THAILAND DEATH OF A MAN ON A VISIT TO THAILAND TWO YEARS 
AGO, LYNDON JOHNSON SAID THAT THE TIME HAD COME FOR SOUTH 
EAST ASIA TO / SEPARATE THE MEN FROM THE BOYS " 
IN ITS BATTLE AGAINST COMMUNIST AGGRESSION . IN EVERY SENSE OF 
THE WORD, THAILAND'S PREMIER SARIT THANARAT WAS A MAN . A 
BLUFF, HARD-WENCHING, HARD-DRINKING SOLDIER, SARIT WAS ALSO A MASTERLY PRO-WESTERN POLITICIAN 
WHO STABILIZED THAILAND'S CHAOTIC GOVERNMENT AND SAGGING ECONOMY, ROOTED OUT OFFICIAL 
CORRUPTION AND CRACKED DOWN HARD ON COMMUNIST INFILTRATION . IN THE 
" DOMINO " VIEW OF SOUTHEAST ASIA, ACCORDING TO WHICH THE 
COLLAPSE OF ONE COUNTRY COULD KNOCK OVER ALL THE OTHERS, THAILAND 
ALONE STOOD FIRM, SURROUNDED BY TOTTERING NEIGHBORS LAOS, CAMBODIA, VIET NAM, 
BURMA . WHEN SARIT DIED LAST WEEK AT 55, THE U.S 
. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FIVE YEARS WAS FORCED TO 
WORRY WHETHER THAILAND WOULD BECOME ANOTHER OF SOUTHEAST ASIA'S WAVERING DOMINOES 
. TRICK ACHIEVED . THOUGH MARSHAL SARIT RULED THAILAND AS AN 
ABSOLUTE DICTATOR, HE HAD A STRONG SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY TOWARD COUNTRY 
AND PEOPLE . " ANYBODY CAN STAGE A REVOLUTION, " HE 
SAID AFTER SEIZING POWER IN A BLOODLESS COUP IN 1957 . 
/ THE TRICK, ONCE THE REVOLUTION HAS BEEN STAGED, IS WINNING 
PUBLIC APPROVAL . " ON DOCTOR'S ORDERS, HE WENT ON THE 
WAGON, BEGAN HOUSECLEANING THAILAND FROM TOP TO BOTTOM . HE BANNED 
OPIUM SMOKING, AND WHEN A RASH OF FIRES BROKE OUT IN 
BANGKOK'S BUSINESS DISTRICT ONE WINTER, HE ORDERED FOUR CHINESE MERCHANTS SHOT 
A BRUTAL BUT EFFECTIVE REMINDER THAT THE ANNUAL CUSTOM OF BURNING 
SHOPS TO COLLECT INSURANCE FOR THE CHINESE NEW YEAR WAS NOW 
TABOO . SARIT SLASHED THE PRICE OF RICE, TRANSPORTATION AND SCHOOL 
FEES, ALLOCATED AS MUCH MONEY FOR EDUCATION AS FOR DEFENSE . 
HE ENCOURAGED FOREIGN INVESTMENT AND INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION, HAD MORE THAN $500 
MILLION IN FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES SOCKED AWAY, SPURRED A HEALTHY 6 
PER CENT ANNUAL RISE IN THE G.N.P . WHEN COMMUNIST GUERRILLAS 
STEPPED UP THEIR CAMPAIGN OF SUBVERSION IN THE SCRUBBY, IMPOVERISHED NORTHEAST 
PROVINCES, SARIT SET IN MOTION A CRASH $300 MILLION PROGRAM OF 
MEDICAL, ECONOMIC AND EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT THAT UNDERCUT THE RED THREAT . 
THOUGH HIS RULE WAS ABSOLUTE, HE ALWAYS KNELT BEFORE THAILAND'S KING 
BHUMIBOL ADULYADEJ, ENCOURAGED THAIS TO ACCEPT THE KING AS HEAD OF 
STATE AND SYMBOL OF NATIONAL UNITY . THREE WEEKS AGO, SARIT 
WENT TO THE HOSPITAL WITH COMPLICATIONS ARISING FROM CIRRHOSIS OF THE 
LIVER AND A LIFETIME OF HARD LIVING . AMONG HIS OTHER 
AILMENTS : ENLARGEMENT OF THE HEART, HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, KIDNEY DISEASE, 
CONGESTED LUNGS . FROM HIS HOSPITAL BED, HE SANG TO HIS 
WIFE AN OLD THAI BALLAD THAT BEGINS : / THE LOVE 
OF 100 MISTRESSES COULD NOT BE COMPARED TO THE LOVE ONE 
HAS FOR HIS OWN WIFE.' ? THE U.S . ARMY SURGEON 
GENERAL RUSHED TO BANGKOK TO TREAT SARIT, BUT HIS HEART FINALLY 
GAVE OUT . THE JOB AHEAD . SARIT'S DEATH OCCASIONED NATIONAL 
MOURNING AND HONORS USUALLY ACCORDED ONLY TO THAILAND'S ROYAL FAMILY . 
DRESSED IN A FIELD MARSHAL'S UNIFORM, SARIT'S BODY WAS PLACED ON 
A BIER IN BANGKOK ON THE GROUNDS OF THE MARBLE TEMPLE 
. THOUSANDS OF MOURNERS POURED SCENTED WATER FROM CONCH SHELLS OVER 
THE CORPSE'S EXTENDED RIGHT HAND AS A GESTURE OF FAREWELL AND 
AS A PLEA FOR FORGIVENESS FOR ANY GRIEVANCE COMMITTED AGAINST THE 
DEAD MAN . THEN THE BODY, FOLDED IN A FETAL POSITION, 
WAS PUT IN AN ORNATE GOLDEN URN, WHERE IT WILL REMAIN 
UNTIL IT IS CREMATED, PROBABLY SOME TIME IN THE EARLY SPRING 
. SARIT'S SUCCESSOR IS FORMER VICE PREMIER AND DEFENSE MINISTER THANOM 
KITTIKACHORN, 52, A HANDSOME, AMIABLE ARMY GENERAL WHO SERVED UNIMPRESSIVELY AS 
PREMIER IN 1958 WHEN SARIT WAS LAID UP IN A WASHINGTON 
HOSPITAL . THANOM WAS A CLOSE FRIEND OF SARIT'S AND A 
LOYAL SUPPORTER OF HIS POLICIES ; HE IMMEDIATELY APPOINTED A NEW 
CABINET ESSENTIALLY THE SAME AS HIS PREDECESSOR'S, PROMISED TO FOLLOW SARIT'S 
PRO-WESTERN, ANTI-COMMUNIST POLICIES . MOST IN HIS FAVOR : HE INHERITS 
A FUNCTIONING GOVERNMENT IN WHICH THE ARMY PROVIDES POWER, THE TOPFLIGHT 
CIVIL SERVICE CONTRIBUTES ADMINISTRATIVE ABILITY, AND THE MONARCHY LENDS LEGITIMACY TO 
THE WHOLE . BUT REMEMBERING THAILAND'S SHAKY, PRE-SARIT PAST, IN WHICH 
COUP FOLLOWED COUP, THAILAND'S MOST SOPHISTICATED LEADERS KNOW THAT THIS SYSTEM 
WILL HAVE TO WITHSTAND A STRONG DRIFT BACK TO THE OLD 
PATTERN . THE THAI NATION FACES " A TREMENDOUS TASK, " 
SAYS ABLE FOREIGN MINISTER THANAT KHOMAN . " IT IS, AS 
YOU SAY IN AMERICA, A HELL OF A JOB . / 
