With a major update: Royalist courts make another conviction for the monarchy

The Bangkok Post (the original story is deleted and now here) reports yet another conviction on the draconian lese majeste-like computer crimes charge. This conviction is significant for the way in which it makes a rumor a case of “national security.” For a Thai/ภาษาไทย version of this verdict, see here.

On 14 October 2009 there were a series of rumors circulated that the aged king, ensconced in a hospital, was seriously ill or had died. In fact, the king had been in hospital since 19 September 2009 and almost every report since 23 September 2009 had stated that he is recovering or that his “condition has improved significantly.”  The reports from the Royal Household Bureau on royal health are almost never more than propaganda, so rumors are easily created and circulated.

This particular death rumor caused a sell-off on the stock exchange. Immediately, the then Abhisit Vejjajiva-led coalition government, already engaged in a lese majeste witrch hunt against political opponents, began a search for those responsible for the rumors.

On 1 November 2009, it was reported that two suspected rumor mongers had been arrested. Both were initially held under the Computer Crimes Act. One of those arrested was Khatha Pachachirayapong (คทา ปาจริยพงษ์), then an employee in the trading a securities trading firm KT Zmico Securities. He was eventually charged on the health rumor case and another was added, related to an earlier message, in April 2009.

The Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced Khatha. He was given “four years imprisonment for posting online information sabotaging the monarchy and national security in 2009.” This sentence was reduced from a “six-year sentence … due to his confessions upon arrest and during the investigation.

Khatha “crime” related to “two messages posted in Samesky aka Fahdiewgan webpage on April 22 and Oct 31, 2009.” He was convicted under the Computer Crime Act’s article 14 (2).

The court revealed that the April 2009 post “referred to Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn as if she sided with the yellow-shirt People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD)…”. Again demonstrating that the courts are a fount of royalist ideology, the court concluded that such a claim was impossible: “it was not true as the monarchy was above politics and loved all sides to no exclusive satisfaction.” Any sensible person knows that this is a nonsense.

PPT assumes that the Computer Crimes Act was used in this case in order to expand the reach of the courts to Sirindhorn as she is not covered by  the lese majeste law.

The court concluded that the October post “made people believe the King, who was then hospitalised, might have passed away.” It seems that this rumor, partly due to the Royal Household Bureau’s own opacity, somehow either sabotaged the monarchy or was a threat to national security. Somehow the royalist court believes that the the royalist propaganda state is so fragile that 30,214 “hits” at a web board can shake it to its tender core or even bring it down.

As is usual in such cases, the court dismissed all evidence that might have assisted Khatha. He is now seeking to appeal and has applied for bail.

This is yet one more case that shows the political nature of lese majeste charges. This one also demonstrates the presumed weakness of the monarchy such that it is unable to withstand even a rumor. The improbability of this is Thailand is awash with rumors about the monarchy. Of course, a rumor about a constitutional monarchy should never be considered a matter of “national security.”

Update 1: The Bangkok Post removed the original and more detailed story on this conviction. The revised story is here.

Update 2: At Prachatai, more details of the verdict are provided, together with the news that Khatha has been granted bail for an appeal. The details are significant so we cut-and-paste most of the story here:

According to the court verdict, the defendant’s first comment posted on 22 April 2009 led the general public to understand that HM the King favoured the yellow shirts and Princess Sirindhorn also did the same, and the other post on 14 October 2010, which concerned rumours about the King’s health, led the general public to understand that HM was seriously ill.  The comments were false, damaging national security and causing panic among the public, the court said.

During the trial, Aree Jiworarak, an official from the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, testified that the defendant used an alias ‘wet dream’ on the webboard, and had an e-mail account stamp816@hotmail.com.  The official checked this e-mail with banks and found that the defendant had used it to open bank accounts.  The National Intelligence Agency acquired his IP address through its investigation, and Aree did a recheck by sending an e-mail to this e-mail account and acquired the same IP address when the defendant clicked on a link in the e-mail.  After checking with CS Loxinfo, an internet service provider, Aree found that the IP address belonged to a company which the defendant worked for.

According to an IT expert who testified as a prosecution witness, the hard disk which the defendant used with his computer at work was found to have the word www.sameskybooks.org over 29,000 times and the user name ‘wet dream’ over 240 times.

Pol Lt Col Phiraphat Siriworachaikun testified that the defendant was informed of the charges and his rights during the arrest in the presence of several reporters, and the defendant confessed that he had used the e-mail account to register at the webboard and used the alias.

As several documents seized from the boot of the defendant’s car had content similar to what had been posted on the webboard, the court was convinced that the defendant held the same view and posted accordingly.

In response to the first post about HM the King favouring the yellow shirts, the court argued that it was not true, as ‘HM the King and all members of the royal family love the people equally and are above political conflict.  HM the King and Princess Sirindhorn are politically neutral.  The posting of such a comment will result in ever more serious political conflicts, likely to affect state security and public peace.’

As for the post about rumours about the King’s health, the court said that HM the King was the centre of the spirit of people of all groups, as evident in the recent 5 December event when a lot of people came out to wish HM well, so it could not be denied that public panic would not happen [as a result of the comment].

It is remarkable how the courts simply co-opt royalist propaganda and make a “legal” case of it.

Updated: The heir apparent

As the king and queen struggle with the ailments of old age, the process of promoting the crown prince is becoming more urgent. As his birthday comes around again, the palace propaganda machine struggles to make Prince Vajiralongkorn look like the heir apparent.

The state news agency NNT does its bit, proclaiming that “Thais from all walks of life are celebrating the auspicious occasion of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn’s 60th birthday anniversary.” A 60th is a big deal in Thailand as it is the 5th cycle. And yet the celebrations seem rather low-key.

This seems to have become the prince’s style as he spends much of his time traveling. Vajiralongkorn is not a publicity seeker these days. Most of the publicity he gets is unwanted and surprisingly negative as glitches of style and attitude are quickly circulated.

PPT can’t help wondering if the prince has decided that there is no point competing with his father or with his sister, Princess Sirindhorn, who is forever portrayed as a happy and likeable person by the palace propagandist. Vajiralongkorn seems to have decided that he is better placed to just do his own things: strawberry picking, fluffy dogs (see here and here too), having several concubines, “artistic” photography, flying and traveling (see a bunch of posts that began with this post on 13 July and continued almost daily – here, here, here, here, here and here. Then there were other posts – here and here that came to an end around 10 August. PPT thinks that this would be a quite sensible approach.

NNT also goes through the required royal palaver: “He graduated and received a number of training courses in military affairs in line with his interests in this field.” It remains unclear whether he did graduate from the full program at Australia’s Duntroon military college.

Despite repeated speculation, NNT points out that Prince Vajiralongkorn is the heir apparent:

on 28 December 1972 was proclaimed the Crown Prince and Heir Apparent to the throne. On that day, HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn took an oath at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, vowing to perform royal duties for the sake of the nation and the betterment of his Thai citizens.

To push him aside, as some hope will be the case, would be messy and dynasty threatening. Putting Sirindhorn in his place might unleash a firestorm of palace warfare.

Then the NNT allows for a bit of bathing in reflected glory:

HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn has frequently accompanied Their Majesties the King and Queen upon their visits to many parts of Thailand. He has often visited Somdet Phrayuparaj hospitals under his royal patronage in remote areas of the country. He has also been performing many royal duties promoting public health, social welfare, foreign affairs, and education, as well as religious and legal functions. Some of them have been performed as designated by TM [we assume this means "their majesties"] the King and Queen.

He’s occasionally seen in these roles, but has been handing many of the social welfare over to his major consort, who appears more interested than the prince.

NNT also begins a bit of creative writing (we say “begins” because PPT doesn’t recall this kind of palace propaganda about the prince previously:

As for his roles in military affairs, HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn has been in the military service since 9 January 1975, serving in many positions. He used to take part in military battle against terrorism in the northern and northeastern parts of the country. He also helped safeguard the areas around refugee camps for the Cambodians in the eastern province of Trat.

We doubt that there is much in this and that the crown prince would be allowed to engage in warfare, but we are always pleased to hear from readers who know more.

The de rigueur commemorative banknote “includes a portrait of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and depicts the scene of His Royal Highness being conferred the title of Crown Prince.”

The message seems clear: the prince is ready to be king and he will be king. His more loquacious sister will probably continue to be the happy face of the monarchy while the new king will happily take a lower-key but well-funded role.

In terms of the future of the dynasty, it might well prove a “coup” for the next king to be less interventionist and less dominating of the scene.

Update: We included links above that we left out when we first posted this story.

The most important news in the universe

To read this report in The Nation, anyone not familiar with the cult of personality in Thailand would be forgiven for thinking they were in a different universe. The fawning of the monarchy in the media is demeaning of “journalists.” This particular example of the royal nonsense begins:

The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) yesterday held a meeting to prepare pilots and helicopters for His Majesty the King’s visit to Ratchaburi on Sunday July 15 to inspect a royal soil-rehabilitation project at Khao Cha Ngum.

Taxpayer funds will be used to ferry the king about on whatever the aged monarch thinks will suit him. Notice too that he does these things at critical political times. There’s no coincidence, as it is the royal palace that mobilized the judiciary for political purposes, from at least April 2006.

At the 201st Helicopter Squadron (Royal Guard), the head of the Royal Helicopter Coordination Centre, Air Vice Marshal Saman Sangkhorn, joined the meeting with the pilots who are to transport HM the King, HM the Queen and HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

The RTAF will provide three helicopters – including the Bell 412 EP helicopter number 36303, piloted by Air Vice Marshal Thanomsak Yenpiam and Group Captain Sermkiat Konmanee, for the monarch and royal family members – while the Royal Thai Army will provide one helicopter.

What was that joke about how many air marshal’s it takes to ferry a couple of royal personages about? Fortunately the air force has plenty of them. Another one, indeed, the boss of the whole air force has to be involved too:

Air Force chief Air Chief Marshall Itthiporn Supawong will be the director of transportation for this royal trip.

And the “journalists” provide the most important of details:

The first pilot, Thanomsak, said he was proud and grateful to have a chance to fly the royal helicopter again. He has served in this important job since 1993. The most recent royal flight he piloted was on November 8, 2005, when the King and HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn visited Yang Chum reservoir.

Gee whiz. How great it is to know that kind of detail. It gets even more detailed:

The Bell 412 EP helicopter has been used by the RTAF since 2003. Its 1,800-horsepower engine can achieve a speed of 120 knots, altitude of 20,000 feet and can fly for up to three hours.

Maybe these reporters can become political reporters as The Nation seldom ever seems to provide accurate details in their political reports. We wonder if the helicopters were kitted out in North Korea?

Eat the rich

One of the ways that the filthy rich feel better about themselves and their often ill-gotten wealth – through the black economy, using influence, corruption, exploiting and enslaving workers – is by shoveling money at royal charities. For the rich, one of the most pleasant ways of doing this is the annual “feast” described by The Nation as it details the lavish 2012 event at The Oriental (where else?).

As in previous years, the portly Princess Sirindhorn chows down with Sino-Thai tycoons, vacuous celebrities, minor royals and the odd politician as 22 “top chefs team up to create a lavish meal to benefit underprivileged kids…”.

An AP Photo

Yep, the 10-course (6++) wine-matched banquet is all for the tiny unwashed. All that Hokkaido scallop tartare, Foie gras egg royal with tofu and shiitake mushroom, chilled duck liver soup, Atlantic lobster, and slow-cooked Les Dombes quail served with (oddly inexpensive and middling) wines like 2007 Domaine Blondelet Pouilly-Fume, 2009 Rhone Valley Tavel Rose and 2006 Chateau Fonroque Bordeaux, washed down with Moyet Fins Bois Cognac will make life better for those who are lucky to eat at all.

For this royal presence and nosh-up, tickets are just 10,000 baht for a nosebag, although you actually have to shell out for a table of 10.

Supporting the BPP

Last year, the dinner raised more than 12 million baht and handed “the bulk of the funds” to the “Border Patrol Police Schools under the Patronage of Her Royal Highness.” Wasn’t it for the kids? Well, they do go to schools….

In fact, the need for the Cold War-era schools and the royal-BPP propaganda is debatable, but the royal family has a long relationship with the often corrupt and murderous BPP, associated with some of the nastiest of vigilantes.

The “gala dinner” is apparently organized as “a way of paying back to society…”. A paltry 12 million hardly seems a “pay back” for the huge wealth the rich have plowed from the exploited, but it probably makes the rich feel better as they bathe in royal aura.

More seriously, the event is a part of the endless events that tie Sino-Thai tycoons and their families to the royal family, in a set of ceremonies and donations that go back to the late 1950s. Royal-capitalist bonding is crucial to the solidarity of the royalist elite in maintaining political and economic control.

In case readers are wondering, our headline is from 1987 black comedy by filmmaker Peter Richardson, which featured a song of the same name by Motörhead, with lyrics here.

Wikileaks: All in the family

PPT has finished a first cull of the Wikileaks cables, and we have posted commentary on those that seemed of interest. We are now going back through the Cablegate database more systematically, and again we will gradually post comments on those that strike us as revealing. Apologies if we sometimes post on a cable we have had up before; there are a lot of them.

Given all of the material belching from the international media on England’s jubilee and the post on the Ananda Mahidol idolatry, a cable from 2 February 2005 seems worth some commentary. In it, Ambassador Ralph Boyce writes almost breathlessly about the then “latest news” on the royal family. The Embassy and State Department were eagerly royal-watching. If readers find tabloid-like “revelations” distasteful, read no further, for it is of that style.

Boyce reports on a 27 January 2005 ceremony with the king and Princess Sirindhorn leading to “a private audience” for Boyce and a couple of others.

The first big news item is that “the King showed great interest in all exchanges.” The second item is that a discussion of “mental health and family stability” animated him. Boyce says: “These issues are obviously near and dear to the heart of the King, and while involved in this free-flowing conversation, he made several notable remarks.”

On family stability, Boyce states that the king commented:

I understand how important it is to have both a mother and a father in a family unit. I lost my father at a very early age, and was raised by my mother. While she did a wonderful job of raising her children, she could not, alone, replace the role of a father.

Some might read into this the his own search for a father-figure, first amongst the old and senior princes who fought against the 1932 Revolution, followed by his adulation for General Sarit Thanarat, who reciprocated and overturned much that had been done post-1932 to reduce royal power.

On his kids, he is reported as stating:

I have four children. But she (Sirindhorn) is the only one who ‘sits on the ground with the people.’ She never married, but she has millions of children.

Not really anything new or startling in this reporting, but Boyce then turns to a conversation when he “called on Dr. Chirayu Isarangkul na Ayuthaya, Director-General of the Crown Property, on February 1, 2005.”

First, and, Boyce says “most significantly,”  Chirayu “said that the Crown Prince’s wife … is pregnant.” PPT isn’t sure why this is significant for he also says that this was widely known. Perhaps the significance is in the unstated hope for a boy that would allow the dynasty a line. Otherwise, the only boys were from the disowned Yuvadhida Polpraserth, who lives in exile in the U.S., with her 4 sons, having been thrown out of Thailand by the prince several years ago.

Chirayu mentions “the Crown Prince’s former consort, Mom Yuvathida (aka Mom Benz),” saying that:

Prince, Yuvadhida and kids in earlier times

on the Queen’s last visit to the United States she had agreed to an audience with Mom Benz and her children, but that Mom Benz had not made contact with the royal traveling party. Subsequently, Ambassador Sakthip was asked to travel to Florida to meet with Mom Benz and her children, but Mom Benz declined the meeting. Apparently, there is an issue of medical expenses for Mom Benz’s third son; the Crown Prince reportedly has made it clear that he will cover these expenses and that he does not want his mother or father to be burdened with the issue of his former family.

On the family itself and the favorite Sirindhorn,

Chirayu noted that it said as much about the failings of the King’s other three children as his fondness and respect for Princess Sirindhorn. The other three had tried to carryout their royal responsibilities, but clearly were not as capable or interested as Princess Sirindhorn.

On the king’s eldest daughter, Chirayu said that:

he had had to undertake much of the bitter legal mediation between Princess Ubolratana and Peter Jensen. He noted that their separation and divorce had been quite nasty and that Mr. Jensen had not come to Thailand to attend his son’s funeral. Chirayu said that he fended off queries as to where Mr. Jensen was by joking that he was afraid to come to Thailand because the Crown Prince would beat him up.

Ubolratana

This is an interesting comment, for at the time there were rumors that Jensen had arrived in Thailand but had been turned away and the comment about the prince was widely circulated. It seems the palace knows how to score advantages from the rumor mill.

Remarkably, in a diplomatic cable, Boyce then adds his own re-statement of a rumor:

We have heard that Mr. Jensen borrowed money from several Thais and Thai banks prior to his divorce from Princess Ubolratana and that these funds have never been repaid.

The rumors usually have it that Ubolratana was a keen borrower.

It is sometimes commented that the royal family is dysfunctional. However, as the above rather odd diplomatic cable seems to indicate, while there are spats and disappointments, it seems to indicate that accommodations are made and the meatier things of conspicuous consumption and political and economic life probably hold sway over the squabbles.

The monarchy as a divisive issue

PPT is late to this story that appeared at Prachatai. The story there is reasonably easy to follow, with some interesting pictures.

In short, back in January, an event called ‘Freedom Suspended’ was proposed for 18 March by a group of writers called Saeng Samnuek at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. The event was to discuss the issues of lese majeste and the monarchy. That the BACC approved this is a surprise, but they did, until panic set in five days before the event. The BACC director mumbled that the “event was not permitted, saying that the centre was supposed to be a space free from any conflicts whatsoever.”

Interestingly, the director apparently thinks that the monarchy is now one of those divisive issues in Thai society that can lead to violence! That’s quite a change from all the “highly revered” stuff. The director opined:

Sometimes there are some sensitive issues which might lead to violence. So the centre should be reserved for art and cultural activities by diverse groups of people….

As long as it isn’t about diverse views on the divisive monarchy.

Those thrown out tried to hold the event at Chulalongkorn University but couldn’t and eventually held it at the 14 October Memorial. They also demonstrated at the BACC – see the pictures at Prachatai.

Long-time readers of PPT might recall that we twice posted in 2009 on the BACC. The first post had background on the Centre and conflict over its control. Generally the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has held and pulled the strings. The BACC’s first official exhibit was of the pedestrian snaps by Princess Sirindhorn. As we said back then, the photos were of no great worth as art, but royals do occupy a particular place in opening things and are promoted as artistic, even if the work they produce is rather ordinary and sometimes banal.

This exhibit was soon followed by more banal royalist trivia. An exhibition for the queen’s birthday was called “Virtues of the Kingdom” and occupied every single one of the Centre’s nine floors of display space. The “art” displayed was hackneyed royalism.

The second post showed how the royalist suffocation of art had grown depressingly more banal as the BACC promoted talentless royal “art.”  Supposedly polymath princess Sirivannavari Nariratana was portrayed as a designer and art talent at a BACC that was overflowing with displays of royal dross.

We guess royal “art” is not divisive because most people recognize it as simply propaganda and posterior polishing.

Updated: Prostrating and repressing

PPT has already commented several times on the royalist lese majeste trap that has caught and bound the Yingluck Shinawatra government.

Perhaps the most revealing photo we have seen for a while is of the Prime Minister planking before Princess Sirindhorn. It would be planking if it wasn’t the reintroduced form of supplicant submission to the Lords of Life of absolutist times. This form of submission by the heads of government was essentially made de jure by former prime minister and royalist General Prem Tinsulanonda. When premier, Prem made a habit of carpet diving at the feet of royals.

In this picture – we can’t find it in electronic format  thanks to two readers who sent it – was in the print editions of several newspapers on Thursday. The jolly royal looks friendly enough and is even bending down to the prostrated head of government. But the message is clear. For all those who supported the election of the Puea Thai government as an alternative to the royalist nonsense of the Abhisit Vejjajiva regime, it is made known that nothing has changed. In essence, the royalists have defeated the voters as the prime minister has submitted to royal power.

In a related report, Yingluck is said to have “sacked her personal Facebook team, which wrongly posted pictures of the late King Ananda to accompany the premier’s message honouring the King.” Posting the wrong picture might not be a big deal in any modern constitutional monarchy, but not in royalist Thailand. Not only does the elected head of government have to sack her team but she has to write to the king beseeching him for forgiveness. Of course, one reason for this is that the rumors relating to Ananda’s death continue to be politically volatile and some royalists claim the error was deliberate, implying something nasty about the current king.

Another report has the royalist Democrat Party maintaining the pressure on Yingluck about alleged disloyalty to the throne. The royalist party is “trying to find fault with the government for its decision, agreed in consultation with the Royal Household Bureau, to end celebrations for the King’s birthday days earlier than planned.”

In an earlier post, PPT commented: the celebratory events continue for a few days, with a report that: “On Nov 29, the cabinet approved an additional budget of about 117 million baht to organise celebrations between Dec 3 and 9 to mark the King’s birthday…”. PPT doesn’t recall seeing a figure for the original budget, which we assume was substantially larger than this additional amount.

In fact, the government now claims that the 117 million baht was the total spent. But the royalist Democrat Party considers the whole thing to meagre and attacks the government. Democrat Party MP Thanitpol Chaiyanant complained that the “scrapping the light and sound, multimedia and holographic shows outside the Grand Palace would [not] save money…”. He added that “activities to honour His Majesty the King should not be viewed as lavish spending.”

Such claims are made despite the fact that the “government, in agreement with the Royal Household Bureau, decided that two headline activities scheduled to last until Friday to celebrate His Majesty’s 84th birthday should end early.” The point of the claims is to keep the Yingluck government on edge with the claims of disloyalty and to force greater shows of supposed loyalty. That “loyalty” inevitably means more political repression.

CNN, the royalist trap and the propaganda time warp

CNN is highlighting Thailand this week. It may as well be a paid advertisement for the monarchy and country as Thailand falls for the royalist propaganda trap that has captured so many foreign journalists in the past.

The centerpiece of the series of reports is advertised as a CNN exclusive interview with Princess Sirindhorn as she visits the rural “royal children.” Normally, at this time of the year, and with the king’s 7th cycle anniversary birthday, we would expect something on the king, but he hasn’t been active in rural areas for a very long time. So the birthday advertising this year features the seemingly ever-jovial Sirindhorn.

Readers can watch the report themselves, and as they do, consider some of these points. The report is said to come from the unknown “Nakhorn” province (hopefully CNN at least finishes the name of the province). It is a report stuck in a time warp. CNN gives us the new royal propaganda, which is the same of the old stuff. It could be from National Geographic in the 1970s.

The first is that the headline comment is plagiarized from that usually reserved for the king: “Revered in Thailand, Princess Maha Chakri Sirinidhorn uses her status to improve education in deprived communities.” Of course, there is no evidence in the report that Sirindhorn is really “doing” this. Like all royal projects, the Border Patrol Police schools cannot fail, get special attention and plenty of money spent on them. The report seems to think this a virtue.

The report misleads by implying that this all comes from the princess. In fact, these projects owe a great deal to the Thai taxpayer.

The headline itself is just syrupy: “Thailand’s Angel Princess,” where the hapless reporter fails to note that “Prathep” or “angel” is a part of the princess’ title. Nor does reporter Paula Hancocks ask why it is that the monarchy works on schools with the BPP. Later, there is no question raised as to why the princess is in an Army uniform and surrounded by fawning Army officers.

Of course, they can’t do a real story and explain the long link between the BPP, and we could never expect CNN to recall that the BPP were the royalist murderers of October 1976. Likewise, we couldn’t expect CNN to report the close links between the Army and monarchy that has buttressed both and worked against democratization, even resulting in dozens of deaths and thousands of injuries as recently as May 2010.

Even the good works completed by the team of doctors and dentists raises several questions, the most basic of which is: is it even necessary in modern Thailand or is this kind of charity an artifact of a previous era, maintained for propaganda purposes?

Perhaps most striking in this throwback propaganda is the claim that the princess is the one who has made education and health care a right for the children in the report. Of course, this is nonsense. The right to health care and education has been established for some time, in the policies of several governments and funded by the taxpayer. This amounts to a denigration of the work done by hundreds of others.

When it comes to the section of the report on floods, the report claims “she [Sirindhorn] has been directly involved in helping the country’s efforts.” Perhaps, but think of all the others that have done so much more. Why the royal posterior polishing?

With Anand Panyarachun’s new book and this CNN report it becomes clear that there is yet another major attempt to rehabilitate the monarchy’s image. While this recognizes the damage done to the monarchy in recent years – mainly by loopy royalists – it is startling that the means chosen is no different from last decade, the one before that or even before that. There seems little attempt to update the message or the medium. Sirindhorn may well be the most popular face of the monarchy at present, but the message hasn’t changed.

But really, shouldn’t CNN be better than this?

Floods, non-agreements and politics

Shawn Crispin at Asia Time Online can usually be counted on for a conspiratorial take on politics. PPT has to admit that Thailand’s politics does lend itself to conspiracy theories and recent events seem especially opaque, probably because so many actors are in play that many of them don’t know what their allies (let alone enemies) are doing and why.

Crispin’s account on this occasion warrant full reading. What caught our collective eye were two elements of the story.

The first relates to Crispin’s account of an alleged deal or “pre-election accommodation” that he revealed in an earlier story and that was supposedly “reached in Brunei between Thaksin [Shinawatra] interlocutors, the military and a section of the royal palace that underpinned this year’s smooth democratic transition and raised hopeful new prospects for national reconciliation after six years of on-off crises.”

Oddly, this story gives considerable reason for believing that no such accommodation existed or, if it did, lasted only a matter of days. Crispin points out that: “Before the deluge, Yingluck [Shinawatra]‘s government was steadily moving to undermine several royal establishment power bases in the name of political reform, putting the military, bureaucracy, judiciary and anti-Thaksin media outlets on the political back foot.” Even before this, Crispin says that “trial balloons floated by Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung” attacked these groups. The so-called deal was dead on delivery.

The second aspect of the story that grabbed our attention is the resurrection of the royalists via the military. Crispin begins with the bizarre notion that “the military has forwarded the democratic notion, including over its mouthpiece television news station, that it serves as a ‘people’s army’ through its lead role in evacuations, emergency transport and aid delivery.”

As PPT observed a week ago, General Prayuth Chan-ocha “has emerged as a de facto spokesman for hospitalized King Bhumibol Adulyadej by conveying in public statements the revered monarch’s perspective on how best to deal with the flooding. Royal army units have conspicuously worn tee-shirts with ‘King’s Guard’ emblazoned across their backs while conducting emergency operations, underscoring the notion that the palace and military are working hand-in-hand to provide flood relief.”

Crispin notes that the “palace, too, has waded into the battle for public perceptions.” He notes the oddity of Princess Chulabhorn’s unconfirmed claims that the king had “lost consciousness” and “suffered from intestinal bleeding” that Crispin says “some royalists and independent analysts interpreted as veiled criticism of Yingluck’s crisis management.”

He is right to note that “Yingluck has bowed to royal authority, including through direct consultations with King Bhumibol…. The obeisance was also seen in her appointment of Thongtong Chandrangsu, a top royal adviser to Princess Sirindhorn, to take over as spokesman of her Flood Relief Operations Command (FROC), and Sumet Tantivejkul, one of King Bhumibol’s closest advisers, to steer a committee overseeing the government’s flood rehabilitation efforts.” He adds that “some analysts believe royalist bureaucrats involved in water management have intentionally skewed and backtracked on their assessments and predictions to make Yingluck appear conflicted in her media appearances.”

Crispin concludes with this: “Renewed anti-Thaksin street protests threaten new bouts of instability, particularly if the establishment forces that shunned the PAD’s anti-Cambodia, anti-Democrat Party protests last year rededicate their resources to the more unifying anti-Thaksin cause. As Thailand’s flood waters slowly recede, a new crisis is already emerging on the political horizon.” As PPT explained in an earlier post, the reunification has been rapid.

Chulabhorn on the king (again)

A few days ago PPT commented briefly on Princess Chulabhorn’s claim that the king had experienced internal bleeding and collapsed because, she asserted, he was watching television for hour on hour and so concerned for his “children.”

She’s at it again; at least according to one television news statement. The Bangkok Post reports that the king has again “suffered internal bleeding…”. She says she “rushed to see the King after being informed that His Majesty had discharged about 800cc of blood and his blood pressure was dropping.” Worse, Chulabhorn states that he “went into shock and lost consciousness,” adding that the “blood was the result of bleeding in the stomach and colon. Doctors suspect the King’s condition was caused by stress.”

AP seems to believe that Chulabhorn’s two statements refer to one event.

The princess claimed that the stress came from watching television flood news. Miraculously, within hours, “the King’s health is back to normal after receiving treatment.”

Princess Chulabhorn reiterated the paternalistic propaganda that “the king cared for his subjects like his own children. He does not speak much and so when ailments manifest, the symptoms can be severe.”

Far be it for PPT to question this account, but it is odd that the king should be said to experience severe symptoms twice and that – when we checked – the Royal Household Bureau had nothing on its website. The Bureau usually issues official statements on the king’s health.

While television and the press reported Chulabhorn’s statements, there has been no other indication of these alleged health problems. For example, there was no generalized panic on Chulabhorn’s first statement (compare to the earlier panic). Princess Sirindhorn is shown travelling to Laos, with the required entourage of officials at the airport to send her off in the usual style. And the royal news says nothing, which would be odd as internal bleeding and collapse would be considered a serious health issue.