COUNCIL FOR PEACE AND ORDER (NCPO)
5.1 Background of the Creation of Patriotic Songs of the NCPO
CHAPTER 5
THE FINDINGS ON THE PROCESS AND STRATEGIES IN
by Field Marshal Prayut Chan-o-cha (while composing the first song, “Return Happiness to Thailand,” he was the Chief-of-Command of the Royal Thai Army and the Head of the NCPO). The composed lyric was passed to other involved people experienced in music production, arrangement, and singing, and was publicized finally.
It can say that Field Marshal Prayut Chan-o-cha was the founder of patriotic songs in the NCPO period. If he did not introduce his first song, “Return Happiness to Thailand,” after the coup d‟etat on May 22, 2014, no other patriotic songs would follow.
“I received his lyric on a piece of paper in his handwriting. He gave it to me and asked me to do a song. This song took only three days to be finished after the submission.” (Major General Krisda Sarika, personal communication, May 19, 2016).
From the narration of Major General Krisda Sarika, the military commander of Royal Thai Army Band, who got acquainted with Field Marshal Prayut Chan-o-cha very well, it was found that the content or lyric of “Return Happiness to Thailand,”
originated from the song composed by Field Marshal Prayut Chan-o-cha, in handwriting just a few days after the coup d‟etat. The song was arranged and finished by Major General Krisda Sarika in three days. Thus, it could be produced timely for disseminating to the public to respond to the situation and to deal with the people‟s emotion who just acknowledged the coup at that moment. Therefore, the origin of this song should be related to the coup, led by Field Marshal Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Wassana Nanuam (2015, p. 132) stated that it was regrettable that, so the Royal Thai Army Band possessed no such evidence to be recorded in the history as it was the first song the coup cabinet used to persuade people to accept the coup.
It was remarkable that generally after the coup d‟etat in the past, old or traditional patriotic songs were presented in parallel to the news about the coup.
However, for this time, patriotic songs were newly composed to communicate to people, so it was the first time to have communication about the coup d‟etat through the song in Thailand.”
As for the background of the composer, Field Marshal Prayut Chan-o-cha had no educational background in music nor experiences in song composing. However, he loves music and songs personally. Besides, he likes to reveal his feeling through written words. Thus, his distinguishing characteristics was to do or to write “by heart.” “When he has anything in mind, he will write out by the heart.” (Colonel Nattapon Ditsayabut, personal communication, July 6, 2016).
This distinctive characteristic of Field Marshal Prayut Chan-o-cha in revealing his feeling on paper was widely known and perceived by his subordinates who worked closely with him, “Frankly speaking, he is a poet.” (Colonel Phoomrat Luesiri, personal communication, July 6, 2016).
Since the leader of the nation originated the patriotic song, it was easy for him to make a command and operate anything rapidly. Besides, the offices supporting his song production were offices under the control of the Army. It enabled the creation of songs to go smoothly and timely in a political context.
“Once the song, “Return Happiness to Thailand,” became well known and popular, it was pervasive that other songs could be followed easily, especially being promoted in the program “Thailand moves forward” every evening at 6.00 PM and also in the programs of Army Radio Station.” (Wassana Nanuam, 2015, p. 132).
Therefore, in producing other songs, a secure channel for disseminating them was guaranteed because of the power of Field Marshal Prayut Chan-o-cha, the composer and Head of the NCPO.
5.1.1 A Brief Biography of Field Marshal Prayut Chan-o-cha, the Composer of the NCPO’s Patriotic Songs
Yukol Wisetsung (2016) stated that Field Marshal Prayut Chan-o-cha was born on March 21, 1954, in Nakhon Ratchasima. He is a son of Senior Colonel Prapat and Khempetch Chan-o-cha. His nickname is “Too” or called by mass media as “Big Too.” He is the oldest son among four children of the family, and one of his brothers
is General Preecha Chan-o-cha, permanent secretary or undersecretary of the Ministry of Defence.
For his marriage life, he married Associate Professor Naraporn Chan-o-cha, an instructor of Chulalongkorn University Language Institute, and both have twin daughters: Miss Thanya and Nittha Chan-o-cha.
He finished his elementary school (Grade 7) from Sahakit Wittaya School, Lopburi, and then further his early secondary school at Pibul Wittayalai in the same province. However, he studied there for only one year before moving to Wat Nuannoradit School. During that time, his father was stationed at Thanarat Fort Military Base, Prachuab Khiri Khan.
Field Marshal Prayut owns impressive academic performance and Chaiya Phruek Magazine, Thai Watana Panich Press, published about his studies in 1969 that a student, of grade 10 aged 15 years, named Prayut Chan-o-cha never got scores lower than 80% since his elementary up to early secondary education. Also, he gave an interview at that time that he was determined to further his studies at Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School with an expectation to be an Army officer in the future. (The Editorial Board, Nation weekend, 2014)
From the analysis of the background of the song creation process of the NCPO, two main factors enabled the process to be accomplished:
1) Field Marshal Prayut Chan-o-cha, the Head of the coup in the NCPO period
The primal element that initiated the process of patriotic-song creation was the leader of the 13th coup, Field Marshal Prayut Chan-o-cha, the Chief-in- Command of Royal Thai Army. Before the coup, the military and the coup were both perceived as unrighteous in democratic systems and were what people tended to protest. Therefore, a coup d‟etat seemed to be obsolete, and none expected that Thai Military would do a coup d‟etat again since the world does not accept it.
Surachart Bamrungsuk (2015) defines “a military coup” as a process of changing the leader of the government that does not comply with the rules or requirements in the constitution. Such change occurs by military forces (or military instruments) that is austere or claimed to be austere.”
Therefore, in principles, a coup is not what people in a society or the world accept since it is out of the rules specified in the constitution. Besides, it is the exertion of power without people‟s approval. Accordingly, the most critical thing a coup executor needs to do is to find ways to make people understand his necessities of executing a coup and getting people‟s acceptance. Consequently, the process of creating patriotic songs of the NCPO is to create righteousness for the military government as a starting point for making people accept their songs and then their coup and their seized power at last. Primarily, due to the personal background of Field Marshal Prayut Chan-o-cha who loves music, he thus used it to reflect his intention and to communicate what he felt in that situation during that time. It was why he wrote the song, “Return Happiness to Thailand” to Royal Thai Army Band for song production and publicity until it became popular and well known nationwide
It was because the leader of the coup was Field Marshal Prayut Chan-o- cha who possessed unique characteristics of being a soldier but loving music and writing by his heart, he could reveal what he thought and felt through the songs as shown in at least four songs of this study. Thus, without this leader, the song-creation process could not have been developed up to a point studied in this research. Besides, he extended his music work by using songs from the private sectors to combine with his existing songs. Thus, it would not be possible to see the series of the song “Return Happiness to Thailand,” which were unique and different from other patriotic songs in the past.
Accordingly, the origin of the song-creation process should have come from the initiation of the strong desire of the coup leader, Field Marshal Prayut Chan- o-cha, who owns the concept of using a song to communicate to people after the 13th coup.
2) A desire to talk to people through the songs to create an understanding and cooperation.
Besides, personal interest in music of the NCPO leader, a desire to communicate the purposes of the NCPO in executing a coup also led to the composition of songs from the leader and to the production team from the first, to the second, etc. The continual production of patriotic songs made people realize their identity and existence. The background and their unique attributes, which integrated
the music work of both government and private producers, formed a balanced mixture in the NCPO‟s songs summarized as following:
Figure 5.1 Shows the Main Factors Leading to the Process of Creating Patriotic Songs of the NCPO
5.2 People Involved in the Process of Creating Patriotic Songs of the