
Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej Dies at 88 - Osiris30
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37643326
======
zymhan
It blows my mind that someone could reign from just after WWII until this
year.

I hope that Thailand will stay stable. Support of the King has been key to
successful military coups and transitions. The Crown Prince is much less
admired, and quite odd:

"The 63-year-old crown prince, Vajiralongkorn (pictured), is spoilt and
demanding, and—to put it mildly—widely loathed. Three times divorced, he
spends a lot of time abroad, often in Germany. In 2007 leaked video footage
showed him and his then-consort, who was wearing nothing but a G-string and
heels, holding a lavish royal party. The only guest appeared to be Foo Foo,
his poodle, which before dying in 2015 enjoyed the rank of air chief marshal."

[http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21702497-after-ailing-
mon...](http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21702497-after-ailing-monarch-goes-
what-next-twilight-king)

~~~
ddeck
Unsurprisingly there is no byline on that article.

For those unaware, it has been illegal to defame or insult the monarchy for
the last 100 years or so under the country's Lèse majesté law, widely used to
silence critics.

Some notable cases from Wikipedia [1]:

2008, Harry Nicolaides from Melbourne, Australia - Wrote an offending passage
in his self-published book Verisimilitude. The book, which sold a mere 7
copies, mentioned the "romantic entanglements and intrigues" of royalty. He
was arrested upon arriving at Bangkok's international airport[56] and charged
with lèse majesté. After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to three years in
jail but then pardoned by the king after spending a month in jail, released,
and deported.

2012, Ampon Tangnoppakul, He was accused of sending four Short Message Service
(SMS) messages from his cell phones. The messages were deemed offensive to the
King and Queen of Thailand. He had been denied bail on 8 occasions and died in
a prison hospital at the age of 61 while serving a 20–year prison sentence.

2013, Somyot Prueksakasemsuk - Sentenced to ten years in prison, convicted of
publishing two articles under a pseudonym that made negative references to the
crown in his now-defunct magazine Voice of Taksin.

2015, Thanakorn Siripaiboon, Thai factory worker - He had been detained on 8
December 2015 and had been kept in an undisclosed location prompting fears of
his forced disappearance. He faces multiple charges including that of
insulting the king's adopted dog Tongdaeng. Thai military junta did not detail
the precise insult made towards the animal. He faced up to 37 years in prison.
He was granted bail on 8 March 2016; the bail was set at half a million baht

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A8se_majest%C3%A9_in_Thai...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A8se_majest%C3%A9_in_Thailand#Acts_punished)

~~~
ethbro
Not being Thai, I won't comment on his effectiveness and I mourn anyone's
passing. But it would seem like it's a lot easier to be 'widely loved' when
you make it illegal to feel or communicate anything negative.

~~~
kbutler
Laws preventing criticism don't generally motivate people to hang pictures of
the king in their homes.

A more plausible cynical position would argue that the widespread development
projects funded by revenue from the king's vast royal fortune bought the
affection.

But the Thai people seem to generally respect, even revere King Bhumibol,
feeling that he sincerely cared for the well-being of his people.

~~~
rasz_pl
>Laws preventing criticism don't generally motivate people to hang pictures of
the king in their homes.

obviously you never been/read about central Europe during Soviet occupation
(1949-1991), Stalin pictures/busts everywhere, people cried on the streets
when he died. In Poland we had _mandatory_ 'work holiday' celebrations on 1 of
may. People would march on the streets holding Stalin pictures and chanting
"Stalin! Peace! Party! Comecon (Eastern Bloc version of EU) makes us
stronger!" and other nonsense while being observed by secret police and party
monitors.

Stalin picture was a standard wall ornament in every living room and
classroom.

------
todd8
His daughter dated my roommate in college. I always thought he was just making
it up. She was a very attractive, nice, intelligent woman (they met in Physics
class at MIT), but I never believed that she was from the ruling family of
Thailand. She never mentioned that her father was a king and never acted any
different than the rest of us commoners.

One summer, I read about their wedding in the paper. He wasn't BSing me after
all!

~~~
johansch
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubolratana_Rajakanya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubolratana_Rajakanya)
?

"While at MIT she first met Peter Ladd Jensen, whom she later married."

~~~
todd8
Yes, that's her.

~~~
johansch
Wow, it is a small world.

------
switch007
N.B. gov.uk has updated its official travel advice (it's always useful check
this before travelling, especially if you're UK-based) [1]

"...there is now an official period of mourning of one year from 14 October
2016; you should respect the feelings and sensitivities of the Thai people at
this time; access to entertainment, including restaurants, bars, and shopping
areas may be restricted and you should behave respectfully when in public
areas; if possible, wear sombre and respectful clothing when in public; check
local media regularly and follow the advice of the local authorities"

[1] [https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-
advice/thailand](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/thailand)

~~~
happy-go-lucky
That's helpful.

------
jimmywanger
There's going to be a huge power vacuum.

Now, there's nobody with moral authority to mediate between clashing factions.

Previously, the king could just say "Guys, stop killing each other and cut it
out" and they'd actually listen. The crown prince has no such power and
influence over the country. Will be interesting to see who rushes in to grab
influence.

------
kafkaesq
According to the FT ("King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, 1927-2016"):

 _" Bhumibol Adulyadej ... chose not to condemn the 1976 massacre at Bangkok's
Thammasat University of dozens of pro-democracy protesters ..."_

Time Magazine: "Thailand Bids Farewell to Beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej",
regarding said events:

 _In early October of that year, demonstrations convulsed Bangkok in response
to the arrest of prominent student activists. The crowd swelled to around
400,000, including many members of the public, owing to the military’s heavy-
handed response that resulted in at least 100 civilian deaths. Bhumibol
intervened, ordering the doors of Chitrlada Palace opened to provide the
students refuge, and persuaded Thanom and his cohorts to go into temporary
exile._

 _In September 1976, Bhumibol allowed Thanom to return to Thailand, even
visiting him with Sirikit in Wat Bovornives — the Chakri dynasty’s personal
temple — where he had ordained as a monk. Thousands of furious students
gathered inside Thammasat University to oppose Thanom’s return. On Oct. 5,
spurred on by radio broadcasts accusing the students of threatening the crown
prince and communism, thousands of royalist paramilitaries massed outside the
campus._

 _The killing began the following dawn. First, a rocket-propelled bomb was
fired into the throng of students, reportedly killing four and injuring
dozens. Military weapons wreaked a heavy toll until around 9 a.m., and at
least two students were dragged out, tortured and lynched. Three others were
seen dumped on tires, drenched in petrol and burned alive. A junta headed by
the Defense Minister, Admiral Sa-ngad Chaloryu, seized power immediately after
the massacre. Another flirtation with democracy had been crushed._

"New photos of 6 Oct 1976 massacre emerge" (NSFW, but apparently safe enough
for the U.S. to consider Thailand among its staunchest asian allies for the
past several decades):

[http://prachatai.com/english/node/2814](http://prachatai.com/english/node/2814)

~~~
dageshi
Thailand has cycled between elected government and military dictatorship
something like 15 times while he was King, the miracle is he didn't have an
outright civil war during his reign. If you've ever visited Thailand, you'd
know that compared to surrounding countries (with the exception of Malysia
perhaps) the level of infrastructure and standard of living is much higher in
Thailand, things generally work there whereas in neighbouring countries like
Cambodia/Laos/Burma they generally don't, or at least they haven't until very
recently.

To at least my outside perspective, The King seems to have been a stabilising
force which prevented Thailand from descending into outright civil war.

And I can't help but feel that somehow insinuating that America shouldn't
consider Thailand an ally after the events you listed is a bit ridiculous
considering the year before they occured the US was still in Vietnam fighting
a war with allies who were torturing and killing a damned site more people
than what was happening in Thailand around the same time.

~~~
rodgerd
> things generally work there whereas in neighbouring countries like
> Cambodia/Laos/Burma they generally don't,

Yeah, I can't imagine having B-52s unloading on Cambodia or Laos had anything
to do with that. Clearly it's their lack of a monarchy.

~~~
pastProlog
Cambodia had a monarchy and stability (relative to its neighbors), but
Sihanouk refused US requests to get involved in the Vietnam war, so the US
began a campaign to destabilize the country, eventually replacing Sihanouk
with a puppet government under Lon Nol when Sihanouk was out of the country.

------
welanes
This quote from Lawrence Osborne is apt:

> Thailand is a unique society in the modern world: a Theravada Buddhist
> monarchy with a parliamentary system. The clarinet-playing king, believed to
> be a living incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, presides via lèse majesté
> laws over a hedonistic and technology-obsessed Asian Tiger economy, centered
> in one of the most sophisticated urban cultures on earth. No one has ever
> been able to understand how it all holds together.

The mystery behind that last sentence may just about to be revealed.

------
gnipgnip
RIP. His daughter became the patron of the World Sanskrit Conference, when the
Indian state itself considered Sanskrit far too dead to be worth funding.

(The whole new-age wave in the West seems to have brought a change of heart to
"wannabe Brittania".Indic languages are generally entropically dead to be
fair.)

------
joshontheweb
I'm in Thailand at the moment and I'm interested to see how this plays out.
This guy is super popular. His picture is on the wall in every business and
many homes. Not out of compulsion. They just love the king. I'm sure most
places will close for mourning.

We have been advised to take out lots of cash and get food sorted as we may
not have access for a little while.

The bigger question is what is going to happen with the junta now?

~~~
mhurron
> This guy is super popular. ... Not out of compulsion.

Making it a crime to criticize the royal family with punishments up to 15
years tends to make it look like uncoerced love.

~~~
joshontheweb
This is all just based on my personal experience talking to people.

I started asking about him because the pictures were everywhere. Maybe I was
fooled but it sure seemed like they liked him and had good things to say. Not
that they were fearfully trying to avoid speaking ill of the king.

Is there a law requiring them to hang his picture? I don't think I've been in
a single thai owned business that didn't have him hanging on the wall.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
You grow up in a nation where from childbirth you're taught its taboo to
criticize the ruler - that's consistent with everybody having good things to
say; everybody hanging the picture. It becomes second nature.

------
nihonde
The reverence that Thai people have for this King is no joking matter. They
take their monarch deadly seriously and it seems fair to let them honor the
King as they see fit without a lot of outsiders casually weighing in with
half-baked opinions.

~~~
AdamN
I'm American and there are people from all over the world casually weighing in
about America on HN. That's totally OK. Let's not have a double standard and
let's be free to have opinions about other peoples' royals.

~~~
rosser
False equivalence. The Thai monarchy and lèse-majesté have far less impact on
the global scene than most of the things about the US about which people are
weighing in. Someone being prosecuted for stepping on Thai currency is small
potatoes compared to ... say, a Trump White House. Or, you know, invasions
under false pretenses.

~~~
oldmanjay
You slaughtered the equivalences no one made but failed to demonstrate your
ostensible point entirely.

~~~
rosser
Please do both of us a favor and never reply to me again. Given every exchange
we've ever had, it's clear we see the world from such fundamentally
incompatible premises that dialog is not possible. That being the case, any
further engagement is clearly meant to antagonize.

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truth_sentinell
Can't believe there are still monarchs in 2016. Definitely there are millions
of people living in 1500.

Abolish monarchy!!!

~~~
SomeStupidPoint
...You realize that a lot of Western countries, like the UK, Canada, New
Zealand, etc are monarchies, right?

Thailand largely functions either as a parliamentary system or military junta,
depending on the year.

~~~
superfluid
In practice, Canada is about as close to a monarchy as North Korea is to a
democracy.

