Bradley remembered

[elef]

BRADLEY REMEMBERED

 

Published on Jul 17, 2004

 

 

New York missionary helped revolutionise Thailand by starting the first-ever paper and introducing Western medicine

 

When Westerners first shook hands with the superstitious Siamese of bygone days, spoons, forks, feather pens ? and gunboats ? were all pointedly used for signing tricky trade treaties. And the more villainous and corrupt visitors would face execution, often before they reached old age.

 

However, one Westerner, well into his advanced years when he arrived, was welcomed and respected by locals and remains dear to the Thai heart: Dr Dan Beach Bradley. This New York missionary-cum-medical doctor came to Bangkok in 1835 with a printing press from Singapore, the first such machinery in Thailand.

 

Nine years later, Bradley began a momentous chapter in Thai history by launching the first Thai newspaper, the Bangkok Recorder, on July 4 (American Independence Day), 1844, during the third reign. It was the Kingdom?s inaugural newspaper.

 

Historians and printing businesses plan to celebrate what would be Bradley?s 200th birthday, as wreaths pile up at his grave on Charoenkrung Road.

 

Bradley is remembered for sparking an age of Western-style modernisation, which did not reach full speed until the fifth reign under King Chulalongkorn (Rama V).

 

Bradley?s efforts to promote Western medicine and printing technology were the most spectacular undertakings the doctor tackled, and were addressed at a seminar yesterday titled ?Two Centuries of Dr Bradley? at Chulalongkorn University.

 

?While some prominent Westerners in Siam posed political problems, Dr Bradley thrived with his honesty and loyalty to the Kingdom,? said Mongkhol Dejnakharin, who has researched Bradley?s legacy.

 

Bradley proved his loyalty and love for the Siamese people through a number of altruistic missions, including vaccination Siamese people against smallpox, a project that was initially met with scepticism and later wholeheartedly embraced by Thais.

 

For his devotion to the Kingdom, King Rama III rewarded Bradley and ordered court physicians to practise vaccination techniques with him.

 

The doctor ran a clinic near Wat Koh in Chinatown that received 3,500 patients per year, many of whom were able to see daylight again after Bradley removed their cataracts.

 

Bradley?s popularity in the court was eventually guaranteed thanks to King Mongkut (Rama IV), who allowed the doctor to treat his illnesses and provide medical care to his sons and daughters.

 

The doctor?s concern for social issues were always in the fore, said academic Amara Prasithratasin. Bradley was worried Siam?s largely ignorant public was engaged in gambling, superstition, polygamy and dangerous healing rituals.

 

?He was strongly against gambling in the capital,? Amara said.

 

Besides his medical mission, Bradley?s printing pioneering helped put Siam on the road to modernity.

 

Bradley?s press ? created by George H Hough and missionary Ann Hazeltine Judson, who studied the Thai language from Thai slaves in Burma ? was used to print 9,000 copies of the 1939 royal proclamation banning opium. He also printed the Kingdom?s first ever newspaper, which eventually inspired a generation of journalists to take up pad and pen.

 

Through the paper, the Siamese won access to the outside world with a flurry of reports on the West?s technological advances like the first steam engine and astronomy.

 

?Most importantly, Bradley used the Thai language to project ?Thainess? to the West with the use of the Thai language,? Dr Nidhi Eaosriwongse said.

 

The Bangkok Recorder was bilingual and Bradley led English-Thai, Thai-English translation, presenting world affairs to Bangkok in a factual manner.

 

?As an editor, Bradley committed himself to reporting the truth about democracy and elections, something never before heard of in this country,? Amara said.

 

Bradley?s straightforward reports caused him trouble, like when he accused the French ambassador Monsieur Aubaret of evading the liquor tax, an incident that provoked the ambassador into legal action.

 

During his 38 years in Siam, Bradley succeeded in all of his endeavours ? except his missionary work.

 

?Throughout his life, he managed to convert two Siamese to Christianity, but in the end he only had one convert, because he?d banished the other guy for failing to wear proper Christian dress to church,? Mongkhol said.

 

Manote Tripathi

 

 

 

The Nation

[pattaya127]

Wonderful post, Elef. There has been many farangs who brought a lot to thailand. No matter the current political forces and conventional wisdom feeding off a negative image of the farang, our heads can be held high. Even as simple tourists or expats. The rich tapestry that is Thailand today is not only made of thai threads, even though they might be the most colourful or visible ones.