'Bang Rachan' recalls the heroism of Thai resistance to Burma
source : The Nation
The article written by Min Zin under the heading: "Thais yet to 'love their neighbour'" [The Nation, January 20] had some misleading points and omitted some other important points.
Perhaps, the opinion in question tends to be exaggerated and unnatural when you try to get reactions from the audiences of the "Bang Rachan" film. Maybe the writer used his imagination so much that the film could arouse sentiments in Rangoon.
Nevertheless, the heroic acts of the Bang Rachan villagers in attacking the invading Burmese are deserved of remembering by all Thais past and present.
Krom Phrarajwangboworn Maasurasinghanat is not only a chronicler of Siamese history. He was a man of action throughout his life. In fact, he was the most feared warrior, better known among the Burmese rulers at that time as Phraya Sua (General Tiger). Krom Phrarajwangboworn was the younger brother of King Rama I of the current Chakkri dynasty. You might forget the role of this man.
Gen Sua was born in Ayutthaya. He was 14 years old when the capital city was ransacked by the Burmese invaders in 1767. He is one who could give a full account of what he saw of how the capital was destroyed. The young man does not have to take responsibility, but his poetry tells us Thais what went wrong.
The grownup man later vowed to take revenge on the Burmese and determined to win any war with the Burmese he engaged in, preferably on the Burmese soil. "If our army does not win, we won't return," he wrote in his poetry. The result was the capture of Tawai, Tanaosri and Marid. He later abandoned these towns on the order of his brother, King Rama I, who wanted to build the new capital in Bangkok.
It was this general, on instructions of King Taksin The Great, who expelled the Burmese invaders from Chiang Mai at least twice. Chiang Mai is part of Lan Na Thai and not "Lan Na" as mentioned in the article. Lan Na Thai at the time was an autonomous empire and not under the Burmese empire as he mentioned. Chiang Mai was briefly captured by Burmese troops, but soon the northern capital and its outlying provinces were cleared.
The fall of Ayutthaya created six independent states, and Chiang Mai was the centre of one of them. King Taksin took three years to unify the nation. Most actions were in the hands of General Sua.
Krom Phrarajwangboworn Mahasurasighanat, all told, fought sixteen winning battles against the Burmese, Khmer and Lao during the King Taksin period. And another eight victorious battles came during the reign of King Rama I.
Among the fiercest of battles with Burma was the so-called nine Burmese Contingents War. He won the battle in a very short time, using 30,000 troops against five contingents under Burmese King Pradung totalling 89,000 at the Three Pagodas Pass - signalling the end of Burmese invasions.
Sawong Kongyingyeod