Thammanoon Thien-ngern

5th Governor of BangkokIn office
10 August 1975 – 29 April 1977Preceded bySai HutacharoenSucceeded byChalor ThammasiriSecretary-General of the Democrat partyIn office
26 September 1970 – 6 October 1975Deputy Minister of the InteriorIn office
15 February – 13 March 1975 Personal detailsBorn(1913-06-28)28 June 1913
Phan Thong district, Chonburi province, SiamDiedFebruary 6, 1989(1989-02-06) (aged 75)Political partyDemocrat

Thammanoon Thien-ngern (Thai: ธรรมนูญ เทียนเงิน; 28 June, 1913 – 6 February, 1989) was a Thai politician who served as the 5th appointed and 1st elected governor of Bangkok from 1975 to 1977.^[1] His time as governor, which was one year and 262 days, was the shortest time of any elected governor.^[1] He was the uncle of the 25th Prime-minister of Thailand, Samak Sundaravej.^[2]

Early life and education

Thammanoon Thien-ngern was born on 28 June 1913 in Phan Thong district, Chonburi province, Siam and is of Chinese descent. Thammanoon completed his secondary education at Debsirin School in Bangkok in 1931. However, Thammanoon was arrested in 1932 and sent to Mae Hong Son province until he returned to Bangkok in 1937. When he was back in Bangkok, he attended Thammasat University and graduated in 1942.^[3]

Political career

In 1946, Thammanoon was elected as a Minister of Parliament to the House of Representatives for Chonburi province. He was later elected again as a MP for Chonburi province in 1957. Thammanoon moved to Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya where he was elected as an MP in 1969 for the Democrat party. He had only served for two years when in November 1971, Prime-minister Thanom Kittikachorn staged a coup against the government, closing the House of Representatives.^[4]

From 26 September 1970 to 6 October 1975, he served as the Secretary-General of the Democrat party. He was also the Deputy Minister of the Interior from 15 February to 13 March 1975.^[4]

Governor of Bangkok

Following the enactment of new laws in 1975, the post of governor was made an elected position. During the 1975 Bangkok gubernatorial election, the election was contested by five candidates. The election only saw a 13.86% turnout.^[5] Originally, the Democrat party was planning of running Surat Osanukroh [th] as its candidate but later changed to Thammanoon.^[4] Thammanoon won the election with 99,247 votes on 10 August.

Following the 6 October 1976 massacre, conflict began to rise between Thammanoon and the Deputy Governor of Bangkok, who resigned in protest against Thammanoon. His resignation was followed by two other Deputy Governors. Conflicts between Thammanoon and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration led to his removal by Prime-minister Thanin Kraivichien on 29 April 1977.^[5]

References