Lek Nana

Who was Lek Nana?

Lek Nana was a Thai businessman and politician. One of the founders of Thailand's Democrat Party at the end of World War II, he served as Deputy Foreign Minister and as Minister of Science, Technology, and Energy. A Muslim of Gujarati ancestry, he was a senior member of the Central Islamic Committee of Thailand. The Nana area on Sukhumvit Road derives its name from him.

Nana became Deputy Foreign Minister in 1975 under Prime Minister Seni Pramoj, losing his office in the military coup that followed the October 1976 massacre of leftist protesters at Thammasat University.

He served as an honorary consul-general for Iraq in Thailand until 1981. In December 1982, a powerful bomb exploded in his office building in Bangkok's Chinatown, killing a police bomb disposal expert, injuring 20 other people, and causing a fire that damaged five buildings. Nana was not in the office at the time. His office had formerly been the Iraqi consulate, and a connection to the Iran-Iraq War was suspected to have been the reason.

In 1982 Nana became secretary general of the Democrat Party under party leader Bhichai Rattakul. He also served on the party's executive board repeatedly.