1946 Boat People

After the end of World War II, France sent troops into Vietnam in the hopes of occupying Indochina. On March 21, 1946, French soldiers suppressed Vietnamese people heavily until they were pushed close to the Lao border. Vietnamese people had to escape death and tens of thousands of them sailed across the Mekong River into Thai territory. This coincided with the government of the People's Party and Mr. Pridi Banomyong who was a progressive Prime Minister. Therefore, those Vietnamese immigrants were well taken care of regarding humanitarian principles.

However, a turning point in the lives of Vietnamese immigrants in Thailand was when, having been immigrants in Thailand for just over a year, the first coup occurred which ended the power of the civilian government in 1947. Thailand’s move towards military government rule under Field Marshal P. Pibulsongkram continued with Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat and then Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn. During this period, the Thai government implemented Cold War policy by supporting the United States which aimed to suppress communism harshly and intensively.

Thus, throughout the period until the Berlin Wall was demolished and the smoke of the Cold War had faded away at the end of 1989, the fate of the immigrants who were accused of being communists was filled with pressure from both Thai politics and world politics at all times.