As Thailand’s problems grow, the king moves to strengthen his image

Photographer: Vichan Poti / Pacific Press / LightRocket / Getty Images

After seeing political and economic instability unprecedented demands for the reform of the Thai monarchy, King Maha Vajiralongkorn wants to burn his image in the form of a year of tension in the country.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha oversees an economy with tourism thwarted by the coronavirus pandemic, factories shaking off workers and cutting down exporters. Farmers are struggling under the worst drought in four decades. Gross domestic product shrank by an estimated 6.6% last year.

Although some recovery is forecast for 2021, it will be relatively anemic for an economy that has been sluggish for years. A new wave of coronavirus infections has an extension of a state of emergency until the end of February. Meanwhile, Thailand’s largest opposition party plans to mistrust votes against the government for the alleged “mismanagement” of the country, including the Covid-19 response.

Dominant over all are the months of rallies where protesters openly criticized the monarchy, Thailand’s most powerful institution. At the moment, the streets are relatively quiet – with small protests over the weekend – but student leaders have promised to return to them demands are addressed: Less royal power, a more democratic constitution and the resignation of Prayuth, a former army chief who staged a coup in 2014.

Vajiralongkorn has strengthened its presence in Thailand since the unrest broke out. He returned in October from Germany, where he had spent much of his government. The king and his entourage have since attended religious ceremonies, handed out diplomas to graduates, greeted kneeling supporters yellow shirts, and even swept the floor at one of his charity projects.

While Vajiralongkorn automatically inherited great power and wealth when he ascended the throne in 2016, many Thais also endorse a concept of informal authority – which Buddhists call ‘barami’ or virtue – that should be earned rather than bequeathed. In the course of his 70-year reign, the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej collected and displayed his own barami.

“The moral authority and informal power of King Bhumibol was not transferable,” Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor, told Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. ‘There is not the same ability to summon the different sides to put an end to conflict. In fact, the opposite is happening – the monarchy has become a party to the conflict. This is something that is very worrying. ”

During one appearance in early November, Vajiralongkorn called Thailand ‘the land of compromise’ in a rare public remark to foreign reporters. The Bureau of the Royal Household did not respond to a request for comment, and subsequent calls to the Bureau went unanswered.

Contrary to the turmoil in the past – Thailand has had about a dozen coups in the last century – the protesters are not seeking power themselves: they want the army and the monarchy to be more accountable to the 70 million citizens of the country.

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The political and economic importance is high: even before the unrest, Thailand’s wealth gap widened, while poverty rising. A 2019 study by the Bank of Thailand’s research institute found that about 36% of corporate equity is concentrated in just 500 people.

The government has so far avoided bloody repression as during some demonstrations in the past, although at least a dozen protest leaders are facing charges of insulting the monarch, who carries imprisonment of up to 15 years. A Thai court on Tuesday sentenced a former official arrested in 2015 to 43 and a half years in prison for sharing clips on social media of an online chat show allegedly violating the monarchy, which insults human rights group Amnesty International , slandered it. called the most severe conviction so far under the law.

The Thai government on Wednesday filed a royal charge of defamation against former prime ministerial candidate Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, one of its most popular critics, after questioning the involvement of a company with ties to the monarchy in the country’s vaccine production.

The Prayuth government upholds existing laws and has not focused on the use of a specific law to target protesters, government spokeswoman Anucha Burapachaisri said when asked earlier about the use of the Majesty Act.

Sulak Sivaraksa, a Buddhist activist who has studied the monarchy for decades, said Vajiralongkorn already has moral authority among royalty and is trying to burn his image now with the rest of society. He noticed the king was “very ashamed” compared to his father, although he also does charitable activities.

“A lot of people criticize the king because he spent too much time abroad and too little time in the kingdom. I think he realizes that now,” Sulak, 87, said. ‘People used to be afraid of him, you know, but now he’s walking around talking to people so people can photograph him and his royal family and have a good conversation with them. I think it earned him a very good reputation. ”

Traditionally, the prestige of a Thai monarch depends on its observance. ten virtues of kingship, including generosity, self-sacrifice, honesty, and integrity.

During his lifetime, King Bhumibol was careful to appear in step with ordinary Thais, although he oversaw a fortune of about $ 40 billion. He met regularly with hill tribes and farmers, and he sponsored programs aimed at reducing opium production and bringing irrigation development to distant regions.

Bhumibol preaches a lifestyle of moderation that matches its semi-divine status and spiritual role within Buddhism, the religion of more than 90% of all Thais. In the last four decades of his life, Bhumibol has traveled outside Thailand only once to allow for the opening of a bridge crossing to neighboring Laos.

At the height of his power in 1992, Bhumibol stepped in – despite limited legal authority – to end deadly clashes between the military and protesters, Paul Handley wrote in his 2006 book, “The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand’s Bhumibol Adulyadej . ”

“King Bhumibol has built up the government to get the country’s most powerful men on their feet and expel them from politics with a few deliberate words,” Handley wrote.

His son has been married four times and it has been his son’s personal life for years gossip. In July 2019, he appointed an official royal partner for the first time in almost half a century, three months after announcing his fourth wife, Suthida Bajrasudhabimalalakshana, as queen. Shortly afterwards, he deprived her of titles from the company, and reinstated it again last year.

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