Come together or we are all ruined

As usual when there is political conflict in Thailand, the king has called for unity. The Bangkok Post (22 August 2009: “King: Lack of unity ruining the nation”) and the Wall Street Journal has a story (22 August 2009: “Thailand’s King Calls for Unity”). For Thai-language readers, see Prachatai (22 August 2009: “ในหลวง” รับสั่ง บ้านเมืองจะล่มจมถ้าทุกคนต่างคนต่างทำ แต่ถ้าทุกคนร่วมมือกัน บ้านเมืองเจริญก้าวหน้าได้).

The king’s main point seemed to be this: “Right now it can be said that our country is going towards ruin, (it) is moving without direction. I’m worried that Thailand is falling into ruin, but you people could still save it from sinking further…” . Thailand’s “ruin” was attributed “to a lack of cooperation among different sectors of society.”

The WSJ chose to interpret this as “Thailand’s widely respected king [having] made a rare foray into the country’s long-running political problems, warning that Thailand could become increasingly unstable if its feuding politicians fail to unite…”.

Some might argue that he has made several forays into the political fray and that this is one of the root causes of political instability in Thailand. Others might suggest that, as a constitutional monarch, the should be advised to keep his public mouth firmly shut.

In Thailand, of course, his words will be interpreted in a variety of ways, as they usually are. However, following the petition and the instability in the elite’s preferred and manufactured government, and following the queen’s recent political actions, the king is making his displeasure known.

As a footnote, the king’s warning of national collapse came as “Anont Bunyarattavej, secretary-general of the National Research Council of Thailand, presented to him the patents for the King’s artificial rain-making technology issued by 10 European Union countries and Hong Kong.” For readers interested in this rain-making patent, begin here and look at the patent no. EP1491088 here.

Cloud-seeding has been around for years and reputable scientific organizations have assessed it over the decades. Google results for Australia’s CSIRO for example and decide if there is any merit to cloud-seeding. Patents do not necessarily constitute evidence of a scientific breakthrough and tehre are plenty of crazy patents.

Update: See the post on the speech and its interpretation at Bangkok Pundit.