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1984 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public ServiceBIOGRAPHY of Thongbai Thongpao
"I came from a poor family," THONGBAI THONGPAO says, "and I have had much experience with poverty, hardship, bitterness, and hunger." Far from allowing these circumstances to defeat him, however, he became imbued with compassion and a sense of justice that has directed his entire life's work as journalist and lawyer espousing the cause of the oppressed.
THONGBAI was born on April 12, 1926 in Maha Sarakham, capital of Maha Sarakham Province in Thailand's impoverished northeast. His parents, Noo Thongpao and Ngao Rintharuek, rice farmers who eked out a living from their ten-acre plot of land, died by the time he was nine years old. From then on THONGBAI the youngest child, was raised and educated under the loving care of his five older brothers and sisters.
THONGBAI received his earliest schooling at Wat Klang, the Buddhist temple near his home. At the age of five he was given into the care of the abbot, Phrakhrupalad Huat, who taught his eager young pupil how to read and write and inculcated in him habits (such as rising at four or five in the morning) and rules of conduct (such as abstaining from drinking and smoking) that he has retained throughout his life. Nor were the monk's values of simplicity and compassion forgotten in later years.
At the age of seven THONGBAI was enrolled at the primary school located in Wat Klang; after two years he transferred to Municipal Primary School Number One where he remained through fourth grade. At this point he had finished his compulsory education and was put to work on the family farm, then run by a sister and her husband. He tended the fields for two years before he convinced his family to help him resume his education. This time he was sent to Chusilpa Private School in the district of Borabeu (about 25 kilometers from Maha Sarakham town) where he lived with another sister and for his keep helped with housework and care of her son and sold sweets she made at the bus stop. He completed the second year of secondary school (mathayom 2) before transferring to Prasatsilpa, a private school in Maha Sarakham.
A voracious reader during his school years, he would take the little money his brothers and sisters gave him to buy snacks and use it to purchase books. Finally the proprietor of the local bookstore allowed him to use the store as a lending library. Of all the books he read in those days, the ones that stand out in his mind—and which he considers to have had a significant influence on his life—are those that dealt with self-improvement and the acquisition of self-confidence. These included Kao Pay Khang Naa (Getting Ahead) by Charoen Chaichana, several volumes by Luang Wichit Watakan, and a Thai translation of Dale Carnegie's How to Make Friends and Influence People.
From his years at Prasatsilpa THONGBAI remembers Chaiwut Attakorn, son of a prominent family in the province, who spent his university vacations as a volunteer teacher at the secondary school. THONGBAI was struck by his dedication to the people, an attitude the young man ascribed to the ideals inculcated at his university, Thammasat, in Bangkok. On learning also that students at Thammasat did not need to attend classes full time, but could combine work with self-study, THONGBAI determined that one day he, too, would matriculate there.
THONGBAI completed the sixth year of secondary school in 1943—in the middle of World War II when Thailand was essentially occupied by the Japanese—and went to work, first on a tobacco plantation in Maha Sarakham and then as a teacher in his old school, Prasatsilpa. After a year of teaching, the boy approached the members of his family asking if they would support him for the two more years he wanted to continue his studies in Bangkok. His brothers and sisters once again agreed to pool their resources for his benefit, and he enrolled in 1945 at the prestigious Bangkok preparatory school, Suan Kularb College, from which he graduated in 1947. During those two years he lived at Wat Chanasongkhram, eating rice left over from the monks' daily alms collection and earning extra money at night as a pedicab driver.
Finally in mid-1947 THONGBAI was able to fulfill his dream and enroll in the law faculty at Thammasat University, then still called by its original name, Mahawithayalay Thammasat lae Kanmuang (University of Moral and Political Science). Living at Wat Chanasongkhram, studying on his own since class attendance was not required, and supporting himself with a full-time job in the Post and Telegraph Department, THONGBAI earned his law degree in 1951.
It was not long before his training as a lawyer was called upon. When the government of Thailand elected to enter the Korean War as an ally of the United States, a number of citizens protested by forming the Peace Committee of Thailand. On November 10, 1952 they were arrested for sedition, and THONGBAI who was himself detained for three days, defended four of his friends in court. He was young and inexperienced and his clients were sentenced to 13 years and 4 months in prison. Four years later, however, they were granted amnesty and released. This case, later known as the 10 November Peace Rebellion Case, proved to be only the first of many in which THONGBAI defended those whom he considered unjustly accused.
He had always enjoyed writing. During his days at Suan Kularb he tried to earn extra money by writing romantic short stories for the newspapers; the stories were published, but the young author was never paid. And during his university years he made friends with a number of journalists. In consequence, in 1953 he began his career as a journalist, first working for Thai Mai Yuk Mai (New Thai New Era) where he learned the basics of his trade from the editors, Supha Sirimanont and Thawin Wichianchum. Supha in particular was an important influence in his life. From there he moved on to a succession of papers, including Phim Thai (Picture of Thailand), Siam Nikorn (People of Siam), Suphapburut-Prachamitra (The Gentlemen and People's Friends) and finally in 1958 Khao Phap (Pictorial News).
In 1958 the Foreign Relations and Friendship Committee of the People's Republic of China (PRC) conveyed an invitation to some of the newly-released writers involved in the 10 November Peace Rebellion Case, including THONGBAI'S friend and client, Kulab Saipradit, to tour China at China's expense. Since the invitation was extended to any reporter who was interested, THONGBAI himself, then a political reporter of some prominence, decided to join the group. He knew that Thailand did not recognize the PRC, but it was a good opportunity for a political reporter to learn something of that important state on Thailand's border. The group left Bangkok on August 28, 1958.
Unfortunately, while they were away the political situation in Thailand took a drastic swing to the right, and the 12 writers and journalists suddenly realized that they would be returning to a hostile environment. Sarit Thanarat, who wrested the reins of power from Prime Minister Thanom Kittikhachorn in October 1958, was arresting any person suspected of communist sympathies, including any who had visited a socialist country. Two of the party—Kulab Saipradit and Suchart Phumboriraksa—elected to remain in China rather than face imprisonment in Thailand again; THONGBAI and the others, convinced of their innocence and believing in the rule of law, returned home. Flying from China via Rangoon, Burma, THONGBAI and his group of six other writers were met on arrival at the Bangkok airport on December 20, 1958 by a squad of police from the Special Branch and taken to their headquarters. The seven were joined by three others who came later making a group of ten detainees.
According to Article 87 of the rules governing criminal procedure, no person arrested could be held without charge for longer than 91 days. However, Sarit decreed that this law could be suspended in the case of suspected communists. THONGBAI and his companions had expected to be arrested upon arrival; what they did not foresee was that they would remain in prison for the next four years—and it would be eight years before THONGBAI himself would be released.
The inequity of their detention notwithstanding, this small group of political prisoners was not idle in prison. From the moment of their incarceration in Pathumavan Suppression Quarters, they joined with other political prisoners to form committees to pool their resources to obtain more food and news of the outside world, and to organize their own legal aid. THONGBAI became secretary-general of the overall organization, the Detainees Welfare Committee.
After several months in police cells at Pathumavan, the group was transferred, along with several hundred other political prisoners, to the newly constructed Laad Yao Jail, now named Klongprem Jail. Nearly a year later all political prisoners, including THONGBAI were again transferred to the other newly constructed jail in the same district then called Temporary Laad Yao Jail and now the Womens Jail. By then THONGBAI and his friends were a highly organized team. Their first concern was food. The daily allowance for prisoners was only 2.98 baht (US$0.15). It was therefore the job of the food committee to pool donations sent to some of the prisoners by friends and relatives and to monitor the quality of the regular prison fare. In addition the prisoners convinced their wardens to allow them to farm all the unoccupied bits of land in their section of the compound. THONGBAI and others raised in the rural areas dug ponds to raise fish and ducks, set up chicken coops and planted vegetable gardens. Although the common criminals in another section of the jail were not permitted to participate in these projects, they benefited indirectly by the overall improvement in the prison diet. They also benefited from the school the political prisoners established for their children who, unable to receive care at home because their mothers had to work, lived in prison with their fathers.
THONGBAI and two friends who understood English were assigned to monitor news on radio broadcasts from India, Peking, Moscow, the BBC from Britain and VOA from the U.S. Each morning and evening these reports were diligently studied. They also organized sports activities—badminton, basketball, volleyball and bowling. These are some of the things one should be prepared to do "if you are put in jail," THONGBAI said in the book, Laud Yao Communist, which he wrote about his prison experiences. His choice of title is a sardonic twist on the fact that, although neither he nor his friends were communists, all were detained as communist suspects.
That THONGBAI chose to immerse himself in activities for the betterment of others is especially poignant, considering how little benefit he himself received from the outside. He was the only one of his group who, in all the eight years of his incarceration, was not helped or visited by relatives. He realizes his brothers and sisters in the distant provinces were both too poor and too frightened to come to visit him, but he recalls with bitterness that his common-law wife, by whom he had three children, deserted him upon his arrest. After a few years he, along with a number of labor leaders who had been detained, began receiving a subsidy of about 300 baht a month from the American-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). In THONGBAI's case the grant was due to his having served previously as legal adviser to the Railway Union of Thailand.
It was in prison, ironically, that THONGBAI first achieved prominence as a lawyer. Among the political prisoners were seven other attorneys who, along with THONGBAI, immediately formed a legal aid team. They gave training and instruction in courtroom techniques to hundreds of political prisoners, because under martial law defendants in cases of suspicion of communism were tried in a military court where they did not have the right to a defense attorney. They also prepared appeals and statements, questions for defendants to ask witnesses at the trial and especially for communist detainees held three years in jail without trial "appeals for the court to investigate the holding of suspects by police in breach of law and human rights." In 1962 they succeeded in convincing the Supreme Court that Sarit's suspension of Article 87 was illegal. After four years of unjust imprisonment many suspects, including THONGBAI's colleagues, were released—all, that is, except THONGBAI.
He had been cleared of wrongdoing for visiting China but the police had discovered that THONGBAI had once been a member of the Afro-Asia Solidarity Committee of Thailand—an organization by then thought to be a communist front—and now officially charged him in military court for being a member of a communist organization. The Afro-Asia Solidarity Committee had originally been formed to support the participation of the Thai government, then under the leadership of Phibun Songkhram, in the Bandung Conference of 1955. THONGBAI had been asked to join because he was a prominent reporter.
Looking back on the event, it would seem that the military authorities had need of a scapegoat to save face after their defeat in the Supreme Court. THONGBAI was told originally that all of his group should be discharged because there was no evidence against them "but His Excellency (Saris) does not like to set you free and that is why all of your group have been detained." Anxious not to prolong the suffering of his colleagues on his account, he told the police officer, "if His Excellency wants to keep me, let him keep me alone and let my colleagues go." It was only later that he learned from fellow reporters that Sarit seemed to have no idea he was still in jail.
Meanwhile THONGBAI went on the offensive. No sooner was he recharged than he accused his captors in criminal court with illegally detaining him and his fellow inmate, Thep Chotinujit, chairman of the Socialist Front of Thailand. The criminal court declared that it had to wait until the military court made its decision as to their guilt. If THONGBAI and Thep were found innocent in military court, then the criminal court would try their case against the military prosecutor and the police.
The hearing dragged on for another four years, but under Thai law THONGBAI was able to leave jail when necessary to practice law and to defend his colleagues in court. He was adviser during this time to "many, many political cases." Finally in 1966 the military court informed him that it was ready to read the verdict, a verdict which he believed would inevitably prove their innocence. Were this to happen, their acquittal would prompt the criminal court to begin proceedings against the police and the military prosecutor, a prospect that was not at all agreeable to the latter. To avoid this, an attempt was made to persuade both THONGBAI and Thep to withdraw their case from the criminal court in return for which the military would withdraw charges. THONGBAI refused. "I wanted the verdict to be read," he says, "because I believed in our innocence."
Finally the military found an offer he could not refuse; in exchange for the withdrawal of their case in criminal court, the military would drop charges, not only in this case, but in all three cases pending against Thep. Since these cases involved about 70 other equally innocent detainees, THONGBAI could not but agree. On July 9, 1966 he was released—after eight years of illegal detention.
As he could not immediately find work on a newspaper, THONGBAI and three or four lawyer friends set up a small civil and criminal law practice. Two or three years later he opened a small office of his own and took on apprentices. "I think every lawyer, once he has found himself, should go out on his own and then train others," THONGBAI says. Since his clients, then as now, consisted mostly of those without the resources to pay for their defense, he supplemented his income by working part time for a Thai language daily with the English name, Daily News.
His reputation as a defender of human rights spread quickly, and in 1967 he was asked to advise two political prisoners—a teacher and a monk who were accused of plotting to assassinate the prime minister, Thanom Kittikhachorn, and deputy prime minister, Prapas Churusathira. Thanks to his assistance, the case was dismissed.
In 1969 THONGBAI was called on to defend the Daily News itself. The paper was involved in a celebrated libel case concerning corruption on the part of the Lord Mayor of Bangkok in the purchase of about 500 acres of land for public housing projects. The paper claimed that the owner of the land was willing to sell it for only 27 million baht, but "could not find a buyer" until the price was raised to 207 million baht—the difference allegedly finding its way into the pockets of city officials. The Lord Mayor sued the Daily News for libel, but THONGBAI was able to prove the charges of corruption and win the case. From that time on his reputation was established.
In 1970 THONGBAI married Wasna Khlaijaeng, a nurse, who was to bear him three children: a daughter, Apisuda, born in 1971; a son, Janabodi, born in 1973; and another daughter, Suriyaporn, born in 1974.
From 1972 until October 1973 THONGBAI once again joined a political weekly newspaper, Maharasdara (The Great People). Then for a brief period between 1974 and 1976 he was owner and director of the Khon Noom Publishing House, that printed, among other things, his account of his years in prison. During this time he continued to be involved in a number of civil rights cases in which the defendants— students, teachers and laborers—were accused of insurrection, communist activities and lese majesty.
Lese majesty, or violating the dignity of the king, is a crime of major importance in Thailand, and one that can be used by the authorities to suppress social criticism, as was done in 1975 against Pradeum Damrongcharoen. A student at Ramkhamhaeng University, Pradeum was the editor of the daily newspaper, Satcha Dharma (The Truth), which published a poem alleging official discrimination—favoring northern hill tribesmen over lowland farmers. The farmers, said the poem, produce enough rice to feed the entire nation and to earn precious foreign exchange; but they are hungry and lack clothes and medicine. The tribesmen, on the other hand, do nothing for the nation; they only produce opium. Yet, people aid the hill tribes and forget the poor farmer.
The legal controversy raged around the term lao thewada used to describe the benefactors of the hillmen. The king himself was one of their chief benefactors, being deeply concerned with substituting profitable mountain crops such as coffee, for opium poppies. The term thewada literally means "divinity" or "angel," and was interpreted by the police to refer directly to the king. THONGBAI (as chief of the four lawyers who agreed to defend Pradeum) was able to convince the court that lao (several) thewada referred instead to numerous persons and groups, including foreigners, who were involved in such aid activities.
The same group of lawyers defended four students and five workers who had been accused of insurrection; the military court finally dismissed the case. This was followed by a similar successful defense of 11 teachers and villagers who had also been accused of insurrection and of communism. THONGBAI proved the suspects had been tortured and forced to confess to crimes they didn't commit.
For his successful defense of Pradeum THONGBAI won the hearts of thousands of idealistic young students. It was not surprising, therefore, that in 1976 they came to him for help after one of the most tragic episodes in contemporary Thai history.
Former strongman, Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn, who had been ousted in 1973 amid bloody student riots, returned to Thailand in 1976 as a Buddhist monk in order to "make merit" for his aged father. His appearance, though cloaked in a religious aura, upset the already fragile government of Seni Pramoj. Demonstrations by students, laborers and others were followed by a severe rightist backlash in which two workers were lynched by the police for distributing anti-Thanom leaflets.
On October 5, as Seni was trying to form a new cabinet, thousands of students rallied at Thammasat University. They dramatized their protest by showing a mock lynching of the dead workers. Rightists claimed that a student chosen for the lynching resembled the Crown Prince and the pantomime was therefore an outrageous act of lese majesty.
As the students bedded down for the night on the campus, right wing elements took to the airwaves, accusing the students of planning an armed insurrection. At dawn the next morning the campus was invaded by police, riot squads, the border patrol and bands of rightists who were armed with everything from clubs and rocks to M-16s, carbines and anti-tank guns. The melee left at least 43 persons dead; students who escaped claimed many more perished.
Of the 3,154 students arrested, 19 were charged—18 in military court and one in criminal court. The accusations ran from trespassing on government property to lese majesty, communism and murder and attempted murder. The 18 students charged in military court were not at first allowed to have a lawyer, but in 1977 Prime Minister Kriangsak Chamanand bowed to public pressure and changed the law to permit those charged in military court to have legal aid. Asked by their relatives, THONGBAI agreed to represent the students; more than 60 other lawyers joined him.
The much publicized case of the "Bangkok 18" dragged on for two years, during which time groups of Thais living abroad and foreign human rights committees and religious organizations, invited THONGBAI to speak to them about the progress of the hearings. In 1977 he spoke in the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand and Japan. Many prominent figures, including former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, and German and English representatives of the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists, flew to Bangkok to observe the hearings.
Partly as a result of THONGBAI's efforts, a great deal of money was raised, both in Thailand and abroad, so that when the case was concluded, there was still 100,000 baht (US$5,000) in the bank. THONGBAI characteristically told the students that since the money was raised on their behalf, it belonged to them and not to the lawyers.
As the hearings progressed it became increasingly clear that THONGBAI could prove not only the innocence of the students—who had been unarmed the night of the demonstration—but the guilt of certain rightwing cliques who had provoked the massacre. At this point emissaries from the government began to sound out THONGBAI in an attempt to discover a face-saving method of ending the case.
To Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Krasae Chanawongse (1973 Magsaysay Awardee for Community Leadership) THONGBAI pointed out that Kriangsak had three choices. First, he could withdraw the charges; second, he could stop the hearing and order the judge to read the verdict, which would proclaim the innocence of the students; third, he could grant amnesty to the defendants. In the first case the prime minister would leave himself open to political attacks from the right. In the second he would be accused of unwarranted interference with the judicial process. The third alternative, however, would be politically astute. Since amnesty had to be approved by both the cabinet and the legislative assembly, he would, in the end, simply be acting on their behalf.
Not surprisingly, Kriangsak proposed amnesty and in 1978 the assembly granted it, not only releasing the jailed students, but permitting hundreds of others who had fled to the jungles to return home. THONGBAI publicly protested; he would rather, he said, have had the verdict read out, proclaiming the innocence of the students.
In recent years THONGBAI's concern for civil rights and vigilance on behalf of the legally underprivileged has extended to Thai laborers working overseas. In 1981 he learned of four workers sentenced to death in Kuwait for allegedly killing a moneylender. Disturbed by the idea that these four might not have received a fair trial, he wrote to the World Council of Churches in Geneva, which subsequently sent him to Kuwait to investigate the situation and lend assistance if he could.
After talking with the condemned men, THONGBAI asked the Kuwaiti court for a retrial on the grounds that when the four were arrested, they were subjected to an inquisition and tortured to confess. Since they could not speak Arabic, they depended on an interpreter who, he believed, had interpreted wrongly. The court acceded to a new hearing with an interpreter of THONGBAI's choice, and agreed in principle to allow him to ask questions at the hearing through a Kuwaiti lawyer. THONGBAI found a Thai student in Kuwait to be his interpreter, acquired the necessary permission from the Ministry of Justice and the court to represent the workers, and flew back to Bangkok to await the hearing. But when the time for the hearing came he was not granted a visa, even though he appealed to the head of state. He learned later that the sentence of two of the workers was commuted to life imprisonment; the other two were hanged.
As a result of the coverage of this campaign by the Thai media, the government was awakened to the plight of its overseas workers. Now those in need can request assistance of the Labor Department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
THONGBAI today is constantly besieged with requests for legal assistance from the politically or economically underprivileged. He is presently handling cases of some 35-75 slum dwellers threatened with eviction, and of political prisoners petitioning for a retrial. Since 1977 he has cooperated closely with Amnesty International and the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists. He is a member of the Ministry of Education's Subcommittee for Human Rights and Peace, and in 1983 was elected member of the Standing Committee on Human Rights of the Asian and Pacific Lawyers' Association (Lawasia). He is consultant to the Washington-based Human Rights Internet and the Robert F. Kennedy Memoria1 organizations, and in 1984 was elected president of the Regional Council on Human Rights in Asia.
Over the years THONGBAI has been presented with numerous certificates and plaques of appreciation. Most notable among these is a 1979 certificate of merit presented by the Lawyers Association of Thailand for outstanding service to the public. Other awards have been from Thai organizations both at home and abroad.
THONGBAI still insists that his first love is journalism, not law, and he maintains very close ties with the media. He serves without pay but only for the honor and his love of journalism as legal advisor to the Confederation of Thai Journalists, the Reporters' Association of Thailand and the Provincial Journalists Association of Thailand. He is also retained by a number of newspapers, including the English language dailies, Bangkok Post, Bangkok World and Nation. The papers consult him with regard to possible libel suits before publishing any controversial article or editorial. He maintains the same position in connection with the Confederation of Thai Trade Unions, the Labor Congress of Thailand, and various specific unions in a number of cities and provinces.
In addition THONGBAI lectures on law and journalism at Thammasat University's Faculty of Mass Communications, and Chiang Mai's Faculty of Humanity. He is a regular columnist for both an English and two Thai language newspapers, Bangkok World, Matuphum (Mother Land) and Matichon (Public Opinion), and writes for other newspapers and journals, particularly legal publications. He also serves as president of the Writers Association of Thailand and is coordinator of a press training project which is now in its sixth year, a joint project between the Faculty of Mass Communications, the Provincial Journalists Association and the Frederich Ebert Foundation of Germany.
He travels frequently in his capacity as human rights lawyer, either as guest speaker at conferences or, as in the case of a Leader Grant to the United States in June 1984, as observer and student of human rights proceedings. In 1982 and 1983 he accompanied the Thai Association of Musicians on cultural tours of North Korea as their legal advisor. He remembers these occasions with a degree of irritation due to attempts on the part of the Koreans to propagandize the group. He responded to one insistent professor: "I am a Buddhist and the Lord Buddha teaches us to make decisions on our own, from our own study of the situation, and not to decide by the word of others, even if they are old and scholarly. I agree that your way may be good for you, but for Thailand it is different. We have a different way."
Today a disarmingly forthright and youthful looking 58 years old, THONGBAI gives no evidence of feeling sorry for himself for his early hardships or his prison years. New acquaintances speak of being impressed with his strength of character, zest for life, and compassion. His square, open face easily breaks into an engaging smile and his voice, more than the usual soft tones of the Thai, expressively conveys his mood, be it pleasure, concern or righteous dismay.
A chophouse on Therd Thai Road in Thon Buri serves as both his office and his home. The office, only four by eight meters, is so tiny that "when all the lawyers are present, there is no room for a client to enter," he comments. The second floor where he and Wasna live with their three children, is also extremely cozy; "It helps make us a very close family, both physically and emotionally," he adds.
THONGBAI and his lawyers are on call 24 hours a day. If a client cannot come personally, they are happy to advise him by telephone or letter. Most of the clients are too poor to pay in full for legal services, but they normally offer the small sums necessary to cover incidental expenses, such as the cost of paper and bus fares. Occasionally a court will award a substantial sum to a client, allowing him to pay normal legal fees, though even then such fees are never demanded. THONGBAI usually leaves it up to the client to decide how much he will pay; less than one in a hundred fails to pay anything at all. His most remunerative work has probably been with labor unions.
Although he is best known for his unhesitating response in legal defense of persons held on unsubstantiated charges and of the poor who have no means to pay normal legal fees, THONGBAI claims that he really prefers journalism to law. His prowess as a human rights lawyer stems not from his love of law, but from his determination to fight injustice: "I know very little about law, I know only justice," he insists.
September 1984
Manila
REFERENCES:
"Arrests and Protests," Asiaweek. Hong Kong. July 27, 1984.
Nation, Richard. "October Revolution—Part II," Far Eastern Economic Review. Hong Kong. October 15, 1976.
______. "Thanom: The Unwanted Catalyst," ibid.
"Political Prisoners Appeal to Gen. Prem," Bangkok Post. August 17, 1983.
Rainat, Joyce. "Long-Awaited Triumph of the Shophouse Lawyer," Bangkok Post. August 19, 1984.
Thongpao, Thongbai. "The Legal Profession and the Protection of Human Rights." Paper presented to the Magsaysay Award Foundation. Manila. September 1984.
______. "My Office and My Home." Speech given to Bangkok Rotary Club. August 23,
1984. (Mimeographed.)
Yenbamroong, Chatchai. "Thongbai, A Lawyer of the People," (No publication given.)
Bangkok. September 20,1981.
Interviews with Thongbai Thongpao and persons in Thailand acquainted with him and his work.
