POTE SARASIN

'Pote Sarasin' (March 25 1905 - September 28 2000; Thai พจน์ สารสิน, , ) was a Thai diplomat and politician. He served as foreign minister from 1949 to 1951 and then served as ambassador to the United States. In September 1957 when Sarit Thanarat came to power in a military coup, he appointed Sarasin to be the caretaker prime minister. He resigned in December 1957. Sarasin also served as the first secretary-general of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization from September 1957 until 1964.
Pote was a scion of the Sarasin family, one of Bangkok's oldest and wealthiest assimilated Chinese families. The Sarasins had always cultivated good relations with the bureaucratic elite of the 19th century, and by the early 1950s held substantial interests in real estate and rice trading. ^[1] The clan founder, Thian Hee (whose official title was Phraya Sarasinsawamiphakh), was the son of a traditional Chinese doctor and pharmacist who had immigrated from Hainan to Siam in the 19th century.^[2]
A close friend of Phibun, Pote provided financial aid to the field marshal after the latter's release from prison in 1946. In return Phibun had Pote appointed deputy minister of foreign affairs in 1948.
As foreign minister Pote was a willful opponent of Phibun's attempts to recognise the French-backed Bao Dai regime of Vietnam, a stance that had the full support of parliament, the press, and much of the government. Pote recognised Bao Dai's lack of popular appeal and doubted the playboy-emperor's chances of success, and explained to a ''New York Times'' reporter that "if they [the Thais] backed Bao Dai and he failed, the animosity of the people of the country [Vietnam] would be turned against the Siamese."^[3] In the end Phibun discarded months of Foreign Ministry recommendations and on February 28 issued formal recognition of the royal governments of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.^[4] Embittered, Pote resigned. It was the first and last time a Thai foreign minister would quit on a matter of principle.^[5] Shortly afterward, he became ambassador to Washington.
On September 21 1957 Sarit chose Pote to head the coup-installed government, mainly because the American-educated diplomat enjoyed the American's complete conference. Under him largely free and fair elections were held in December. He resigned from the premiership that same month to resume his post as secretary-general of SEATO.

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References

1. The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas, Thailand – Changes in its economic future, page 220
2. A History of Thailand, Chris Baker, Pasuk Phongpaichit, , , Cambridge University Press, ,
3. ''The New York Times'', February 14 1950
4. Thai Foreign Policy, Konthi Suphamongkhon, , , Thammasat University Press (1984), ,
5. Konthi.