Ideology in Phan Waen Fah Award-Winning Poem: Between the Colors Era and the NCPO Era

Abstract

   This article aims to compare the political ideologies in eight winning poems of the Phan Waen Fah Literature Award from 2011 to 2018. The analysis is divided into two groups according to the political situations: the Colors Era, 2011–2018 (three poems), and the NCPO Era, 2016–2018 (five poems). It was found that poems written about the Colors era appeared to have democratic and Marxist political ideologies or emphasized equality. The committee's political opinions influenced the selection of works in 2013, which responded to the political views of the Red Shirt Party. In contrast, in the NCPO era, in which freedom to express political opinions was restricted, democratic and nationalist ideologies were highlighted aiming to reproduce and instill the idea that the duty of the people was to develop the country and maintain democracy. These political ideologies served the purpose of organizing the contest with the support of the parliament to support a parliamentary democracy with the monarch as head of the country. This means to encourage people to exercise their freedom of expression on political issues.