Thailand - The King has Died.
 

The much loved King Bhumibol Adulyadej has passed away on October 13, 2016, at the age of 88.

If the political climate has seemed rough the last few years, it's sure to get more interesting shortly.

Rest In Peace your Highness.

I liked Yul Brenner in that part best.....RIP

For those who don't understand what the death of the king (American born, BTW) means to the Thai people, let me provide some context.

Every Thai home, all the way down to remote stick and thatch huts hidden in the mountains, has a picture of the king and queen. Walk into any Thai restaurant in the United States, and you will find the same pictures. He has been a fixture for their entire lives, and their parents entire lives.

It is a crime to deface the currency because the king's picture is on every note and coin. If you were to drop a 5 baht coin and it starts rolling away, don't stop it with your foot. Very disrespectful.

Back in the 1990s, his power was shown. It was some major political impasse, I don't remember the details. But, on national TV, the king had the prime minister and his major political enemy come to him, walking on their knees. Essentially he told them to cease and desist. Problem solved. In a country marked by political instability and sporadic military coups, the generals are in charge now, King Bhumibol Adulyadej was an island of stability.

Now he's gone and the people feel a profound sense of loss. Also, they don't particularly care for is 64 year old son, the crown prince. Interesting times ahead for tourists currently visiting the kingdom.

Rest in peace, Your Majesty.

How about we given them our Queen? Of course we'll have to wait until after the Coronation in November.

They've already got one.

They have to mourn for a year, if HRC is coronated we will be mourning a helluva lot longer than that. :(

Why would you do that to the people of Thailand?

The most beloved Royal I have ever seen. Rest in Peace, Majesty Bhumibol

ANNNNDDDD THE NEW KING. Bring in the coke and hookers!

My wife says this is completely fabricated BS.

If it is BS I will remove it. However even the NY Times reports a lot of turmoil and irrational behavior by the new King.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/15/wo...rehension.html

The crown prince, 64, has led a stormy life of byzantine quarrels and breakups with various lovers that were rarely fully elucidated in public. To his critics, his romantic liaisons have been more than just a royal soap opera; they have raised questions about whether his character suits the institution he is about to lead.

Having multiple lovers is a dynastic tradition — his great-grandfather King Rama V had more than 150 wives and consorts — but the prince’s former partners have endured spiteful separations and the purged members of his entourage have died under suspicious circumstances. His three divorces, and the brusque ways they were handled, turned many Thais against him and left a trail of broken families, including four children in the United States with whom he has cut ties.

The crown prince returned to Thailand in time to be present for his father’s death on Thursday. But the timing of his accession remains in question. Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, the prime minister, surprised the nation on Thursday when he told reporters that the prince had decided to wait until the “appropriate time” to ascend the throne, which is still replete with the ancient pageantry and extreme formality made famous by the musical “The King and I.”
Photo
King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, left, and the crown prince in Bangkok in 2015. Credit Phamorn Manapornchai/Daily News, via Associated Press

What details are known of the crown prince’s life are whispered and passed along furtively on social media in Thailand, where the military government, enforcing a strict lèse-majesté law, has sentenced dozens of people to long prison terms for offending the monarchy. The law has been interpreted broadly, stifling most public discussion of anything related to the royal family.

But the few details that have emerged in public records, leaked documents and videos, and in publications from abroad offer a glimpse into the man who stands to be Thailand’s next king.

The prince was still married to his first wife, his cousin Soamsawali Kitiyakara, in the 1970s and ’80s when he fathered five children with another woman, according to Thai news accounts at the time. The other woman, an aspiring actress and a commoner, Sujarinee Vivacharawongse, would become his second wife.

That second marriage ended in the late 1990s in such acrimony that a public notice was posted at the prince’s palace accusing Ms. Sujarinee of corruption and infidelity with a soldier. The prince cut off communication with four of the five children from the marriage, stripped them of their royal titles and diplomatic passports, and wrote letters, since posted online by an exiled academic, to their British boarding schools informing them that he would no longer pay their tuition. They now live in the United States, as does their mother.

His third marriage, also to a commoner, Srirasmi Suwadee, in 2001, produced the boy who is considered the next heir to the throne, Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti, 11, who lives in Bavaria with his father.

Thais got a rare insight into the third marriage when a video clip of an elaborate poolside birthday party circulated widely on computer discs and on the internet. The video, which showed the princess topless with a string bikini bottom being attended to by submissive palace staff, scandalized a public accustomed to perceiving the monarchy as a paragon of virtue.

It was never clear how the video had been leaked but some suggested that the prince’s enemies had spread it to promote the possibility that his sister Princess Sirindhorn, beloved by the public for her devotion to charitable causes, could become monarch in his stead.

Don't know. The prince has led a colorful life, that much is known. Certainly not at all a good life or royal life.

The exiled British journalist mentioned in the article has an axe to grind and has previously posted fake stories and photoshopped pictures in the past.

There will be an active smear campaign like that of Trump by the NYT that will be used against the prince as well. He is an avid fan Taksin Shinawatra the former exiled Prime Minister.

The story says Thais' don't like the prince and prefer the princess. This according to my wife is untrue. The only people that like the princess are the same wealthy minority in Bangkok that have caused all the political turmoil of the last seven to ten years. Leading to the coup and the ouster of the popular Shinawatra family.

If you know the battle of the red shirts and the yellow shirts...the prince is a red shirt and the princess wears a yellow shirt.

As far as that picture you posted. My wife says it's photoshopped. The prince doesn't have arm sleeve tattoos and that dog has been dead for at least two years.

Beyond that, I don't know.

The Crown Prince does not enjoy the same popular status in Thailand, while his late father was a national icon, in fact, a King. Regardless of what is in the press, true or not, he will succeed to the throne.

In Thailand the king is head of state, not a mere figurehead. The only possible challenge could only come from the military.

Thailand to monitor Thais abroad for criticism of monarchy
 

Tourists and expats are also subject to these laws inside Thailand.

https://in.news.yahoo.com/thailand-m...151316146.html

AP NATNICHA CHUWIRUCH 18 October 2016

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's government said Tuesday it will monitor the social media activities of Thais abroad to see if they are posting insulting comments about the monarchy, which are punishable by stiff prison sentences, following the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej last week.

Justice Minister Paiboon Kumchaya told reporters that his ministry is cooperating with police intelligence, the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Digital Economy to monitor social media comments on the monarchy by Thais abroad.

He acknowledged that the government will not be able to act against Thais who criticize the monarchy if they are outside Thai jurisdiction. But he urged Thais in the country not to distribute offending material that originates from abroad because that act would be considered illegal.

Thailand has a strict law against insulting the monarchy which the military government has used liberally in the last two years to jail people, despite international criticism and allegations it is used for political purposes.

On Sunday, a woman was arrested in the resort island of Phuket after residents alleged she had insulted the king. Police made her kneel before the king's portrait in public with hundreds of onlookers watching and jeering.

Asked about the case, Paiboon said "there's nothing better than social measures" to prevent the monarchy from being maligned. He did not elaborate, and it wasn't clear if he was supporting public shaming.

Bhumibol's death after a reign of 70 years has triggered an outpouring of grief from most Thais.

My HH6 tells me things are not good right now. Darn near Martial law being imposed in all major cities, military shooting opposition members and arrests of high level members of Shinawatra family looming on the near horizon.

Crown Prince has returned to Germany for the time being. If he does not assume the throne on December 1, expect things to go from bad to worse.