King’s failing health, and his $30B fortune, puts Thailand in jeopardy

BANGKOK—Towering high in the heavens overlooking the courtyard of Bangkok’s Siriraj Hospital stands an illuminated portrait of Thailand’s King Bhumibol, with a garland of dazzling neon lights proclaiming, “Long Live The King.”

But how long does the king have to live?

On his own private floor in this hospital on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River, the 83-year-old king has battled Parkinson’s, depression and a series of strokes since being admitted here in September 2009.

Now his days appear numbered, a fact that has many in this nation of 68 million worried.

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Someone who has always spoken openly is the country’s most famous social thinker and well-known Buddhist, Sulak Sivaraksa.

Despite his gentle demeanour, Sulak, even at 78, is accustomed to speaking truth to power, and he has been charged for it under the lèse majesté law.

Once close to the king, in fact part of “the inner circle,” he says, he had a falling out when he rejected the palace’s old official line that the king’s older brother had been assassinated.

“The truth is the present king killed his brother — accidentally. I’ve not only said it openly, I’ve published it,” he says. He was charged and last year let off, apparently on instructions from the king.

Looking to the future Sulak sees the end of an era.

“To put it negatively, I think the monarchy will end with the demise of the present King.

http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/1033697--king-s-failing-health-and-his-30b-fortune-puts-thailand-in-jeopardy

Andrew MacGregor Marshall's Wikileaks articles

Yes, I am still in retirement, but I have been trying to follow the Wikileaks revelations coming from Thailand.

There is some good stuff in Mr. Marshall's articles.

I have read what has so far been published.

Quite honestly, from what I read, there isn't really anything new if one has followed Thai politics and history for some time.

Marshall actually says this is his pieces.

Basically, the Wikileaks just verify what was once speculation.

There are a few things that I have discovered that I wasn't really aware of.

For example, I would have never guessed that Prem was completely out of the loop after HMTK was hospitalized.

Another thing I have been thinking about is the importance Luang Ta Maha Bua role played in all this. In retrospect, I think his attacks on Thaksin played a more important role in getting rid of Thaksin than most people realize.

The State department kind of blows him off as a crazy old monk in the Wikileaks.

Luang Ta Maha Bua wasn't a crazy old monk. He was the most powerful monk in Thailand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajahn_Maha_Bua

http://www.luangta.com/English/Index.html

You can't really write off somebody who is considered an arahant, which basically is an enlightened Buddha.

When Luang Ta Maha Bua attacked Thaksin, it was the equivalent of Lord Buddha descending from the sky and declaring Thaksin the most evil man in Thailand.

Anyway, here are the links, copied from Zenjournalist.com:

Part one of his four-part story on Thailand can be viewed here, here and here.

Part two is here, here and here.

http://www.zenjournalist.com/2011/06/thailands-moment-of-truth/#more-10202

The one aspect I find entertaining in this whole sordid affair is watching Thanong's head explode on Twitter and his back and forth with Mr. Marshall.

http://twitter.com/#!/zenjournalist

http://twitter.com/#!/ThanongK

Thaksin: King and Coup Plot

The video with Sonthi is post-coup. If anybody has audio isolation software, I think the discussion could be picked up. I actually heard, forget where, that HMTK didn't support this coup.


Financial Times:

Thaksin Shinawatra, the former premier of Thailand, has accused the country's revered king of prior knowledge of the military coup that toppled him in 2006.

King Bhumibol Abulyadej, regarded as a near deity and above politics by Thais, has publicly stayed out of the country's political turmoil.

But in an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Thaksin claimed the king had been briefed by leading generals and privy councillors about their plans to remove the polarising former prime minister ahead of the 2006 coup.

Thai officials denied Mr Thaksin's claim that King Bhumibol knew about the coup before it took place. "This is a totally groundless allegation. It is a lie," a spokesman for the Thai embassy in London told the FT.

The palace never comments on speculation concerning the king, but a senior Thai figure close to the situation described the allegations as "totally untrue".

According to Mr Thaksin, the coup was presented as a favour to the king, with his privy councillors accusing Mr Thaksin of disloyalty. Mr Thaksin said he had later been told this by General Panlop Pinmanee, who has in the past confirmed that he met Mr Thaksin but denied politics was discussed.

Mr Thaksin claims that Gen Surayud Chulanont - who served as interim prime minister following the coup - was present at the meeting with the king.

I can see Prem and Surayud plotting the coup. They both had personal beefs with Thaksin. Prem made noises that the army is only loyal to the king and people, not to the government, and Surayud was present at the coup conspiracy meeting at Piya's house with the chief judges and the Finland Republican Plot theorist.

I don't know what Thaksin is to gain by this "nuclear option." And he is putting General Panlop's life at risk, by disclosing his insider status. Wonder what his excuse or non-denial denial will be.

I guess reconciliation is out of the question now.

My personal feeling is the palace told Thaksin no compromise on his personal rehabilitation, reconciliation, his criminal cases or his money, so he decided to go for broke.

You have to wonder what the Thai media will do. Will they go into censorship mode or full propaganda mode?

I have another feeling this is the story that the Bangkok Post alluded to yesterday in their creepy article about silencing critics abroad.

The Economist Versus the Thai Monarchy

The King and Them

The Economist:

Throughout this conflict, the great unmentionable, not just for the Thai press but also for most foreign reporters, has been the role of King Bhumibol, his family and their closest courtiers. The world’s most ferociously enforced law against lèse-majesté (offending the crown) prevents even the mildest discussion of the palace’s role in Thai public life. Such laws are mostly in disuse elsewhere, but Thailand’s was harshened in the 1970s. Absurdly, anyone can bring a lèse-majesté suit. The police have to take seriously the most trivial complaints. All this makes the law a useful tool for politicians and others seeking a way to damage their foes. Often, the press is not allowed to explain the nature of any supposed offence against the crown, so Thais have no way to tell whether it really was so disrespectful.

The lèse-majesté law is an outrage in itself. It should not be enforced in any country with democratic pretensions. Worse is that the law hides from Thais some of the reasons for their chronic political woes. For what the king himself calls the “mess” Thailand is in stems in many ways from his own meddling in politics during his 62-year reign (see article). In part, the strife also reflects jockeying for power ahead of the succession. With the king celebrating his 81st birthday on December 5th, that event looms ever larger.

Much of the story of how the king’s actions have hurt his country’s politics is unfamiliar because Thais have not been allowed to hear it. Some may find our criticisms upsetting, but we do not make them gratuitously. Thailand needs open debate if it is to prepare for the time when a less revered monarch ascends the throne. It cannot be good for a country to subscribe to a fairy-tale version of its own history in which the king never does wrong, stays above politics and only ever intervenes on the side of democracy. None of that is true.

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In the imagination of Thai royalists their country is like Bhutan, whose charismatic new king is adored by a tiny population that prefers royal rule to democracy. In reality, with public anger at the queen’s support for the thuggish PAD and the unsuitability of Bhumibol’s heir simmering, Thailand risks the recent fate of Nepal, which has suffered a bitter civil war and whose meddling king is now a commoner in a republic. The PAD was nurtured by the palace and now threatens to engulf it. An enduring image of the past few days is that of PAD toughs shooting at government supporters while holding up the king’s portrait. The monarchy is now, more clearly than ever, part of the problem. It sits at the apex of a horrendously hierarchical and unequal society. You do not have to be a republican to agree that this needs to be discussed.

As The Economist went to press, on the eve of the king's birthday, he was reported to be unwell, and unable to deliver his usual annual speech to the nation. So he had still not repudiated the yellow-shirts' claims to be acting in his name. His long silence has done great damage to the rule of law in Thailand. He could still help, by demanding, as no one else can, the abolition of the archaic lèse-majesté law and the language in the current charter that supports it, and so enable Thais to have a proper debate about their future. He made a half-hearted stab at this in 2005, saying he should not be above criticism. But nothing short of the law’s complete repeal will do. Thailand’s friends should tell it so.

Well, what can I say? This is only one story The Economist did. The other one is much more critical.

On a personal level, I don't like the idea of attacking HMTK on his birthday, especially when he is old, sick and just lost his older sister.

On the other hand, everything here needs to be said and somebody has to get the ball rolling. Sixty one years is a long time to wait for the international media to awake from it sleepy slumber.

The Economist will be attacked by the Thai intelligentsia, probably will be banned, and its reporters will be persona non grata in Thailand, like Paul Handley. Of course, there won't be any intelligent arguments allowed, only right-wing nationalist attacks against The Economist by all and sundry. I am sure the opinion writers over at The Nation are waiting in anticipation of attacking The Economist this week. After all, The Nation went into hysterics over the You Tube videos, and they have had a vendetta against The Economist for years, because it has never accepted The Nation's lies and propaganda concerning Thaksin. The hysterics over in the "free speech" Democrat Party will probably propose the death penalty for lese majeste after these recent articles.

Outside of the The King Who Never Smiles, I don't think I have ever read articles as critical as the monarchy as these pieces. That should tell us something about the professional integrity of the international media the last 60 years, which has been as obsequious and uncritical of the monarchy as the Thai media.

Here is the link the other article

Here is another article on the monarchy that made it into the International Heral Tribune this week also.

King is Worth $35 Billion: Source of Pride or National Embarassment?

Courtesy of Forbes:

At the top of our list is Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose $35 billion estimated net worth is up sevenfold as a result of increased transparency of his Crown Property Holdings. He takes the top spot from the only other Asian monarch on the list, the Sultan of Brunei, worth $20 billion, one of only two rulers worth less than they were last year.

Of course, the Thai media won't touch this with a ten-foot pole, because they love to propagate that the king is poor.

Should the Thai people care? Should they be concerned if the king pays taxes?

Unfortunately, it is illegal for Thais to have an opinion on the subject.

There is no doubt that the king has hundreds of little projects across the country that he funds out of his own pocket, which is good, but Thailand has so many pressing needs from AIDS to an education crisis that more money can be spent from his largesse.

With that money, he could create a world-class university on par with some of the best in the world. He could create high-tech parks. He could pore hundreds of millions into environmental preservation or buy land and redistribute it to landless farmers.

Look at what Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, the Emirs in the UAE are doing with their billions.

The king doesn't even come close to their generosity. It is quite an embarrassment, really.

Bangkok Pundit has comments on the story here.

Asia Sentinel on the King's Wealth

New look at Thai royal riches


Daniel Ten Kate

Asia Sentinel


Excerpt:

Now a new academic article in a special edition of the Journal of Contemporary Asia says those figures significantly underestimate the palace’s wealth. Porphant Ouyyanont, an economist at Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University near Bangkok, calculates the CPB’s worth in 2005 at 1.123 trillion baht, or about $33 billion at today’s exchange rates.

In Porphant’s analysis, which is easily one of the most authoritative accounts ever written about an entity that has received little attention over the years, the number jumps so much because he attempts to calculate the value of the bureau’s extensive landholdings, a process he admits has “a large margin of error.”

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Historical evidence suggests the land is heavily concentrated in the Central Business District and other high-yielding areas of town. From this assumption, Porphant used Bangkok land prices published by private consulting firm Agency of Real Estate Affairs to roughly estimate the land prices. This process is “more likely to underestimate than overestimate” the CPB’s landholdings, he writes, while adding that the estimate “should be taken as a rough order of magnitude” rather than an exact figure.

With a worth of at least $30 billion plus, Thailand’s royal family would easily surpass the world’s other wealthy royals. According to Forbes, Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah is now the world’s richest royal with an estimated worth of $22 billion.

$33 billion isn't chump change. When I read this, it makes me sad. Just a tenth of this wealth could do a lot of good for Thailand, like develop an AIDS vaccine, or build a world-class university, invest in research for alternative fuel, promote environmental awareness, and many other non-political activities.

The king is almost in the same class as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, both of whom have committed billions of dollars to helping people all over the planet. Plus, they pay taxes and have created millions of jobs.

The King, on the other hand, hides and hordes his wealth and doesn't pay tax.

Exposing Thailand's Taboo Topics

Taking on Thailand’s myths

Daniel Ten Kate

Asia Sentinel

Excerpt:

These taboo issues are laid bare in a new collection of academic articles in a special issue of Journal of Contemporary Asia, a well-regarded Asian studies journal. This collection serves as required reading for anyone who wants to read an objective analysis of recent Thai political events that differs substantially from the sycophantic reports found in the country’s two English-language dailies. The journal is primarily geared towards an academic audience, according to editor Kevin Hewison, an Asian Studies professor at the University of North Carolina, but a limited number of copies will be made available in Thailand, particularly at the International Conference of Thai Studies in January.

With Thais heading to the polls on December 23 in the first parliamentary elections since the September 2006 coup, the journal offers a new lens through which to view telecom tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra’s unprecedented election victories and subsequent ouster by royalist factions of the military. While it’s impossible to note all the insights in this collection, the complementary pieces serve to repudiate two key myths that still get repeated constantly in Thailand: 1) The palace somehow sits “above politics” and 2) rural voters don’t know what’s good for them.

Read the rest here.

The Crisis of Siam: Propaganda War on YouTube

In disclosure, I don't subscribe to this conspiracy theory.

I want to post these videos to demonstrate what happens when a country decides to write laws that try to squash freedom of speech in the name of protecting the royal family and untouchable political actors.

This is also what happens when the media is irresponsible and doesn't do its job.

The Crisis of Siam is not caused by conspiracy, but because of the lack of verifiable information around, so that people can make informed decisions.

I didn't find these videos titillating; instead, I found them to be tragic.

Bangkok Post on the YouTube videos here.

Bangkok Pundit on the YouTube videos here.

Asia Sentinel: Rumor Nation (More on Succession)

Rumor Nation

Asia Sentinel


Whispers about the crown prince’s health transfix Bangkok

Thai Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn showed up in the flesh at Kasetsart University in Bangkok on Friday to watch his wife receive a master’s degree in home economics, debunking widespread speculation in the capital over the past few weeks that he had died or was incapacitated.

Indeed, Bangkok’s supercharged rumor mill has had the prince everywhere and nowhere at once. Variations of the rumors had him taking flight simulation courses in Canada or flying illegally over Sweden. The darkest and most tragic accounts—which were picked up by several blogs—said he died in Switzerland while undergoing treatment for an incurable disease.

Either way, taxi drivers, office workers, executives and bureaucrats across the capital all waited anxiously to see if the tales were true. The story seemed plausible to many for a number of reasons. First, whispers that the prince is suffering from a terminal illness are nothing new. Second, he hadn’t made a public appearance since he opened a new theatre on June 3 after making several high-profile appearances throughout the year. Third, the rumors were widespread, persistent and confirmed by military and diplomatic sources to foreign newswires and top editors of local newspapers, which would never dare print the information anyway until receiving confirmation from the palace.

It’s unclear who started the rumor campaign or why, but many observers said that something was certainly amiss. Even so, the opacity surrounding Thailand’s monarchy allows rumors like this to fester as all official public information is tightly controlled.


Continued.


I have already covered this in another blog entry, but I think I should post the link, because it will probably be one of few articles, in print or online, we will get concerning the succession.

The Thai media will never cover it or analyze it, because they are cowards, and the international media won't cover it, because the few correspondents who know Thailand want to keep coming back. One of the truisms I have discovered in my short life in politics and the media is that reporters care more about their self-interest/careers more than they do about reporting the truth, which is why the news media(in most countries) is pure crap.

Considering that I don't belong to any political group or media organization, thankfully, it will be up to me(and perhaps a few others) to keep the issue alive, at least in the English speaking world.

If Thailand is ever going to transform from a feudal society to a democratic one, the monarchy and all the corrupt actors (notably the military and aristocracy) who hide behind it will have to face the scrutiny of the public.

Asia Times: The Coup and Succession

ASIA HAND

Toward a less democratic Thailand


By Shawn W Crispin


Money Quotes:

The military's proposed new charter aims to uphold the monarchy strongly and simultaneously to prepare the country for a smooth royal succession - only this time through fortifying the military rather than the establishment of new democratic institutions. King Bhumibol turns 80 on December 5, and the new charter requires the next elected government to implement the monarch's inward-looking "sufficiency economy" concept and provide enough military force, weapons and modern technology to protect the monarchy, national security and interests, and democracy.

Many royalists feared that while in office a politically ambitious Thaksin could have moved to complicate the royal succession, explaining perhaps many of the new charter's provisions giving appointed officials discretionary censure and impeachment power over elected politicians, including the prime minister. Among the military's initial justifications for launching last September's coup were charges that Thaksin was disloyal to the throne - an explosive accusation that protest leaders had articulated during their anti-government rallies. A Thai court this year dropped the military's lese majeste charges against the deposed premier for lack of evidence.

Those concerns could also help to explain some of the illiberal measures in the military-appointed government's proposed national-security legislation, which if enacted would give the army commander more power than the prime minister during - undefined in the bill - times of national crisis. Opposition politicians and pro-democracy groups have protested the bill as a major step backward for democracy and have said it should not be passed until a new democratically elected government is in place.

Thailand's military leaders mobilized royal symbolism when launching last year's bloodless coup, and former TRT politicians are now complaining that the CNS is employing the same tactic in the run-up to the upcoming national referendum on the new charter. Some political analysts believe the CNS would likely interpret a majority "yes" vote at the referendum as a democratic endorsement of both their coup and their 11-month term in power. In turn, they say, the interim government may try to ram through the controversial national-security bill this year, perhaps at a time when the population and news media is distracted by the election campaigns of the new political parties expected to contest the next polls.

The unspoken subtext to all this is that the military is first and foremost loyal to the Thai crown and that the impending royal succession has important implications for political stability, national security and social cohesion. The new draft constitution and the proposed national-security legislation, although not overtly, speak to those concerns. And so long as the generational passing of the crown is still on the horizon, the Thai military will remain visible and highly influential in managing Thailand's new era of less democratic politics.


I wrote about this before. The coup was not just about Thaksin's corruption, but had to with succession also. The old money and aristocratic elite did not want Thaksin and his parevenu Chinese capitalist minions having a say about succession or leading the country during a very sensitive time.

Also, one must remember that Shawn Crispin with Rodney Tasker reported in the Far Eastern Economic Review back in the early 00's that King Bhumibol was not happy about Thaksin's business relationship with the Crown Prince, a story which almost got them arrested and deported.

You can read a short synopsis about it here.

Is Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn dead?

I am hearing rumors that the Crown Prince is dead. I don't know if it is from Aids or what.

Since we live under a military dictatorship that wants to kill Thai freedom of speech, let me take a stand for it right here.

If that old shithead Sittichai wants to go after me, let him.

Thailand without a crown prince? What does the future have in store for us? Good omen. Bad Omen.

Does the Crown Princess Srindhorn take over the spot or does the Crown Prince's son?

Who will be the Regent when the King passes on?

With all being said and done, if the rumor is true, I feel bad for HM the King. It is never good to see your children and grandchildren go before.


Apparently, the Crown Prince is alive and well according to The Nation:

HRH Crown Prince grants robes for nationwide ordination HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn has graciously granted 84 sets of triple yellow robes to the nationwide ordination of 7,476 Buddhist monk men to celebrate His Majesty the King's upcoming 80th birthday anniversary.

Culture Ministry's Religious Affairs Department hosted on Friday a ceremony at Wat Bovornnivet to receive the royal-granted robes for the ordination, hosted by the department, the Office of National Buddhism and related agencies.

Permanent Secretary for Culture Veera Rojanapojanarat said the 7,476 candidates comprised of 89 individuals from each of 75 provinces plus 89 at each of nine central temples being Wat Bonornnivet, Wat Saket, Wat Chanasongkhram, Wat Pak Nam, Wat Trimitwittayaram, Wat Suthatthepvararam, Wat Phrachetupon Wimolmangklaram, Wat Yannawa and Wat Rama 9.

The head-shaving rite is schedule for July 26 and the ordination ceremony (Upasampada) would be held the following day.

The royal-granted robes would be presented to the Preceptor (Upajjhaya), who would be responsible for the newly ordained monks throughout their monastic life, at each province and at each of the nine central temples, Veera said.

Those wanting to make donations to support the activity should contact the Religious Affairs Department, according to Veera.