Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Some Thai military officers cried this week when they saw their beloved sovereign at a military parade. Arriving in a yellow Rolls-Royce, King Bhumibol Adulyadej looked frail, unwell and unsteady on his feet at a time he is mourning the death of his sister Princess Galyani.
On Thursday night he failed to turn up at Chitralada Palace in Bangkok to make a speech marking his 81st birthday. Many Thais were shocked and saddened. It was the first time in memory he has failed to make his birthday-eve address to the nation.
Two of his children said he had a throat infection that was not serious. But people here are worried.
Sixty-two years after he ascended the throne, they believe only their king can end a political crisis in Bangkok that has made the country of 65 million largely ungovernable.
Some worry that unless he suggests a resolution it could face an eruption of class-based violence, something Thais have avoided for 700 years.
The one-time jazz-playing constitutional monarch has saved Thais from bloodshed at several critical times in the past.
After troops killed scores of student demonstrators on the streets of Bangkok in 1992, television pictures showed a pro-democracy leader crawling on a palace floor to see him.
All Thais are expected to prostrate themselves before the king - and on this occasion he did not hide his displeasure. "Turn to each other and do not confront each other to solve the problem," King Bhumibol told them.
The protagonists obeyed immediately, such is the influence of the world's longest-serving monarch, whose stature and popularity have grown over the years of his reign.
Is it too late for King Bhumibol to again work his political magic, even if his health allows him? The crisis gripping the country appeared to have reached a point of no return this week.
Thousands of anti-Government protesters have been allowed to run amok for months.
Because of the sieges at Bangkok airports, 1000 flights of flights were cancelled, hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists were stranded, Thai businesses lost hundreds of millions of dollars, the jobs of 1 million workers were threatened and the tourism industry was devastated.
The fundamental problem in the "Land of Smiles" is a seemingly unbridgeable divide between relatively well off urban people and millions of poor rural people who are challenging the long-standing domination of the conservative elites.
In Bangkok bombs sometimes explode, killing or wounding. A government complex is overrun, forcing the democratically elected prime minister from the capital to the northern city of Chiang Mai, too afraid for his life to return. Protesters occupy his office for 197 days. Security forces fail to act.
Since May eight people have been killed and 737 wounded in street clashes. Anti-Government protesters in the People's Alliance for Democracy say they are fighting to protect the monarchy against the billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted and exiled former prime minister who they say wants to create a republic.
They loathe and fear Thaksin, who continues to exert broad authority over ruling MPs as he moves between Beijing, Dubai, Hong Kong and Cambodia.
But who are these people who appear to be above the law? There are more women than men among them, more older people than young and more middle class than other classes.
They are influential, mostly educated people who feel under threat from Thaksin's mass popularity: he won landslide election victories in 2001 and 2005, the result of vote-buying, free health care, generous development schemes and other populist policies.
The rural majority are too poorly educated to responsibly choose their representatives, the protesters say.
They are well organised and funded and supported by unnamed "powerful" establishment figures in the military, the judiciary and royal family. They wear yellow, the royal colour, and have been dubbed the royalists. But that is a misnomer as almost all Thais are royalists.
Their weapon of choice is the golf club. They can be mobilised instantly by text message.
The People's Alliance for Democracy wants democracy to be wound back, with only 30 per cent of MPs elected and the rest appointed. To achieve this it appears to want enough violence and disruption so as to provoke a military coup that would bring down the government.
"Shed your blood if that is necessary," the PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul, a media mogul, urged protesters on November 28.
But analysts say the protest leaders risk over-reaching, losing much of their support if they continue radical mass action that damages the country.
Some previously influential figures in the People's Alliance for Democracy thought the airport sieges went too far.
Its rivals are the "red shirts", the pro-Thaksin camp, who are angry at repeated attempts to oust the parties elected by the rural masses. They want to amend the constitution to allow Thaksin to make a comeback.
Commentators in Bangkok are warning that if pushed too far the red shirts could lash out. They have armed thugs just as violent as those of the People's Alliance for Democracy. Their leaders are urging restraint, fearing an escalation of the violence could prompt a coup.
The military, which has staged 19 coups or attempted coups in 70 years, has so far refused calls to take over.
Its commanders believe the crisis would only re-emerge sometime later and they would be accused of failing the nation.
Analysts say the military will be extremely reluctant to stage a coup unless widespread violence erupts or the king indicates it should.
The People's Alliance for Democracy protesters ended their sieges on Wednesday when the Constitutional Court banned the Prime Minister, Somchai Wongsawat, and scores of other MPs from politics and dismissed his governing party for voting fraud. But ruling MPs have joined a new party and plan to appoint a new prime minister when they reconvene parliament in the next few days. The People's Alliance for Democracy protesters are certain to regard whoever is elected as a Thaksin stooge and are threatening to renew their protests.
Hostilities have ceased out of respect for King Bhumibol's birthday. "It is nothing more than an intermission," said Charnvit Kasetsiri, a historian and former rector of Thammasat University in Bangkok.
"It is not over until the two sides of the political spectrum can reconcile, and the prospect of that happening is very bleak. Neither side has been completely ruined and until that happens Thailand will go from one crisis to another. Both sides are beyond reconciliation or typical Thai-style compromise."
On Thursday night he failed to turn up at Chitralada Palace in Bangkok to make a speech marking his 81st birthday. Many Thais were shocked and saddened. It was the first time in memory he has failed to make his birthday-eve address to the nation.
Two of his children said he had a throat infection that was not serious. But people here are worried.
Sixty-two years after he ascended the throne, they believe only their king can end a political crisis in Bangkok that has made the country of 65 million largely ungovernable.
Some worry that unless he suggests a resolution it could face an eruption of class-based violence, something Thais have avoided for 700 years.
The one-time jazz-playing constitutional monarch has saved Thais from bloodshed at several critical times in the past.
After troops killed scores of student demonstrators on the streets of Bangkok in 1992, television pictures showed a pro-democracy leader crawling on a palace floor to see him.
All Thais are expected to prostrate themselves before the king - and on this occasion he did not hide his displeasure. "Turn to each other and do not confront each other to solve the problem," King Bhumibol told them.
The protagonists obeyed immediately, such is the influence of the world's longest-serving monarch, whose stature and popularity have grown over the years of his reign.
Is it too late for King Bhumibol to again work his political magic, even if his health allows him? The crisis gripping the country appeared to have reached a point of no return this week.
Thousands of anti-Government protesters have been allowed to run amok for months.
Because of the sieges at Bangkok airports, 1000 flights of flights were cancelled, hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists were stranded, Thai businesses lost hundreds of millions of dollars, the jobs of 1 million workers were threatened and the tourism industry was devastated.
The fundamental problem in the "Land of Smiles" is a seemingly unbridgeable divide between relatively well off urban people and millions of poor rural people who are challenging the long-standing domination of the conservative elites.
In Bangkok bombs sometimes explode, killing or wounding. A government complex is overrun, forcing the democratically elected prime minister from the capital to the northern city of Chiang Mai, too afraid for his life to return. Protesters occupy his office for 197 days. Security forces fail to act.
Since May eight people have been killed and 737 wounded in street clashes. Anti-Government protesters in the People's Alliance for Democracy say they are fighting to protect the monarchy against the billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted and exiled former prime minister who they say wants to create a republic.
They loathe and fear Thaksin, who continues to exert broad authority over ruling MPs as he moves between Beijing, Dubai, Hong Kong and Cambodia.
But who are these people who appear to be above the law? There are more women than men among them, more older people than young and more middle class than other classes.
They are influential, mostly educated people who feel under threat from Thaksin's mass popularity: he won landslide election victories in 2001 and 2005, the result of vote-buying, free health care, generous development schemes and other populist policies.
The rural majority are too poorly educated to responsibly choose their representatives, the protesters say.
They are well organised and funded and supported by unnamed "powerful" establishment figures in the military, the judiciary and royal family. They wear yellow, the royal colour, and have been dubbed the royalists. But that is a misnomer as almost all Thais are royalists.
Their weapon of choice is the golf club. They can be mobilised instantly by text message.
The People's Alliance for Democracy wants democracy to be wound back, with only 30 per cent of MPs elected and the rest appointed. To achieve this it appears to want enough violence and disruption so as to provoke a military coup that would bring down the government.
"Shed your blood if that is necessary," the PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul, a media mogul, urged protesters on November 28.
But analysts say the protest leaders risk over-reaching, losing much of their support if they continue radical mass action that damages the country.
Some previously influential figures in the People's Alliance for Democracy thought the airport sieges went too far.
Its rivals are the "red shirts", the pro-Thaksin camp, who are angry at repeated attempts to oust the parties elected by the rural masses. They want to amend the constitution to allow Thaksin to make a comeback.
Commentators in Bangkok are warning that if pushed too far the red shirts could lash out. They have armed thugs just as violent as those of the People's Alliance for Democracy. Their leaders are urging restraint, fearing an escalation of the violence could prompt a coup.
The military, which has staged 19 coups or attempted coups in 70 years, has so far refused calls to take over.
Its commanders believe the crisis would only re-emerge sometime later and they would be accused of failing the nation.
Analysts say the military will be extremely reluctant to stage a coup unless widespread violence erupts or the king indicates it should.
The People's Alliance for Democracy protesters ended their sieges on Wednesday when the Constitutional Court banned the Prime Minister, Somchai Wongsawat, and scores of other MPs from politics and dismissed his governing party for voting fraud. But ruling MPs have joined a new party and plan to appoint a new prime minister when they reconvene parliament in the next few days. The People's Alliance for Democracy protesters are certain to regard whoever is elected as a Thaksin stooge and are threatening to renew their protests.
Hostilities have ceased out of respect for King Bhumibol's birthday. "It is nothing more than an intermission," said Charnvit Kasetsiri, a historian and former rector of Thammasat University in Bangkok.
"It is not over until the two sides of the political spectrum can reconcile, and the prospect of that happening is very bleak. Neither side has been completely ruined and until that happens Thailand will go from one crisis to another. Both sides are beyond reconciliation or typical Thai-style compromise."
14 comments:
Bhumibol is younger than Sihanouk why so frail? Sihanouk can still sing and can blow ash. Maybe his time is near. The Thais people must be ready for the inevitable.
'Cos Sihanouk consumate with lots of virgin young girl during his playboy times. Virgin girls invigorate your health, according to Chinese belief. He even boasted about his sexual prowess in his book, My War with the CIA. Monique is like his 100,000 sex partners, honestly. (And I must emphasize, they are virgin).
Ah Thai king i hope you will be in grave soon. Because you and your people always look down Cambodian people and now it is on time that your and your citizents do bed on Khmer.
i love thai
i am sorry that i have say about thai it just to play comment. in fact, the people around the world all i like and i hope we have a peace togather forever. why we need to fight togather and fight for what. we should love all the nations. and hope all people are healthy and peaceful.
King or no king, Phra Viharn belongs to Khmer on the mountain.
9:07Pm you tai stop fighting like adog first!
if they depend on their king so much, i wonder what happened after their king died of old age, etc...? who will they look to after that? go figure!
in all in the head, my dear. look at american, they don't have that kind of belief and look, america is the best country in the world; that's why everybody wants to come to america. go figure!
Siam Makut Rajakumarn can't wait for his father to die so he can finally be crowned as a 'playboy' king!
10:29
Of all the beautiful Khmer temples such as Phimai, Sam Yod, Meuang Tam, etcs. which are located in Thailand, Thailand can care for them on their soil.
As for as Preah Vihear temple which is located on Khmer soil, HANDS OFF, DICKHEAD!!!
Preah Vihear was built by a Khmer King for the Khmer people. Preah Vihear is located on Khmer soil and it belongs to Kampuchea...If you claim to be Khmer and live in Thailand...prove that you can speak Khmer then you can visit Preah Vihear...YOU WILL BE LABELED A TRAITOR IF YOU KEEP ON CLAIMING THE TEMPLE FOR THAILAND....SO FUCK OFF, BASTARD!!!
When will Ai thao Pullmyball and Ee oorn Sirihee tell their stupid soldiers to go back home? If you claim to be buddhists, please don't be theives and invade other country. YOU will go to hell!
Bumibol you old bastard, I'm waiting.
The Devil.
Bhumibol, the blood thirsty top robber, will be the last king of Thailand.
Bravo the Republic of Thailand. That would be the time for our Cambodian ethnics owners of the soil to declare independence, while the southern muslims will do the same.
Raja
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