The Times
THE full extent of the crisis in Thailand's royal family has been revealed in leaked US embassy cables, which report that the revered king is suffering from Parkinson's disease and depression, and that his heir, the crown prince, may be HIV-positive.
According to the secret documents -- written over six years by US diplomats, including ambassadors to Bangkok -- Thailand will face a "moment of truth" after the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose son, Maha Vajiralongkorn, is regarded as his most likely successor. "It is hard to underestimate the political impact of the uncertainty surrounding the inevitable succession crisis which will be touched off once King Bhumibol passes," reads one cable from 2009, by James Entwistle, the US charge d'affaires.
Others discuss the possibility that the death of the 83-year-old king will be followed by a military coup or a succession crisis in which the prince's claim to the throne is challenged by the queen or his older sister, Princess Sirindhorn.
Rumours about the health of the king and crown prince have circulated for years but they are never aired openly in a country in which criticism of the royal family can be punished with a prison sentence. Such unabashed discussion of the court's secrets by senior diplomats of Thailand's most important ally will cause fury in Bangkok. Their appearance online will add to political tensions in the run-up to an election on July 3.
An article analysing the cables, which were obtained by WikiLeaks, is due to be published online today by Andrew Marshall, a British journalist who formerly worked for Reuters. He resigned three weeks ago after the news agency declined to publish his reporting on the cables.
Several foreigners and scores of Thais have received prison sentences as long as 15 years under the country's lese-majesty laws, and Reuters has 1600 staff in Thailand.
'The US cables were just too risky (for Reuters) to run," Marshall said. Reuters said it had declined to publish because it had "questions regarding length, sourcing, objectivity and legal issues".
The king has been in hospital for almost two years and, if the US cables are right, his health is far worse than the vague and optimistic official bulletins acknowledge.
A cable written soon after his indisposition in 2009 by Eric John, the US ambassador at the time, cites embassy sources who said the king was "beset long-term by Parkinson's, depression and chronic lower back pain".
Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban is quoted as telling a US diplomat that the problem was the king's mental health. "Suthep confirmed . . . that King Bhumibol exhibits classic symptoms of depression (and) that the really (sic) worry was his state of mind, depressed at the state of affairs in his kingdom at the end of his life".
King Bhumibol's frailty adds to anxiety about the 58-year-old prince. Mr John reported that the prince was "long known for violent and unpredictable mood swings", and "has spent most (up to 75 per cent) of the past two years based in Europe (primarily at a villa at a medicinal spa 20km outside Munich), with his leading mistress and beloved white poodle Fufu".
One cable recounts that the dog was named after an air chief marshal. Another suggests that "people would have a difficult time accepting his current wife, Princess Srirasmi, as their queen, based largely on a widely distributed salacious video of the birthday celebration for Fufu, in which Princess Srirasmi appears wearing nothing more than a G-string".
Most startling is the credence that Mr John gives to the rumour about the crown prince being treated for a life-threatening illness. In 2009, he wrote: "Vajiralongkorn is believed to be suffering from a blood-related medical condition (varying sources claim he is either: HIV-positive; has hepatitis C; is afflicted by a rare form of 'blood cancer' or some combination which leads to regular blood transfusions)."
The cables report that Queen Sirikit has become active in politics, taking the side of the Yellow Shirt movement, which campaigned against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and supported the coup that drove him into exile in 2006.
It has also brought her into conflict with the crown prince, who is described by Mr John as having been given large sums of money by the ousted prime minister, "skimmed from the state lottery to the crown prince's office".
Kitti Wasinondh, the Thai ambassador in London, said: "Royal succession in Thailand is governed by palace laws and the Thai constitution, which should ensure a smooth transition. There is no cause for uncertainty and no warranted basis for speculation."
THE TIMES
16 comments:
It is time for the bloody shit this king to go to hell. his wife has had afair with her ex-boyfriend,militery advisor in palace, for a long long time.
he killed his brother to get a thrown and now it should be his turn.
Thai must prepare more coup in the next decade to come.
Khmer people in Thailand should stand up now and geting your own freedom.
from RED SHIRT
นาย ชาญวิทย์ กล่าวสรุปว่า ปราสาทพระวิหารเป็นหลุมดำชาตินิยมแบบอำมาตยาธิปไตย ถ้าเราเดินตามไปก็ตายแน่ อย่างไรก็ตาม ล่าสุด นายกษิต ภิรมย์ รัฐมนตรีว่าการกระทรวงการต่างประเทศของไทย ก็ได้ไปเข้าเฝ้าพระเจ้าแผ่นดินกัมพูชา โดยมาในมาดใหม่ เป็นผู้ดีแห่งสยามประเทศ เพราะเลิกใช้คำพูดหยาบคายทั้งหมดหลังจากได้อังกุ้งและเผากุ้งไปแล้ว ตนคิดว่าชาติของคนที่สะพานมัฆวานกับคนที่เขาพระวิหารใช่ชาติเดียวกันหรือไม่ คำถามของผมคือถึงเวลาแล้วหรือยังที่เราควรจะมีชาตินิยมในระนาบเดียวกันแบบ ของประชาชน ไม่ใช่ท็อปดาวน์จากบนลงล่างเหมือนอมาตยาธิปไตย เราควรสร้างความสมานฉันท์ระหว่างรัฐกับรัฐ ระหว่างอาเซียนและประเทศเพื่อนบ้านของพวกเรา
An Open Letter for Peace and Preah Vihear
from Scholars of Southeast Asian Studies
Faculty of Liberal Arts,
Thammasat University
Siam/Thailand
July 2008
To Teachers, Parents, Mass Media, Students, and the People of Thailand and Cambodia,
The recent border dispute over the “Preah Vihear” World Heritage site has led to a series of highly emotional protests from some organizations and individuals in Thailand, leading to a situation of unwarranted hostility among them and between people of the two countries.
Scholars of Southeast Asian Studies, whose purpose is to contribute to knowledge about the Southeast Asian region, wish to emphasize that the root of this border dispute is in the historical and cultural legacies of Thailand and Cambodia. Facts and interpretations of historical evidences should be conducted with respect to the truth, and not to serve partisan political interests. Accordingly, we would like to propose the following:
1. In the case of ‘Preah Vihear’, we fully support the ruling of the International Court of Justice on 15 June 1962 at The Hague, Netherlands; that the sovereignty over the “Preah Vihear” belongs to Cambodia.
2. We support and promote vigorous debate over contentious issues, providing that knowledge should not be used to cause prejudice and antagonism between neighboring countries that may even lead to warfare.
3. We recognize that various countries in the region share a common history and culture. These commonalities should serve as the foundation of international cooperation to protect human dignity and for fraternity among nations, particularly in the face of increasing challenges to all countries in the region posed by globalization.
4. We recommend that the necessary steps should be taken to resolve this dispute through organizational mediation. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should initiate this process to achieve this goal.
We urge teachers, parents, mass media, students, and the people of Thailand and Cambodia to call for a peaceful solution to this dispute, based on respect for the integrity of all Southeast Asian nations.
Yours sincerely,
Signed (enclosed)
Wow!! his a richest king in the world. What has he done to get all those money? Curruption? Black mail? distortion? Does he know that majority of Thai people who live in northeastern are poor peasants? what a king?
Definition of Khom:
คำว่า “ขอม” เป็นคำที่ยุ่งยาก สลับซับซ้อนมาก และด้วยทัศนคติที่มี “อคติ/มายาคติ” ของ “ลัทธิอำมาตยาเสนาชาตินิยม” ก็ทำให้มีการตีความเลยเถิดไปว่า “ขอมไม่ใช่เขมร” หรือ “เขมรไม่ใช่ขอม” หรือแม้กระทั่งเลยเถิดไปไกลถึงขนาดว่า “ขอมคือไทย/สยาม” หรือไม่ก็ “ไทย/สยามคือขอม” เป็นต้น
Cambodia will be benefit both diplomatically and economically, should the crown Prince become a King. It is because he has a closed relationship with Thaksin, Hun Sen's ally.
We all know that Princess Sirinddhorn had never has a realistic sympathy for Cambodia, due to her closed relationship with the radical military leaders. She is too nationalist, she can speak Khmer, but she never used this language whenever she met the Khmer. Should she become a Queen, We will not be in peace.
When the King passes away, the worst scenario is that the Queen will take over. We know very well that she is a PAD symphatizer. The PAD has create political instabilities in Thailand and is the instigator or provocator of the Thai Cambodian border war over Preah Vihear temple, for its own political designs which most of the Thai people reject.
How about poor millionair king with billionair priminister!And porrest people in the world! What's a country?
Khmer should worry more about how to be free from Vietnam than about Thai.
To be truthful, Thai will never go down far from political sea level,
but Khmer fate is more likely to be sink because we are under the Viet's slave -like Hun Sen.
Love and worry about Khmer-
Nak Sreh
28 April 2009
Your Excellency: Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva,
cc-To Whom It May Concern:
In view of the fact that Your Excellency have announced that you are considering amending the Constitution to promote reconciliation, harmony and democracy, I would like to request that you take the following three proposals into consideration.
First: To amend the words ‘Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand’ to read either ‘Constitution of the Kingdom of Siam’ or ‘Constitution of Siam,’ in order to promote ‘unity,’ ‘harmony,’ and ‘reconciliation’ in our country, whose more than sixty million citizens include over fifty distinct ethnic groups with their own languages: Thai, Tai, Yuan, Lao, Lue, Melayu, Mon, Khmer, Kui, Teochiu, Cantonese, Hokkien, Hailam, Hakka, Cham, Javanese, Sakai, Mokhaen, Tamil, Pathan, Persian, Arab, Ho, Phuan, Tai Yai, Phu Tai, Khuen, Viet, Yong, Lawa, Hmong, Karen, Palong, Museur, Akha, Kammu, Malabari, Chong, Nyakur, Bru, Orang Laut, Westerners of various kinds, people of mixed descent, etc, etc.
Second: To abolish the Senate, so that the country will have a single legislative body freely elected by the citizenry.
Third: To enact a democratic law reinstating the autonomy and dignity of the ‘Province of Thonburi,’ which were taken away and destroyed by an undemocratic, authoritarian decree in 1961-62.
I very much hope that you will consider these proposals,
Yours sincerely,
Charnvit Kasetsiri
Former Rector
The University of Moral and Political Sciences
(UMPS-Thammasat University)
PS:
Help rescuing Siam and Ethnicity:
www.petitiononline.com/SIAM2008,
www.petitiononline.com/siam2007
You do know Thai people are Tai tribe people from southern China right? Thai ancestors came from southern China and had Chinese culture and once they step into the Khmer Empire they adopted Khmer culture and traditions. Thai people were known as bandits,southern barbarians,Khmer slaves,invaders, looters and thieves back in history and they are still are today how sad. Thai people should feel ashamed being known as a thief, invader, looter from the past and now the present and being a fake race call Thai that was created in 1939.
Looks like a storm brewing inside Thailand.
The Thai military has been hijacked by the royal institution for so long now is time to undo decades of manipulation.
The Queen will take over and marry General Prem,her long time buddy.Prem has been her close confidant wheter days or nights for all the years passed.
Thailand is not an open mind society and can't accept lesbian Sirindhorn, as its head of state.
Not Buddhism but Chauvinism is the Taii royalties intimate belief.
If Vajiralongkorn would be enthroned, Thailand will be soon challenged by the populists.
To be or not to be republic will come to pick up what's left off since by 1949 revolt ghosts.
i told you, nothing can last forever. time is god and god will see to it that no evil gets away with it all, really!
oh by the way, did he know that all the riches in the world he may possess he can't take it with him into the grave, really! nobody could, you know!
Hi Khmer people,
I am not Khmer or any one of your Asian people, but I do care for Khmers more than other Asian nations.
You Khmers CANNOT Fight two powerful enemies like Vietnam and Thailand at the same time. You have to fight one and side with one. From what I have I observed, Khmers should focus first on eastern Cambodia. It is the Vietnamese that you Khmers should be worried about. Vietnam are worrying if Khmers and Thais unite, that is why Vietnam has tried to divide Khmers from Thais. Thais and Khmers share the same culture. Thais shoot Khmers in front of Khmers, but Vietnamese secretly killed million Khmers without a trace.
The problem at the Khmer-Thai border created by Vietnam, and it's up to you to decide.
Hi Khmer people,
I am not Khmer or any one of your Asian people, but I do care for Khmers more than other Asian nations.
You Khmers CANNOT Fight two powerful enemies like Vietnam and Thailand at the same time. You have to fight one and side with one. From what I have observed, Khmers should focus first on eastern Cambodia. It is the Vietnamese that you Khmers should be worried about. Vietnamese are worrying if Khmers and Thais unite, that is why Vietnamese have tried to divide Khmers from Thais. Thais and Khmers share the same culture. Thais shoot Khmers in front of Khmers, but Vietnamese secretly killed million Khmers without a trace.
The problem at the Khmer-Thai border created by Vietnam, and it's up to you to decide.
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