Constructing Thai–Allied Foundational Narratives: Underground Resistance, POWs, and the Politics of Memory

Abstract

This article aims to examine the construction of foundational narratives concerning the relationship between Thailand and the Allied powers in the period after the Second World War. The study is based on government announcements, Thai political documentary books, and English-language documentary books translated into Thai that were published between 1945 and the early 1960s. The findings show that after the end of the war, there were two mutually accepted official explanations of Thai–Allied relations. The first narrative emphasized domestic factors within Thailand, while the second highlighted the goodwill and friendship of the Allied powers. Most Thai political documentary works were written under these two narrative frameworks, selectively citing certain English-language books in order to enhance their credibility. At the same time, they largely ignored the story of Allied prisoners of war on the Thai–Burma Railway, although this topic was the most widely circulated in the English-language book market during the same period. The study suggests that Thai society systematically selected and managed foundational war narratives by choosing only those stories that were consistent with domestic political contexts and the postwar global geopolitical order. This process operated in parallel with, and in coordination with, foundational narratives in the Allied countries.