MOVEMENT OF STUDENTS FROM SIAM TO CHINA AND INDOCHINA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R002100600002-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 4, 1999
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: December 10, 1948
• Content Type: REPORT

25X1A
CLASSIFICATION G"d~",'P'7Tf2'"OW '4't~TROL - L.S. OFFICIIIS ONLY
25)tIA9a Approved For Relea Q9( E I 0021006 NO.
INFORM
COUNTRY Siam/China/Indochina
S(IRJECT Movement of Students from Siam to
and Indochina
25X1A6a
PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE or I
China
T
r v Ut DATE DISTR. 10 December 1948
NO. OF PAGES 2
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
1, There are at least two separate programs involved in the movement of stu-
dents from Siam to other countries for reported Communist indoctrination.
Comment. The various press reports concerning this movement
n rather garbled.) one part of the movement is to Yunnan, with
further destinations in some cases. The other is to railitalr and pol-
itical training establishments in Viet Nam.
2. one movement to Yunnan involved 300 students. (Comment. In ad-
dition to Siamese students, there may have also en xnese,- Lao or
other residents of Siam included in the group. The date of the trip
is" not known but is has been implied that it may have been in June
or July 1y118.) The seat of the committee which organized recruiting
was in Sakon Nakhon, and the head of the committee was a relative of
Nai Tieng Sirikhan (name not given). Recruits were split up into
small groups ana travelled from Sakon Nakhon to Chiengrai, then to
Mae Sai where thq*crossed the border into the Shan States. They
then proceeded to Corimuniat-held areas in the neighborhood of Kunming.
3. Representatives of the Sakon NTakhon committee, who accompanied the
groups of students, delivered them to a certain Siamese doctor who
has lived in Ranking for a number of yeerrs. He was sent to Yunnan
by Nai Sanguan Tularak to contact the. students and assume responsibility
for them on behalf of the organization reportedly run by Nai Sm guars
from Shanghai, in con3.inction with Chinese Communists. Comment.
The final destination of the groups is not known.) The total sum o
money spent by the Sakon-Nakhon committee for the organizing and travel
expenses of this movement as far rs Yunnan was 900,000 baht.
4. Information about tsnis movement carne to light as a resultof the con-
fession made to the Siamese government by 11ai Liang Chayakan's nephew.
Comment. Nai Liang, Deputy Minister of Interior in. the
plbul a-16ii t, as had an unsavory political reputation in Siam. In,
connection with the report concerning his nephew's activities as a'
student, it may be of interest to note that his son, Nai Lekha, was
reported to have shot himself to death on 111 October 1948, according
to the Siamese language press. Nai Lekha, it was said, was supposed
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to leave for Australia to continue his studies.) Nai Ltan g's nephsr,
who was recruited by the Sabon Nakhon oominittee, proceeded to Mae Sai,
but lost contact there with the group with which he was travelling,
He took advantage of the situation by returning to Bangkok to amuse
himself, and, being short ct money, asked Nai Liang for some. Under
questioning by Nei Liang as to his whereabouts for the past several
weeks, the nephew told the story.
A separate movement to Viet Nam was comprised of 65 students, some
of whom were Siamese. Most, however, were 'ao residents of Siam who,
despite their Siamese citizenship, did not like to be ealb d Siamese
.and were proud of their Lao blood, One of the chief organizers of
this movement was another relative of Nai Tieng, who accompanied the
group to Annam, via Thak Hek. They then proceeded to Do Luong in
Thanh e, where there is an important Viet Minh training
camp Cow. This is believed to be Doluong at 20.48,
106~-5 o rate security measures are taken at this camp and it
is extremely well-fortified. Full and limited military training and
political training given there is secret. The new arrivals were very
well-treated and given such luxuries as ice (from an electric refrigera-
tor) and American cigarettes. Comment. Reports of these
luxuries in the Viet Minh sons rom persons ih. o have returned to
Siam from that camp.)
Comment, There have been many and varied reports in tke
S mesa press corning the movements of students from Siam. Some
have said that the students were abducted by Communist agents and
sent to China and thence to the USSR. Others have said that the
students were simply going to China. Various pu:p oses were assigned
to the "training", including Communist activity, Free Thai activity
and a separatist movement in northeast Siam. On 29 October 19218, it.
was reported that Nai Thin Phuriphat and his brother, Nei Thong-In,
were arrested in connection with an al leged northeast rebellion pldi,
Others arrested included Nai Chamnong Daoruang and Nai Thawin Udon,
most notably. Police were quoted as saying that some of these men
were responsible for a reported underground network by which youths
from the northeast provinces were sent to China to study Communist
methods. Nai Tieng Sirikhan who had been on trial for treason and
who left Bangkok for the northeast on 28 October, was arrested in
the same connection a few days later. It was reported that Nai Thim
Phuriphat did have a hand in recruiting students for military training
in China, but that after these students returned.and assis ted in
Annamese and. Laotian liberation, the liberated areas would came over
to Siam. On 5 November, the press quoted, Nai Thim as admitting that
he had recruited some 40 to 50 students for study abroad, but that
they were to be used for "some purpose outside the country", and
no ham was intended to Siam.)
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