Talk:Constitution Defense Monument

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Launchballer talk 15:22, 16 June 2025 (UTC)

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Constitution Defense Monument

• ... that the Constitution Defense Monument in Bangkok (pictured c. 1939) disappeared overnight in 2018 without any official explanation?

• Source: Khaosod English: "A historic monument that commemorated government victory over a pro-monarchy rebellion eight decades ago was removed Thursday night without notice or explanation." See Foreign Policy: "Thai Monuments Are Disappearing in the Dead of Night" for an example that uses "disappeared".

• • Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Elegies (film), Template:Did you know nominations/At the Time of the Louisville Flood
  • Comment: Still needs some final touches; putting this in before the 7-week timer. I'm proposing to use "disappeared" for the hook as it better conveys the incredulity of the event—a huge concrete monument situated in a busy traffic circle suddenly gone missing, with all the relevant officials denying knowledge of what happened to it.

Converted from a redirect by Paul_012 (talk). Number of QPQs required: 2. DYK is currently in unreviewed backlog mode and nominator has 41 past nominations.

Paul_012 (talk) 15:30, 10 June 2025 (UTC).

General: Article is new enough and long enough
New enough: Long enough:

Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Adequate sourcing: Neutral: Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:

Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
Cited: Interesting:

Image: Image is freely licensed, used in the article, and clear at 100px.
Freely licensed: Used in article: Clear at 100px:

QPQ: Done.

Overall: Everything looks good. Article was nominated barely in time and is eligible, with plagiarism being unlikely. Hook seems interesting and is supported by sources. Picture seems good, and QPQ was completed. Lazman321 (talk) 02:46, 13 June 2025 (UTC)

Intro

Paul 012 reverted this version of the intro to a previous version that presented the monument’s names out of chronological order, did not clearly explain the politics behind the monument, split up discussion of the monument’s location across paragraphs, and, to boot, used the word “leveraged” as an egregious substitute for “used”.

The Constitution Defense Monument, built as the Rebellion Suppression Monument, and later also known as the Lak Si Monument, was a public monument in Bangkok, Thailand, erected in 1936 and removed in 2018.

The bloodless Siamese revolution of 1932, which moved the country from an absolute monarchy to a democratic constitutional monarchy, was followed by the 1933 Boworadet Rebellion, an unsuccessful attempt by Prince Boworadetof the Chakri dynasty to overthrow the democratic government and reimpose an absolute monarchy. The Constitution Defense Monument was erected in 1936, a patriotic symbol of the constitutional monarchy and of the Khana Ratsadon(People's Party) democratic government under Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram.

The monument gradually lost most of its political significance after the 1947 Thai coup d'état and the resurgence of the royalist faction. During the 2010s, pro-democracy protest movements revived the Constitution Defense Monument as a focal point. In December 2018, the monument was secretly removed overnight without explanation, an act believed to be part of an ongoing effort to erase the architectural legacy of the People's Party government.

The monument was erected in a plaza in the Bang Khen district, in what was then the city's northern fringe. Later, the plaza became a traffic circle. Known as Lak Si or Bang Khen Circle/Roundabout, it was the meeting point of Chaeng Watthana and Ram Inthra roads with Phahonyothin Road. The site is now occupied by the elevated Wat Phra Sri Mahathat station, an interchange station of the Sukhumvit BTS and Pink MRT lines.

We await with great eagerness his suggestions for improvement. PRRfan (talk) 15:25, 24 June 2025 (UTC)

Hi. Sorry, I thought I could get to it sooner but caught up with stuff. There were a few issues I saw with your and Jmg38's edits: yours lost some vital context as to the monument's purpose, stating only that it was erected three years after the government's victory over the rebellion, and seemed to inaccurately suggest that the monument was built as a patriotic symbol by Phibun, when that symbolism was actually promoted afterwards. Jmg38's addition was a bit overdetailed in the attempt to provide context (it included stuff that wasn't actually mentioned in this article), and flowed rather poorly. As for your comments, I think it's better to present the names in order of recognisability (the names should also be discussed in further detail in the article body, but that's a separate issue), and the location's significance in relation to the rebellion should be presented up front. As for the use of leveraged, I think it's in-line with the dictionary definition, "to use something that you already have in order to achieve something new or better," but I suppose you're arguing that it's superfluous? No problem, we could of course say used instead. Here's my proposed rewrite:

The Constitution Defense Monument, also known as the Lak Si Monument or the Rebellion Suppression Monument, was a public monument in Bangkok, Thailand. It was erected in 1936 to commemorate the government's victory over the 1933 Boworadet Rebellion, and stood until its unexplained removal in 2018.

The monument was built by the People's Party government, which came to power with the abolition of absolute monarchy in 1932. Following their defeat of the rebellion—a royalist coup attempt led by Prince Boworadet—a highway, now Phahonyothin Road, was built to strengthen the government's control of Bangkok's northern fringe, where much of the fighting took place. A monument was built there, in a plaza next to the road, to mark the event and honor the men who died fighting for the government.

Over the following decade, the monument was used as a patriotic symbol for the new constitutional state under Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram, but this narrative was challenged after a 1947 coup d'état brought a resurgence of the royalist faction. The monument subsequently lost most of its political significance, until pro-democracy protest movements revived it as a focal point during the 2010s. In December 2018, the monument was secretly removed overnight without explanation, an act believed to be part of an ongoing effort to erase the architectural legacy of the People's Party government.

The site of the monument is now a traffic circle in Bang Khen district, known as Lak Si or Bang Khen Circle/Roundabout. It forms the meeting point of Chaeng Watthana and Ram Inthra roads with Phahonyothin; its central island is now occupied by the elevated Wat Phra Sri Mahathat station, an interchange station of the Sukhumvit BTS and Pink MRT lines.

I was going to go ahead and edit it into the article, but since a talk page discussion was already started, it could of course use further input. --Paul_012 (talk) 17:29, 24 June 2025 (UTC)

PS If you're wondering why I seem to prefer the phrase "abolition of absolute monarchy" rather than the article title Siamese revolution of 1932, it's a personal preference born out of the desire to avoid the debate over whether it was truly revolution or merely a coup, so I try to use "abolition of absolute monarchy" in my writing as a neutral and precise term that is also reflected in sources. --Paul_012 (talk) 17:35, 24 June 2025 (UTC)

Thanks; you raise good points about the history and the over-detailed description, and your rewrite looks good—particularly the addition of the context of the monument’s location. I would tweak only a few things:

• "built as the Rebellion Suppression Monument and later known as the Lak Si Monument" has the virtue of hinting how the name changed over time;
• I would make this active voice ("Following their defeat of the rebellion—a royalist coup attempt led by Prince Boworadet—a highway, now Phahonyothin Road, was built to strengthen the government's control of Bangkok's northern fringe…”) by changing it to "After they defeated the rebellion—a royalist coup attempt led by Prince Boworadet—the government built a highway, now Phahonyothin Road, to strengthen its control of Bangkok's northern fringe…"

PRRfan (talk) 17:38, 24 June 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for the input. Added to the article with your suggestions. --Paul_012 (talk) 17:47, 24 June 2025 (UTC)

References