasp of the operations at Bangkok, and he undertook an inspection trip through the northern territories under the Ministry’s control. From October 7 until sometime in December, 1892, he and some of his officials traveled through the provinces, inspecting, observing, and creating consternation.

At Nakorn Sawan [นครสวรรค์], Damrong discovered that his was the first general inspection ever made by a minister; in the past the Minister of Interior would go to the north only in time of trouble—to recruit soldiers or suppress uprisings. For all the twenty-three years of his ministry, Prince Damrong continued his periodic inspection trips, as part of his effort to integrate the nation through effective provincial government. This integration was the basic aim of the Ministry and the prime concern of the King—

"to dissolve all dependencies and half-dependencies in order to make them ‘inner provinces’ and to make all the people Thais, not Lao, not Malay at all. "

The inspection tour gave Prince Damrong full appreciation of the problems he faced. He saw at first hand the workings of kin muang [กินเมือง], and noted the effects of the interaction of this traditional system with the monetary economy emerging in the nation. The provincial governors and authorities were planters and traders, exploiting their positions for personal profit and obtaining favors from the tax farmers. They were practically a hereditary aristocracy.

"The authorities of the towns were rich men in the towns"; and the system was often quite perverse in its operations. For example, "the governors tended to appoint thugs as authorities" in order to suppress robberies. In Ayudhya [อยุธยา], the governor had appointed a rich man named Chang as Luang Bantaotukrat, the local authority in charge of peace and order. Luang Bantao was a man of fame and dignity, and persons under his protection had no fear of bandits. But robberies of strangers in the district were numerous; Luang Bantao was the head of a band of discriminating dacoits.

On his tour, Prince Damrong met a number of these sometimes charming and able predators. He came to recognize that "the rearing of thieves to catch thieves does not work, " and that the system of maintaining order was fundamentally inadequate. To suppress banditry in a particular district by limiting it to the robbery of strangers entering the district or to dacoitry outside the district was in effect to regularize crime and disorder.

The Prince had many hours to think and study, as his entourage moved up the river in its three launches. He came to the conclusion that:

The purpose of public administration is the maintenance of the peace and contentment of the people. This new concept is different from the old one. The old concept was that the country should be free from danger, such as the danger of robbers. This was called "to be in peace, " and can be traced in the law. Thus if the governor was able to maintain order and peace so that no robbery occurred, he would be regarded as achieving his purpose. If there was much disorder, Royal Commissioners would be sent to suppress the evils, or the minister himself might even go if conditions were sufficiently serious. There had thus been no inspection in peaceful times.

The concept that the country must be improved even in time of peace is a new one. It seemed to arise in the reign of King Rama IV, and was strongly emphasized as a principle of public administration from the reign of King Rama V.

The genius of Prince Damrong lay in an exquisite appreciation of both the abstractions and the practicalities. For example, one of the most acute needs of the new ministry—and the kingdom—was money, and the good Prince returned from his northern trip with loaded ships.

In discussing finances with the Minister of Finance before his trip, Prince Damrong was told that large quantities of suai [ส่วย] (capitation or poll taxes) had not been collected in the provinces. Damrong was asked to obtain the money. This the Prince was reluctant to do because of the possible ill effects upon his own position. In exploring the matter with Phraya Woraput Pokai [พระยา วรภัทร์ โภไคย], head of the Department of Suai, an ingenious scheme was devised—a discount on taxes in arrears. When Damrong went north, he took with him the records on delinquent taxes, and meeting with the responsible officials offered them the extraordinary opportunity to settle their delinquent accounts at 50 per cent of the indebtedness. Some even borrowed money to take advantage of this chance, and Prince Damrong collected 200, 000 ticals (about $120, 000) during his inspection, without incurring grievous ill-will. All of this was in coin, as paper currency was not yet in use, and his launches were heavily laden upon his return to the capital. The money was turned over to the Ministry of Finance, and the King cautioned Damrong to be economical."

[Quelle: Siffin, William J. <1922 - 1993>: The Thai bureaucracy: institutional change and development. -- Honolulu : East-West Center, 1966. -- 291 S. ; 24 cm. -- S. 67ff. -- Fair use]

"From October to December of 1392, Prince Damrong made a tour of eighteen of the Ministry of the North's provinces, during which he critically examined the traditional system of provincial administration. It did not take him long to discover its intrinsic defects. He was amazed, first of all, by the distance which existed between the central government and the provincial administration, even though he had taken for granted that the government did not directly administer the provinces. He described how

'Officials came to whisper to Phraya Woraphut Phokhai [พระยา วรภัทร์ โภไคย], the senior official accompanying me, to ask him what had happened that had made me come up to the north, for, previously, the Minister would come only if important events, such as a war, had occurred. Hardly anyone understood, when Phraya Woraphut replied that nothing had happened, and that I had only come to inspect the provincial administration. They all thought that I was a tourist travelling where I liked, for, although a minister, I was but a young man unlike the ministers of former times.'

Prince Damrong noted that the governors made a living out of the provincial administration by using their position to promote their own commercial interests, to protract legal proceedings for the sake of judicial fees, and to embezzle the central government of its revenue. Prince Damrong also discovered that the quality of the personnel of the traditional provincial administration was generally poor. He strongly criticized many of the governors' personal behaviour, although he had noted as a matter of fact their making a living out of the provincial administration. He disliked the governor of Angthong [อ่างทอง] not so much because he made a living out of judicial fees but because the man tried to keep him in the dark about the state of affairs in Suphanburi [สุพรรณบุรี]. Prince Damrong went to Suphanburi against the advice of the governor of Angthong, who had said that there was an old saying that princes were forbidden to go to the town. He ignored the warning, went to Suphanburi, found that the governor was absent, and was presented with countless petitions against misgovernment. In his original report to the King, Prince Damrong implied rather than stated that the governors, among whom were the senile governors of Phichit [พิจิตร] and Sawankhalok [สวรรคโลก], the mentally unbalanced governors of Inburi [อินทร์บุรี] and Nakhon Sawan [นครสวรรค์], and the 'stupid and deeply absorbed in sexual affairs' governor of Phromburi [พรหมบุรี], were the inevitable by-products of the traditional system of provincial administration.

On his return from this exploratory trip to the provinces, Prince Damrong began the search for a new system of provincial administration. He did not have far to look, for he was able to follow the policies which had previously been laid down and to find ideas in the work which had already been done.

He found that his predecessors, between 1874 and 1892, had reached the consensus of opinion that there were five steps which led towards the centralization of the provincial administration.

  • They thought, first of all, that the government should continue to create High Commissionerships, which would centralize the provincial administration at a super-structural level.

  • Secondly, it should terminate the provincial nobility's almost independent existence by transforming them into salaried civil servants.

  • Thirdly and fourthly, it should systematically nationalize the judicial and financial administration of the provinces.

  • Finally, Prince Damrong, following the example set by Prince Sanphasitthiprasong [พลตรี พระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธอ กรมหลวงสรรพสิทธิ ประสงค์, 1857 - 1922] who was the High Commissioner in Nakhon Ratchasima [นครราชสีมา], thought that the government should secure the co-operation of the people for the lower levels of every sphere of the provincial administration."

[Quelle: Tej Bunnag [เตช บุนนาค] <1943 - >: The provincial administration of Siam from 1892 to 1915 : a study off the creation, the growth, the achievements, and the implications for modern Siam, of the ministry of the interior under prince Damrong Rachanuphap. -- Diss. Oxford : St. Anthonys College, Michaelmas Term 1968. -- 429 S., Schreibmaschinenschrift. -- S. 155ff. -- Faire use]

"Prince Damrong himself showed the way to extract money from the provincial nobility when he toured some of the Ministry of the North's provinces in 1892. He made a bargain with the provincial nobility, whereby he let them off a half of their longstanding tribute money (ngoen suai [เงินส่วย]) debts to the ministry of Finance, if they were able to make a full and immediate settlement. He was highly successful and within three months raised 200,000 baht for the government."

[Quelle: Tej Bunnag [เตช บุนนาค] <1943 - >: The provincial administration of Siam from 1892 to 1915 : a study off the creation, the growth, the achievements, and the implications for modern Siam, of the ministry of the interior under prince Damrong Rachanuphap. -- Diss. Oxford : St. Anthonys College, Michaelmas Term 1968. -- 429 S., Schreibmaschinenschrift. -- S. 186. -- Faire use]

1892-10-12

Eröffnung der ersten Lehrerbildungsanstalt Siams (heute: Phranakhon Rajabhat University - มหาวิทยาลัยราชภัฏพระนคร)

Klicken: Video über PNRU

Video über die Phranakhon Rajabhat University (มหาวิทยาลัยราชภัฏพระนคร), 2012
[Quelle der mp4-Datei: PNRU. --https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dbz2l9Ij4w0. -- Zugriff am 2014-03-19. -- Creative Commons Lizenz (Namensnennung)]  

1892-10-27

Die Anglo-Siamese Boundary Commission legt die Grenzen zwischen Nord-Siam und British-Burma fest. Siam verzichtet auf 13 Muang/Mong (မိူင်း / เมือง) in den südlichen Shan-staaten (တႆး).

1892-11-03

In La Porte (USA): Inbetriebnahme der ersten automatischen Telefonvermittlungsstelle. Sie funktioniert mit Hebdrehwählern. Erfinder ist Almon Brown Strowger (1839 - 1902).


Abb.: Nachbau des Strowger-Wählers von 1889, Deutsches Museum, München, 2010
[Bildquelel: Weinraum / Wikimedia. -- Public domain]

1892-12-29

Auguste Pavie (1847 - 1925) an den französischen französischen Außenminister Alexandre Félix Joseph Ribot (1842 - 1923):

"The ease with which the French could occupy Battambang [ក្រុងបាត់ដំបង] is known to the Siamese and it would only require the presence of the China Squadron [L’escadre d'Extrême-Orient] in the Gulf of Siam to produce such a disturbance amongst the population of Bangkok that the Siamese would be obliged to accept whatever conditions we desire for the frontiers.

They are perfectly aware that their little army, composed for the most part of Cambodians, Chains, Laotians and Annamites, hardly a regiment of which is effective in Bangkok, is essential to law and order in the town, four- fifths of whose population belongs to races other than theirs...

They know their weaknesses and count on French ignorance and fear that they might throw themselves into the arms of the English."

[Übersetzt in: Battye, Noel Alfred <1935 - >: The military, government, and society in Siam, 1868-1910 : politics and military reform during the reign of King Chulalongkorn. -- 1974. -- 575 S. -- Diss., Cornell Univ. -- S. 313]


Abb.: Lage von Battambang [ក្រុងបាត់ដំបង]
[Bildquelle: Scottish Geographical Magazine. -- 1886]

Verwendete Ressourcen

ausführlich: http://www.payer.de/thailandchronik/ressourcen.htm

Phongpaichit, Pasuk <ผาสุก พงษ์ไพจิตร, 1946 - > ; Baker, Chris <1948 - >: Thailand : economy and politics. -- Selangor : Oxford Univ. Pr., 1995. -- 449 S. ; 23 cm. -- ISBN 983-56-0024-4. -- Beste Geschichte des modernen Thailand.

Ingram, James C.: Economic change in Thailand 1850 - 1870. -- Stanford : Stanford Univ. Pr., 1971. -- 352 S. ; 23 cm. -- "A new edition of Economic change in Thailand since 1850 with two new chapters on developments since 1950". --  Grundlegend.

Akira, Suehiro [末廣昭] <1951 - >: Capital accumulation in Thailand 1855 - 1985. -- Tokyo : Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies, ©1989. -- 427 S. ; 23 cm.  -- ISBN 4896561058. -- Grundlegend.

Skinner, William <1925 - 2008>: Chinese society in Thailand : an analytical history. -- Ithaca, NY : Cornell Univ. Press, 1957. -- 459 S. ; 24 cm. -- Grundlegend.

Mitchell, B. R. (Brian R.): International historical statistics : Africa and Asia. -- London : Macmillan, 1982.  -- 761 S. ; 28 cm.  -- ISBN 0-333-3163-0

Smyth, H. Warington (Herbert Warington) <1867-1943>: Five years in Siam : from 1891 to 1896. -- London : Murray, 1898.  -- 2  Bde. : Ill ; cm.

ศกดา ศิริพันธุ์ = Sakda Siripant: พระบาทสมเด็จพระจุลจอมเกล้าเจ้าอยู่หัว พระบิดาแห่งการถ่ายภาพไทย = H.M. King Chulalongkorn : the father of Thai photography. --  กรุงเทพๆ : ด่านสุทธา, 2555 = 2012. -- 354 S. : Ill. ; 30 cm. -- ISBN 978-616-305-569-9

Zu Chronik 1893 (Rama V.)