Showing posts with label Bhumibol Adulyadej. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bhumibol Adulyadej. Show all posts

May 15, 2010

Thai Monarchy Influence Fading, as Class Polarization Gets Very Politicized

News Analysis - Thailand’s King Sees Influence Fade as Crisis Intensifies - NYTimes.com

BANGKOK — A battle over Thailand’s future is raging, but the one man who has been able to resolve such intractable conflicts in the past has been notably silent: King Bhumibol Adulyadej, long a unifying father figure for his nation.

Thailand is convulsed by a bitter struggle between the nation’s elite and its disenfranchised poor, played out in protests that have paralyzed Bangkok for weeks and now threaten to expand. The ailing 82-year-old king finds his power to sway events ebbing as the fight continues over the shape of a post-Bhumibol Thailand.

“It’s much bigger than the issue of succession,” said Charles Keyes, an expert on Thailand at the University of Washington in Seattle. “It’s a collapse of the political consensus that the monarchy has helped maintain.”


Andrees Latif/Reuters

King Bhumibol Adulyadej returned to a hospital after marking the anniversary of his coronation in Bangkok on May 5. More Photos »


As his country suffers through its worst political crisis in decades, the king has disappointed many Thais by saying nothing that might calm the turmoil, as he did in 1973 and 1992 when with a few quiet words he halted eruptions of political bloodletting.

For more than two months now, demonstrators known as the red shirts, who represent in part the aspirations of the rural and urban poor, have occupied parts of Bangkok, forcing major malls and hotels to close as they demand that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva dissolve Parliament and hold a new election. Soldiers and protesters continued battling Saturday, and the Thai military declared a Bangkok neighborhood a “live-fire zone.”

After taking the throne nearly 64 years ago, King Bhumibol expanded his role as a constitutional monarch without political power into an enormous moral force, earned through his civic work and political astuteness. He has also presided over an expansion of the royal family’s now vast business holdings. With the monarchy at its heart, an elite royalist class grew up including the bureaucracy, the military and entrenched business interests. A palace Privy Council has exerted power during the current crisis.

It is this elite class that the protesters are now challenging.

Those who seek to maintain the status quo have proclaimed themselves loyal to the king and have accused the red shirts of trying to destroy the monarchy as they seek changes in Thai society. For their part, most red shirts say they respect the king but want changes in the system he helped create.

The politicization of the king’s name “has ensured that the monarchy cannot play a central conciliatory role any more,” said Chris Baker, a British historian of Thailand.

More broadly, the divisions in society may have become too deep and the anger too hot to reconcile for years to come. Many analysts say a lasting class conflict has been ignited between the country’s awakening rural masses and its elite hierarchy. With the king confined to a hospital since September with lung inflammation and other ailments, concern about the future has sharpened. The heir apparent to the throne, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, has not inherited his father’s popularity.

But discussion about the succession and about the future role of the monarchy are constricted to whispers and forbidden Internet sites by a severe lèse-majesté law. A 15-year penalty for anyone who “defames, insults or threatens the king, queen, the heir apparent or the regent” has been broadly interpreted in cases brought against writers, academics, activists, and both foreign and local journalists.

Though it is the protesters who are pressing for change, including some who may see a republican form of government in the future, it is a leading member of the establishment party that now rules Thailand who put the issue into its plainest terms.

“We should be brave enough to go through all of this and even talk about the taboo subject of monarchy,” said Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, in a speech last month that he gave, significantly, outside Thailand at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. “I think we have to talk about the institution of the monarchy, how would it have to reform itself to the modern globalized world.”

He spoke of Britain and the Netherlands as models, with constitutional monarchs who play a largely symbolic role.

On paper at least, those models are not so very different from the system now in place in Thailand. What sets King Bhumibol apart is the aura that surrounds him and the faith among many people that when things are really bad, he will step forward to save them from themselves.

In a way, what some Thais are saying now is simply that it is time for the king’s “children” to grow up and solve their problems themselves.

“There might still be people in Thai society that want to see the king play a role in resolving the crisis,” said Jon Ungpakorn, a former senator and one of the nation’s most vocal advocates for democracy.

“But on the other side, a large section of society realizes that we should not depend on the monarchy for resolving crises,” he said. “If we are to be a democratic system, we must learn to deal with our problems ourselves.”

During weeks of street demonstrations, protesters have assiduously asserted their patriotism. But unlike other protests in the city, there has been a conspicuous absence of portraits of the king. Among both residents of the northeast, the country’s rural heartland, and the red-shirt protesters in Bangkok — many of whom have traveled back and forth in shifts — a new, less reverent tone has quietly crept into conversations.

Krasae Chanawongse, a medical doctor and former government minister in the northeast who is a strong monarchist, laments that “many people are talking about destroying the monarchy.”

But protest leaders insist that they are not challenging the king but the system that is built around him.

“Real democracy would have the king at the top, with no elite class to interfere,” said a protest leader, Nattawut Saikua, in an interview.

Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had built an electoral base among the country’s poor majority, who also form the base of the red-shirt protesters, threatening the traditional supremacy of the old guard. A coup in 2006 that ousted Mr. Thaksin is believed to have had at least the tacit approval of the Privy Council and other elites who saw the prime minister and his base as a challenge to their power. The red shirts have demanded a new election that could bring back Mr. Thaksin, now abroad fleeing a prison sentence for corruption.

Whoever succeeds King Bhumibol, the veneration and the place the king holds at the heart of Thai society are unlikely to survive him.

“In private discussions people say to each other, ‘What will we do without him?’ ” said a prominent poet who, like many people speaking about the monarchy, insisted on anonymity. “They get disappointed and upset and even scared about the change in the future.”

As he has grown older, concerns have risen about divisions and disputes in society that might erupt once he is gone. It appears now, with the king no longer playing the role he has in the past, that those conflicts are already under way.

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Apr 12, 2010

Panel Calls for Thai Premier’s Party to Be Dissolved - NYTimes.com

Grand Palace in Bangkok built in 1782, is the ...Image via Wikipedia

BANGKOK — The battle of wills between the Thai government and tens of thousands of protesters barricaded in the streets of Bangkok appeared to turn in favor of the protesters Monday when the country’s army chief shunned a military solution to the crisis and the prime minister’s party suddenly and unexpectedly faced the prospect of dissolution.

Two days after repelling a blood-soaked military crackdown, the protesters cheered jubilantly at the announcement that Thailand’s election commission had recommended that the party of the prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva be disbanded on charges of receiving an illegal donation.

“This government’s time in power is nearly over,” said Veera Musikapong, a protest leader to throngs of protesters in the commercial heart of the city. Mr. Veera and other opposition figures said they would maintain their demonstrations to pressure Mr. Abhisit to resign.

The announcement by the election commission came hours after the head of the army, Gen. Anupong Paochinda, appeared to rule out further military action to remove protesters, saying “the situation requires that the problem be solved by politics.

Mr. Anupong also described the dissolution of parliament, the main goal of the protesters, as “a reasonable step.” The general’s comments were a stinging blow to Mr. Abhisit, who is portrayed by protesters as a puppet of Thailand’s elite and who came to power 16 months ago as part of a coalition brokered in part by the military.

For the past month, Mr. Abhisit’s besieged government has operated from a military base on the outskirts of the capital as protesters, many of them farmers from the provinces, expanded their debilitating street protests.

Mr. Abhisit has appeared increasingly isolated following thefailure of the military to dislodge protesters on Saturday after running battles that killed 21 people and made parts of Bangkok resemble a war zone. Erstwhile government supporters accused Mr. Abhisit of being powerless while the opposition decried the deaths.

Protesters have put important portions of Thailand’s capital city beyond the government’s control. Armed with sticks and poles, red shirted protesters have erected checkpoints at major intersections, blocking police and the military. Although not quite anarchy, the protests have created a vacuum of law and order.

Even outside the two large protest sites, some police say they have stopped issuing traffic tickets, despite an increase in the number of motorists running red lights, driving down the wrong side of the road and parking where they wish.

“If I can stop them I will. But if it puts us in danger, we will let them be,” said Police Lt. Col. Dejapiwat Dejsiri, a senior police official at a precinct in the tony Sukhumvit area of Bangkok. “It’s like there is no law anymore,” he said.

The Election Commission’s decision on Monday may tip the scales toward the opposition movement but it is unlikely to resolve the country’s underlying political crisis.

The commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to the attorney general and ultimately the country’s Constitutional Court. If found guilty, Mr. Abhisit’s Democrat Party, the country’s oldest, could be dissolved and it leaders, including Mr. Abhisit, barred from politics for 5 years.

The Democrat Party would be the third political party in three years to be dissolved.

“The system of political parties is on very shaky ground,” Gothom Arya, a former election commissioner. “There is no stability.” Mr. Gothom, among others, has called for revision of the law that holds the entire party accountable for electoral offenses.

The two parties disbanded earlier were affiliated with Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister removed in the 2006 military coup. Mr. Thaksin is a hero and inspiration for many in the current anti-government protest movement but is despised by some members of the elite who see him as corrupt.

The stalemate between protesters and the government is a reflection of deep divisions in Thai society that revolve around issues of income inequality and the power of unelected institutions such as the powerful bureaucracy, military and royal entourage.

These tensions have existed for years but one major stabilizing force in Thailand, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, has often been able to bridge divisions in the country. Many Thais are hoping that Mr. Bhumibol, who is 82 and ailing, will intervene to resolve the stalemate.

Thai television Monday carried remarks by the secretary-general of a charitable foundation, Sumet Tantivejkul, who has worked with the king on many projects.

“His Majesty the King has always warned ‘don’t demolish the house,’” Mr. Sumet said. “The house is now close to collapse. We have to protect the country.”

His Majesty King Bhumipol Adulyadej of ThailandImage by Images History via Flickr

Signs of the protesters’ continued impunity were amply evident Monday. The Thai media reported that one group of red shirts abducted the head of the CAT Telecom, the state-owned telecommunications company. Several hundred protesters “guarded” a government satellite station, Thai media also said. Both actions were meant to prevent the army from carrying out orders to take an opposition-run television station off the air.

On the eve of the traditional Thai new year, large convoys of red shirts paraded coffins through Bangkok symbolizing the protesters killed on Saturday to illustrate what they said was the brutality of the government.

Law enforcement in Thailand has always been patchy and the freewheeling nature of Thai society has often been counted as an attribute for the country’s economic dynamism.

But the lawlessness of protests during the past four years of political turmoil, including the seizure of Bangkok’s two international airports 17 months ago, has frightened foreign investors and raised questions about the stability of the country.

The protests are driving away tourists and draining the resources of the state. Many police stations in Bangkok have threadbare staffs because officers have been mobilized to serve as riot police.

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Sep 21, 2009

BBC - Thailand king stable in hospital

Monument to King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) ...Image via Wikipedia

The 81-year-old king of Thailand has been admitted to hospital suffering from a fever.

Doctors said King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-serving monarch, had shown signs of fatigue and was being treated with antibiotics.

King Bhumibol is deeply revered by most Thais and his health is a matter of public anxiety.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters there was "nothing to be concerned about".

People have gathered at the hospital to offer prayers and convey their good wishes.

Wide respect

A statement from Thailand's royal household said King Bhumibol was taken to the Siriraj hospital in Bangkok on Saturday night.

The Royal Household Bureau said the king was suffering from a fever, fatigue and loss of appetite. He is being treated with intravenous drips and antibiotics.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Sunday that he was aware the king had been admitted to hospital, but insisted it was only for a check-up.

"His Majesty's condition is not a problem," Mr Abhisit told reporters.

King Bhumibol has long been seen as the only unifying figure in a nation that has seen at least 24 prime ministers, 17 constitutions and more than a dozen military coups during his 63-year reign.

He is widely respected among the Thai people - and he is sometimes accorded an almost divine reverence.

The Bangkok Post newspaper quoted a 60-year old woman, Warinan Phurahong, as saying she ran to the hospital when she heard about the king's condition and plans to stay there until His Majesty recovers.

The king, a constitutional monarch, made a rare call for stability and reconciliation in Thai politics last month. Factions for and against the ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra are jostling for power, often using the king's name and image to strengthen their case.

The weekend saw another outbreak of street demonstrations from the opposing political camps.

Mr Thaksin's supporters, the "red shirts", marked his ousting in a coup three years ago with peaceful rallies in Bangkok.

Mr Thaksin, criticised by his opponents for not showing enough respect to the monarchy when he was in office, spoke to the crowd from exile by video link. He wants fresh elections and a pardon for a conflict of interest conviction.

Meanwhile, the largely pro-government "yellow shirts" demonstrated on the Thai border with Cambodia in a long-running sovereignty dispute over a temple complex that straddles the boundary.

Their protests ended in violent clashes with Thai police.

Thailand remains deeply divided three years after the 19 September 2006 coup which drove out Mr Thaksin while he was in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

Mr Abhisit is on his way to the same event, but the chief of the kingdom's powerful army has scotched rumours that there would be another putsch in his absence.

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