In an old British sit com, Citizen Smith, the eponymous character once stated that when he rules the country everyone will be equal. Hell abolish names and everyone will have a number instead. For 6 centuries, Thailand actually did this.
In the 15th century King Borommatrailokkanat (1448-1488) brought the loose Thai kingdoms under a strong centralising authority. To seal his authority he formally introduced what was already a loosely practiced system. Often called Thai feudalism, Sakdina (field power), is actually anything but that. Under the system every Thai in the country was assigned a status number called a na (the modern Thai word for field). The na ranged from 5 - 50,000, or nothing at all.
Thais were initially ranked into four classes, each with an eligibility for a certain amount of na. These ranks were,
Royals: 500-50,000 na
Nobles: 100-30,000 na
Commoners: 5-25 na
Slaves: 5-25 na
For each na a person had, he was then assigned 1 rai (2/5s of an acre) of paddy fields.
Being as all the land was owned by the monarch and land was granted by royal decree it provided a powerful tool for monarchs to increase and decrease privilege by modifying individual na.
A sizable proportion of the population however had the ignominious status of having no na. Women who were not of noble birth were not eligible to be granted na, along with the sizable number of Chinese labourers. Common women who had initially had no na gained na through the man they married. Noble women who had na could also gain or lose na dependant upon the fortunes of their husband.
While na determined how many rai of land a man had, it didnt determine how successfully he managed it and it was quite possible for a person with less land to become richer. The consequence of this being social mobility was possible and an individual increase could his na. The most common way to do this was by marriage. Wealthy a man could marry the daughter of a noble with higher na and increase his.
There was also a method for non-wealthy to do it too. A father blessed with a beautiful daughter may try to marry his daughter to someone of high na and receive an increase in rank in return. When a woman married she received a portion of his na relative to her rank as a wife. The 1st and 2nd wife would receive more na than the 3rd and 4th wife and so on.
Unlike in the west, Thai Feudalism didnt die. As the country progressed Sakdina became more formalised. In the reign of King Chulalok (1782-1809) the system was codified as a legal system in the 3-Seal Code.
Na was used in legal disputes to determine how much weight a persons testimony carried. The higher the na, the more believable the witness. On top of this when two people of differing na were in court. If the case went against the person of higher na, they received a lighter sentence because they had lost to a person of lower na. On the other hand if it went against the person of lower na, they received a harsher sentence because they lost to a person of higher na.
The system of Sakdina went into decline as Thailand fell under western influence and began to capitalise in the latter half of the 19th century. Sakdina was finally abolished in the 1932 coup.
Six centuries of Sakdina has had powerful impact on the Thai psyche and its legacy lasts to this day. Thailands sex industry, so un-understandable to outsiders troubles the Thai mind little, as the peasant girls who are employed by it, would have been of no na in past times.
In 2001 Duangchalerm the son of a minister drinking in a bar, drew a pistol and gunned down a police sergeant-major for accidentally treading on his foot as he passed. It was no surprise he was acquitted on grounds the 3 other low ranking policemen drinking with their friend were considered unreliable witnesses to the murder in comparison to Duangchalerms testimony.
Edited by Paul - 07-Oct-2006 at 11:46