Thailand

Flag Description

The flag of Thailand shows five horizontal stripes in the colors red, white, blue, white and red. The middle blue strip is twice as wide as the other four. The three colors red-white-blue stand for nation-religion-king, an unofficial motto of Thailand. The flag was adopted on September 28, 1917. The Thai name for the flag is (Thong Trairong), which simply means tricolour flag.
The first flag used for Siam was probably a plain red one, first used under King Narai (1656-1688). Naval flags later used different symbols on the red ground—a white chakra (the Buddhist wheel), a white elephant inside the chakra, or a white disc with a sun inside.Officially the first flag was created in 1855 by King Mongkut (Rama IV), showing a white elephant (a royal symbol) on red ground, as the plain coloured flag was not distinct enough for international relations.The Thailand flag was officially adopted on September 28, 1917. Red is said to symbolize the blood of life, white the purity of the Buddhist faith, and blue the monarchy. The blue and white stripes were added to the flag during World War I.



Modern History

A unified Thai kingdom was established in the mid-14th century. Known as Siam until 1939, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country never to have been taken over by a European power. A bloodless revolution in 1932 led to a constitutional monarchy. In alliance with Japan during World War II, Thailand became a US ally following the conflict. Thailand is currently facing armed violence in its three Muslim-majority southernmost provinces.
European powers began traveling to Thailand in the 16th century. Despite European pressure, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country to have never been colonized by a European power. The two main reasons for this is that Thailand had a long succession of very able rulers in the 1800s and that it was able to utilise the rivalry and tension between the French and the British. As a result, the country remained as a buffer state between parts of Southeast Asia that were colonised by the two colonial powers. Despite this, Western influence led to many reforms in the 19th century and major concessions to British trading interests. This included the loss of the three southern provinces, which later became Malaysia's three northern states.
In 1932, a bloodless revolution resulted in a new constitutional monarchy. During the war, Thailand was allied with Japan. Yet after the war, it became an ally of the United States. Thailand, holding an unstable government, went through a series of coups d'état, but eventually progressed towards democracy after the 1980s.
In 1997, Thailand was hit with the Asian financial crisis and the Thai baht was soon worth 56 baht to the US Dollar compared to about 25 baht to the dollar before 1997. Since then the baht has regained some strength and currently trades around 36-38 baht to the dollar.The official calendar in Thailand is based on Eastern version of the Buddhist Era, which is 543 years ahead of the Gregorian (western) calendar. For example, the year AD 2006 is called 2549 BE in Thailand.
Thailand was a representative democratic constitutional monarchy until the sudden coup on September 19, 2006. The King is well respected and it is a crime to insult any of the Royal Family. The Thai King recently celebrated 60 years on the throne and millions of Thai citizens commemorated the event and showed their reverence by donning yellow t-shirts and/or by wearing yellow wrist bands - the official royal colour. The government is now a military junta headed by Sonthi Boonyaratglin (RTGS: Sonthi Bunyaratkalin). On 1 October 2006, the junta named Surayud Chulanont (RTGS: Surayut Chulanon) as the prime minister of the interim government.



Background Information :

Head of State
:His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej

Head of Government
:General Surayud Chulanont

Capital
:Bangkok

Land area
:513,254 sq.km

Population
:64,470 thousands (2003)

Language
:Thai

Religion
:Buddhism, Islam

Member of
:ASEAN, ADB, ASEM, ESCAP, FAO, IBRD, IDA, IFC, IMF, ILO, UNCTAD, UNESCO, WHO, WIPO, APEC, EALAF

Currency
:Baht

GDP
:US$ 143,303 million (2003) at current market prices

Major Industries
:Electronics, gems and jewelry, footwear, textiles, clothing, mobiles

Major Exports
:Textiles, computer & components, integrated circuits and parts, gems & jewelry, footwear

Major Imports
:Industrial machinery, iron & steel electrical machinery & parts, chassis and body