Not a royal safe
Update: The Nation (20 February 2010) reports that Prem has returned to Bangkok just a day after arriving in Korat. The media has related this return to a shooting near his Korat residence.
*
PPT would not have mentioned Princess Sirindhorn’s motorcade crash in Bangladesh, that left a Thai diplomat dead, if it wasn’t for the fact that that the story from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs keeps changing. This could be put down to the availability of better information, but PPT has some doubts. Initial reports from Dhaka were consistent. The motorcade was returning to the capital after a rural visit. A speeding truck hit one of the vehicles, but not the one Sirindhorn was riding in.
Thai news reports were similar until Friday when the MFA came out with a claim, broadcast in the noon television news reports, that Sirindhorn was not even in one of the cars in the motorcade, which was reportedly 90 kilometers outside the city. It was said that the vehicle in the accident was taking the diplomat involved home after the rural visit. That doesn’t match the earlier reports in any way.
The other odd thing in the various stories was that Sirindhorn is in Bangladesh as part of a team from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. PPT didn’t really understand this. After all, Sirindhorn is not the “acclaimed health scientist” in the family. However, a quick search of the School’s website shows that it has an advisory council peppered with several royals from several countries and that there has been considerable mutual back-slapping between the School and Sirindhorn.
It will be interesting to see if there is any further news emerges. Or is there some kind of cover up to “protect” a royal?
Meanwhile, the government has confirmed an extra security presence at the king’s temporary palace at Siriraj Hospital, on the 5th month anniversary of the king’s admission to the hospital. It seems the government worries that the king might be “troubled” at Siriraj by red shirts.
Privy Council president General Prem Tinsulanonda is not a royal but he certainly seems to be treated in the same category. Prem has decamped to Nakorn Ratchasima while his house in Bangkok is surrounded by troops and police who are expecting a red shirt rally there. In Korat, where Prem gives his house the royal imitating title, as stated in The Nation (19 February 2010): Prem is at “his official Rai Kangwon residence.” Wasn’t it Thaksin Shinawatra who was once accused of mimicking the king?
Prem is still concerned about his safety, however, and he “met with local military and police commanders and the provincial governor yesterday after he arrived…”. There are reportedly “more than 50 police and military officers … assigned to guard duty. Police checkpoints were also set up on roads in the adjacent areas to prevent the red shirts, who have campaigned against Prem, from holding a demonstration at the residence.” In addition, Korat police have been drilling for clashes with demonstrators.
Things have changed for the royals and their minions.
Trackbacks
Comments are closed.