I supposed we all have been fed enough propaganda bullshit to second guess what is officially published.
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Chitchat His Majesty The Thai King has just passed away.
- Thread starter Dinkum
- Start date
I supposed we all have been fed enough propaganda bullshit to second guess what is officially published.
Without lèse majesté which protects the likes of these parasites and poseurs, this chap and his offsprings are nothing but useless, good-for-nothing bums. He has achieved his demigod status only because of this law. Those that so much as breathe an uncomplimentary word about him end up in jail.
This useless bum, through his "Crown Property Bureau", owns 3,000+ acres of land in Bangkok, 13,000+ acres in towns and the countryside, earns 2.5 billion bahts (US$80 million) in rental income; owns 23% stake in a listed bank with a market cap of US $13 billion, 32% of a US$12.6 billion industrial conglomerate (Siam Cement), enjoys hundreds of billions of bahts in corporate dividends from these and many other stock holdings, does not pay any taxes from any and all of such earnings; but like a blood-sucking leech and avaricious parasite, continue to accept about 6.8 billion bahts (US$194 million) a year from taxpayers for himself and his royal household.
Those Golden Mile weeping dummies and the rest that worship him as "Father" will need to wait for his will to be read out to see whether "Father" has left his weeping Golden Mile dummy "children" anything from his more than US$30 billion fortune.
This useless bum, through his "Crown Property Bureau", owns 3,000+ acres of land in Bangkok, 13,000+ acres in towns and the countryside, earns 2.5 billion bahts (US$80 million) in rental income; owns 23% stake in a listed bank with a market cap of US $13 billion, 32% of a US$12.6 billion industrial conglomerate (Siam Cement), enjoys hundreds of billions of bahts in corporate dividends from these and many other stock holdings, does not pay any taxes from any and all of such earnings; but like a blood-sucking leech and avaricious parasite, continue to accept about 6.8 billion bahts (US$194 million) a year from taxpayers for himself and his royal household.
Those Golden Mile weeping dummies and the rest that worship him as "Father" will need to wait for his will to be read out to see whether "Father" has left his weeping Golden Mile dummy "children" anything from his more than US$30 billion fortune.
The Thais are lucky to have a new hipster to be their next king and demigod. He would be more in touch with the latest fad instead of being locked away in his palace living in an ivory tower.
Your Majesty, not mine. My Majesty is the majestic Loong from House of Lee. Dun you opposition cocksuckers eat in crawl out huh.
Majestic Loong..
The Thais are lucky to have a new hipster to be their next king and demigod. He would be more in touch with the latest fad instead of being locked away in his palace living in an ivory tower.
Steady lah.. He show off his six pack.
make no bones about it, he's as corrupt as they come - owns all of chatuchak and wanted to demolish and rebuild condos and comm properties few years ago but was advised that it's a landmark for tourists and had to relent eventually - with a chokdee statement about looking after his citizens' interests, what a load of crap!
Not only corrupt but a fake Buddhist just like those fake Christians in City Harvest.
Just received this article from my buddy who resides in LOS:
King Bhumibol of Thailand died yesterday at 3.50 pm, according to several senior royal and palace sources in Bangkok. He was 88 years old, and had reigned for 70 years. King Bhumibol had never been fully conscious in recent months, and in that sense his death was peaceful. He didn't really know what was going on during his final months.
As the designated heir, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn is expected to be proclaimed King Rama X as soon as Bhumibol's death is announced. This will probably be part of the same announcement.
Although the constitution suggests that the Privy Council should formally put forward Vajiralongkorn's name and that the choice should be ratified by parliament, in practice it is probable that Vajiralongkorn will be immediately proclaimed king.
Under the 1924 Palace Law on Succession, the only way he could be prevented from becoming monarch is if Article 10 of the law is invoked. This states: "The Heir who is to succeed to the Throne should be fully respected by the people and the people should be able to rely on him happily. If he is considered by the majority of the people as objectionable, he should be out of the line to the Throne."
Vajiralongkorn is widely considered objectionable in Thailand, but it seems unlikely that anyone will dare to invoke the law.
But while unlikely, it is not impossible that a succession conflict erupts now, and that is the biggest short-term risk.
Aware that most of the palace elite and army factions hate the crown prince, junta leader and prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha recently sought to prevent any challenge to his rule by reaching out to Prem Tinsulonanda, an ancient formal general who heads the Privy Council and had the most powerful political network in Thailand from the 1980s until his influence started to fade after he masterminded a disastrous coup in 2006.
Prem has long been a bitter enemy of the crown prince and his allies have hatched various plots to prevent Vajiralongkorn becoming king. Prem fears for his safety if the crown prince became monarchy, giving him further incentive to try to prevent Vajiralongkorn taking the throne.
Hoping to prevent any nasty surprise at succession time, Prayuth allowed an ally of Prem's to take the key job of army chief in the latest reshuffle.
The logic of putting General Chalermchai Sittisart in this position was to try to placate Prem and his allies, as well as military factions resentful of the Eastern Tigers, and prevent a counter-coup during the royal succession process.
Vajiralongkorn was persuaded to enter into an uneasy alliance with his old enemy.
If Prem still secretly intends to try to launch a succession surprise, however, the appointment of his ally as army chief gives him control of a strategically crucial position.
Mistrust between Prem and Vajiralongkorn remains extremely high. So this is a key issue to watch in the hours ahead.
Many Thais have long feared that Vajiralongkorn will be a cruel and dangerous monarch, and recent developments suggest the reality will be even worse than expected.
Last year three members of the prince's inner circle were murdered in army custody in Bangkok after they displeased him. It was claimed that two committed suicide and one died of blood poisoning but the reality is that they were killed and it is inconceivable this could have happened without the prince's approval.
Vajiralongkorn has also behaved with extraordinary cruelty towards his third wife Srirasmi and her family after he divorced her in 2014.
Most of Srirasmi's close family including her parents, three brothers and a sister were jailed along with several more distant relatives.
Srirasmi has been separated from her son Dipangkorn, who she never sees, and credible reports suggest she is still being deliberately tormented at her house in Ratchaburi on the orders of the crown prince.
The coming hours and days will be tense. The key thing to watch for is whether Vajiralongkorn is able to quickly assert his authority without facing any challenge.
If factions opposed to the crown prince want to try to stop him becoming monarch they will need to move fast.
Within a few hours we should know whether the succession is uncontested. If there is a challenge, there is a possibility of violence on the streets of Bangkok, involving troops and also potentially civilians. This is unlikely but not impossible.
Another important issue is what kind of mourning period will be announced. The junta will want to have a very long official period, perhaps as long as 999 days, which they will exploit to try to hang onto power longer without elections or accountability.
But obviously businesses cannot remain shut for an extended period without severe economic damage, so any official holiday will have to be relatively short.
Also the government will have to figure out how to enforce traditions of mourning such as the closure of entertainment venues without strangling the tourism industry.
After that, attention will turn to what Vajiralongkorn does in his early days as monarch. Will the junta manage to keep him under control?
Or will we see more purges and even more murders of his enemies? The new regime will most certainly reign through fear, but it remains unclear how far they are prepared to go.
We are about to find out.
A new era in Thailand has begun.
King Bhumibol of Thailand died yesterday at 3.50 pm, according to several senior royal and palace sources in Bangkok. He was 88 years old, and had reigned for 70 years. King Bhumibol had never been fully conscious in recent months, and in that sense his death was peaceful. He didn't really know what was going on during his final months.
As the designated heir, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn is expected to be proclaimed King Rama X as soon as Bhumibol's death is announced. This will probably be part of the same announcement.
Although the constitution suggests that the Privy Council should formally put forward Vajiralongkorn's name and that the choice should be ratified by parliament, in practice it is probable that Vajiralongkorn will be immediately proclaimed king.
Under the 1924 Palace Law on Succession, the only way he could be prevented from becoming monarch is if Article 10 of the law is invoked. This states: "The Heir who is to succeed to the Throne should be fully respected by the people and the people should be able to rely on him happily. If he is considered by the majority of the people as objectionable, he should be out of the line to the Throne."
Vajiralongkorn is widely considered objectionable in Thailand, but it seems unlikely that anyone will dare to invoke the law.
But while unlikely, it is not impossible that a succession conflict erupts now, and that is the biggest short-term risk.
Aware that most of the palace elite and army factions hate the crown prince, junta leader and prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha recently sought to prevent any challenge to his rule by reaching out to Prem Tinsulonanda, an ancient formal general who heads the Privy Council and had the most powerful political network in Thailand from the 1980s until his influence started to fade after he masterminded a disastrous coup in 2006.
Prem has long been a bitter enemy of the crown prince and his allies have hatched various plots to prevent Vajiralongkorn becoming king. Prem fears for his safety if the crown prince became monarchy, giving him further incentive to try to prevent Vajiralongkorn taking the throne.
Hoping to prevent any nasty surprise at succession time, Prayuth allowed an ally of Prem's to take the key job of army chief in the latest reshuffle.
The logic of putting General Chalermchai Sittisart in this position was to try to placate Prem and his allies, as well as military factions resentful of the Eastern Tigers, and prevent a counter-coup during the royal succession process.
Vajiralongkorn was persuaded to enter into an uneasy alliance with his old enemy.
If Prem still secretly intends to try to launch a succession surprise, however, the appointment of his ally as army chief gives him control of a strategically crucial position.
Mistrust between Prem and Vajiralongkorn remains extremely high. So this is a key issue to watch in the hours ahead.
Many Thais have long feared that Vajiralongkorn will be a cruel and dangerous monarch, and recent developments suggest the reality will be even worse than expected.
Last year three members of the prince's inner circle were murdered in army custody in Bangkok after they displeased him. It was claimed that two committed suicide and one died of blood poisoning but the reality is that they were killed and it is inconceivable this could have happened without the prince's approval.
Vajiralongkorn has also behaved with extraordinary cruelty towards his third wife Srirasmi and her family after he divorced her in 2014.
Most of Srirasmi's close family including her parents, three brothers and a sister were jailed along with several more distant relatives.
Srirasmi has been separated from her son Dipangkorn, who she never sees, and credible reports suggest she is still being deliberately tormented at her house in Ratchaburi on the orders of the crown prince.
The coming hours and days will be tense. The key thing to watch for is whether Vajiralongkorn is able to quickly assert his authority without facing any challenge.
If factions opposed to the crown prince want to try to stop him becoming monarch they will need to move fast.
Within a few hours we should know whether the succession is uncontested. If there is a challenge, there is a possibility of violence on the streets of Bangkok, involving troops and also potentially civilians. This is unlikely but not impossible.
Another important issue is what kind of mourning period will be announced. The junta will want to have a very long official period, perhaps as long as 999 days, which they will exploit to try to hang onto power longer without elections or accountability.
But obviously businesses cannot remain shut for an extended period without severe economic damage, so any official holiday will have to be relatively short.
Also the government will have to figure out how to enforce traditions of mourning such as the closure of entertainment venues without strangling the tourism industry.
After that, attention will turn to what Vajiralongkorn does in his early days as monarch. Will the junta manage to keep him under control?
Or will we see more purges and even more murders of his enemies? The new regime will most certainly reign through fear, but it remains unclear how far they are prepared to go.
We are about to find out.
A new era in Thailand has begun.
There is only one "fake buddhist" and he is in Singapore.
oh boy; this mafia looks more like a drug pusher to me....
[/QUOTE]Wholy crap the next King is Yakuza?
King Pumipon of Thailand
October 13, 2016 uglytruththailand
091205ST020Va_3
Giles Ji Ungpakorn
King Pumipon of Thailand was a weak and characterless monarch who spent his useless and privileged life in a bubble, surrounded by fawning, grovelling, toadies who claimed that he was a “god”. He was a pathetic creature who should not in any way be pitied. His life’s work was in self-enrichment, support for military regimes and the defence of inequality. He played a significant role in preventing democratic rights, the development of social justice and the fair and unbiased use of the law. He did this by legitimising all the worst government policies and atrocities committed by Thai rulers. In recent years he remained silent while more and more dissidents were jailed, under the draconian lèse majesté law, for merely speaking out against the destruction of democracy. He always remained silent about the killing of innocent civilians by the military.
Pumipon and son with dictator Tanom
Pumipon and son with dictator Tanom
Pumipon was a willing tool of the military, who constantly staged coups and obstructed democracy and the economic development of the Thai people. For Pumipon this resulted in great rewards. He amassed so much wealth from the work of others during his reign, that he became the richest man in Thailand and the richest monarch in the world. Yet he preached, through the “Sufficiency Economy Ideology” that his “subjects” should be happy in their poverty and he always opposed any redistribution of wealth. Thailand is one of the most unequal countries in Asia.
His toadies had to constantly project a photo of him with a drop of sweat falling from his nose. The photo was always the same one, since Pumipon seldom did anything to work up a real sweat. Unbelievably, his followers wept when the Palace released a photo of him tying his own shoe-laces without help from any servants. He allowed the use of crawling and special royal language in his presence without any sense of shame and he passed on his warped and elitist view of the world to his dysfunctional children.
Pumipon working up a sweat just thinking about doing real work
Pumipon working up a sweat just thinking about doing real work
Pumipon trying to tie his own shoe laces
Pumipon trying to tie his own shoe laces
Pumipon was born in the United States and spent much of his youth in Switzerland. His love of fast cars and the good life resulted in him losing an eye in a car accident. He came to the throne after his elder brother died from gunshot wounds to the head in 1946. His brother’s death was either a suicide or a gun accident, involving Pumipon. Either way, Pumipon was fully aware of the circumstances of his brother’s death, but chose to keep them a secret, allowing 3 innocent palace staff to be executed and allowing Pridi Panomyong to be falsely blamed for the incident by his political opponents. Pumipon carried on his career as a monarch in this deceitful and spineless manner for the rest of his life.
Pumipon saying his last goodbyes to the despot Sarit
Pumipon saying his last goodbyes to the despot Sarit
During the late 1950s and early 1960s he was used by Thailand’s corrupt and despotic ruler, Field Marshall Sarit Tanarat, to build a strong coalition between the military and the monarchists. The monarchy had fallen into disrepute and was very unpopular among the Thai people in the 1930s and 1940s, before and after the successful revolution which overthrew the absolute monarchy in 1932. Even key military leaders had republican leanings in those days. Sarit and the monarchists used the Cold War as a means of building up the prestige of the conservative elites. King Pumipon was systematically promoted as the symbolic figurehead of this “anti-Communist” alliance and Pumipon became very fond of Sarit. Even the U.S. government helped out by distributing photos of the King to villagers in rural areas as part of the fight against communism. Any house without such a picture would be deemed as “red”.
When the dictator Sarit died, his deputies, Tanom and Prapart, became the next bunch of corrupt military rulers and Pumipon carried on working with them. Never once did Pumipon ever speak up for democracy or social justice. Never once did he criticise corruption. The military promoted the King and his so-called “Royal Projects”, but over the years these projects had little impact on the standard of living of the majority of Thais.
In October 1973 the military regime was overthrown by a mass popular uprising and Pumipon was called upon by the elites to step in and protect the status quo. This he did by appearing on television and announcing a new civilian government. Thus he also managed to pretend that he was a “democratic king”. But the dark clouds of class struggle were looming. This was at the height of the Vietnam War and the students and social activists in Thailand were looking for real social change. They were attracted by the ideas of the Communist Party. Pumipon joined up with the military and conservative elites in promoting right-wing paramilitary groups, such as the Village Scouts, who attacked the students and the Left. The end result was a bloody crackdown at Thammasart University in October 1976. Pumipon supported this crackdown, the military coup that followed, and the general repression and censorship under the new dictatorship. He justified this by saying, in December 1976, that Thailand had had “too much democracy”. Left-leaning Thais hated him for this. After 6th October 1976 massacre, Thailand was plunged into a civil war between the government and the communist party.
Pumipon with the Village Scouts
Pumipon with the Village Scouts
By the mid 1980s the democratic space in Thailand was opening up and an elected civilian government came to power. Soon this was toppled by a new military coup in 1991 and Pumipon supported the military leaders again. However, a mass popular uprising and street fighting in Bangkok, in 1992, ended the dictatorship. When it was clear that the army had lost, Pumipon appeared again in public in order to claim his democratic credentials. But scores of people had been killed. Democratic elections were held and the political elites fell over each other to grovel and praise the “Great King”, while promoting and re-promoting his “super human talents”. By doing this they increased their own legitimacy. Pumipon lapped this all up and probably came to believe himself, that he was Devine.
One of those elite politicians who helped to promote Pumipon’s image was Taksin Shinawat, who won repeated elections because his party had serious pro-poor policies. The vast majority of the Thai electorate enjoyed real and immediate economic and social gains from these policies. This was in stark contrast to the King’s supposedly good works over many decades. Going with the flow as ever, Pumipon praised Taksin’s brutal War on Drugs where 3000 people were killed by extra-judiciary means.
Taksin’s influence among the majority of the electorate eventually enraged his rivals among the conservative elites: the army, the bureaucracy and the conservative political and business classes. The result was the 2006 and 2014 military coups and the subsequent destruction of democracy. Pumipon was a willing tool in these coups too, allowing his name to be used by the army and the royalist thugs who had laid the ground for such coups. He never once had the courage or the integrity to help prevent the growing political crisis. In fact Pumipon has never built stability for Thai citizens and never managed to “hold the country together”. He is a symbol of naked class oppression.
When the army gunned down nearly a hundred civilians in April and May 2010, Pumipon remained silent. He was old, but he could still speak, often making speeches to newly appointed judges. This event alone was enough to show that having a King as Head of State was at best a complete waste of public money. It is this event, and the two military coups, which have raised serious questions in the minds of millions of Thai citizens about the so-called benefits of having Pumipon, or anyone else, as King. There is now a strong republican sentiment throughout Thailand. But it faces real repression.
Many wrongly believed that Pumipon was powerful and ordered the 2006 coup and even the 2010 killings. By the time of the 2014 coup, Pumipon was so incapacitated by old age that he probably had limited awareness about what was happening. This did not stop General Prayut from using him, however.
The fact is that Pumipon never had political power. His role was always to provide a strong ideological legitimacy for the elites and their actions, especially the actions of the army. Pumipon was never brave or resolute enough to be a political leader. He was the bright fairy on top of the Christmas tree. His ideological role was not just about defending the military and the undemocratic elites. His reactionary “Sufficiency Economy” ideology was designed to oppose any redistribution of wealth and to support neo-liberalism by opposing state intervention to alleviate poverty. All sections of the Thai elite sought to use him for their own benefit. This included top businessmen, including Taksin, and the civilian and military bureaucrats.
Pumipon lived a life of luxury built on lies. He was projected as the “Father of the Nation, loved by all”. Yet his son, the Crown Prince is a half-wit and a bully, hated by many. He oppresses all women by publicising naked pictures of his women on the internet.
Pumipon was supposed to be a “genius”. It was claimed that he led a “simple life”. Yet any criticism of his actions or those of the royalist elites, would be harshly punished by the use of the lèse majesté law. This is why many obituaries about him written by foreign journalists will continue to repeat the usual lies and nonsense in praise of this pathetic and loathsome man.
Pumipon was a shy and alienated individual, more comfortable in the company of his dogs than that of fellow human beings. Millions of Thais will hope that his death will open the door to progressive changes to Thai society. But they will be disappointed as nothing is automatic. We must continue the fight for democracy and social justice and we still have to deal with the military and Pumipon’s reactionary successor. It is time for a genuine democratic republic. The amassed wealth of the Thai Royal Family and all their palaces should be turned over to the people in order to build a welfare state. Shed not one tear for Pumipon. Instead, think of those who were killed in his name by the military and all the people who will have to suffer from the long drawn out and very expensive funeral rites.
Lazy journalists will claim that the long-running political crisis was all about the Succession. But the main reason for the decade of political crisis was never about the king’s failing health nor succession but can be traced back to the 1997 economic crisis and the attempt by Taksin Shinawat to modernise Thai society. The Asian Economic crisis was the spark that exposed the existing fault-lines in Thai society, and the actions of political actors in response to this, eventually led to a back-lash against democracy by the conservatives. [See http://bit.Iy/2d9UUAu ]
October 13, 2016 uglytruththailand
091205ST020Va_3
Giles Ji Ungpakorn
King Pumipon of Thailand was a weak and characterless monarch who spent his useless and privileged life in a bubble, surrounded by fawning, grovelling, toadies who claimed that he was a “god”. He was a pathetic creature who should not in any way be pitied. His life’s work was in self-enrichment, support for military regimes and the defence of inequality. He played a significant role in preventing democratic rights, the development of social justice and the fair and unbiased use of the law. He did this by legitimising all the worst government policies and atrocities committed by Thai rulers. In recent years he remained silent while more and more dissidents were jailed, under the draconian lèse majesté law, for merely speaking out against the destruction of democracy. He always remained silent about the killing of innocent civilians by the military.
Pumipon and son with dictator Tanom
Pumipon and son with dictator Tanom
Pumipon was a willing tool of the military, who constantly staged coups and obstructed democracy and the economic development of the Thai people. For Pumipon this resulted in great rewards. He amassed so much wealth from the work of others during his reign, that he became the richest man in Thailand and the richest monarch in the world. Yet he preached, through the “Sufficiency Economy Ideology” that his “subjects” should be happy in their poverty and he always opposed any redistribution of wealth. Thailand is one of the most unequal countries in Asia.
His toadies had to constantly project a photo of him with a drop of sweat falling from his nose. The photo was always the same one, since Pumipon seldom did anything to work up a real sweat. Unbelievably, his followers wept when the Palace released a photo of him tying his own shoe-laces without help from any servants. He allowed the use of crawling and special royal language in his presence without any sense of shame and he passed on his warped and elitist view of the world to his dysfunctional children.
Pumipon working up a sweat just thinking about doing real work
Pumipon working up a sweat just thinking about doing real work
Pumipon trying to tie his own shoe laces
Pumipon trying to tie his own shoe laces
Pumipon was born in the United States and spent much of his youth in Switzerland. His love of fast cars and the good life resulted in him losing an eye in a car accident. He came to the throne after his elder brother died from gunshot wounds to the head in 1946. His brother’s death was either a suicide or a gun accident, involving Pumipon. Either way, Pumipon was fully aware of the circumstances of his brother’s death, but chose to keep them a secret, allowing 3 innocent palace staff to be executed and allowing Pridi Panomyong to be falsely blamed for the incident by his political opponents. Pumipon carried on his career as a monarch in this deceitful and spineless manner for the rest of his life.
Pumipon saying his last goodbyes to the despot Sarit
Pumipon saying his last goodbyes to the despot Sarit
During the late 1950s and early 1960s he was used by Thailand’s corrupt and despotic ruler, Field Marshall Sarit Tanarat, to build a strong coalition between the military and the monarchists. The monarchy had fallen into disrepute and was very unpopular among the Thai people in the 1930s and 1940s, before and after the successful revolution which overthrew the absolute monarchy in 1932. Even key military leaders had republican leanings in those days. Sarit and the monarchists used the Cold War as a means of building up the prestige of the conservative elites. King Pumipon was systematically promoted as the symbolic figurehead of this “anti-Communist” alliance and Pumipon became very fond of Sarit. Even the U.S. government helped out by distributing photos of the King to villagers in rural areas as part of the fight against communism. Any house without such a picture would be deemed as “red”.
When the dictator Sarit died, his deputies, Tanom and Prapart, became the next bunch of corrupt military rulers and Pumipon carried on working with them. Never once did Pumipon ever speak up for democracy or social justice. Never once did he criticise corruption. The military promoted the King and his so-called “Royal Projects”, but over the years these projects had little impact on the standard of living of the majority of Thais.
In October 1973 the military regime was overthrown by a mass popular uprising and Pumipon was called upon by the elites to step in and protect the status quo. This he did by appearing on television and announcing a new civilian government. Thus he also managed to pretend that he was a “democratic king”. But the dark clouds of class struggle were looming. This was at the height of the Vietnam War and the students and social activists in Thailand were looking for real social change. They were attracted by the ideas of the Communist Party. Pumipon joined up with the military and conservative elites in promoting right-wing paramilitary groups, such as the Village Scouts, who attacked the students and the Left. The end result was a bloody crackdown at Thammasart University in October 1976. Pumipon supported this crackdown, the military coup that followed, and the general repression and censorship under the new dictatorship. He justified this by saying, in December 1976, that Thailand had had “too much democracy”. Left-leaning Thais hated him for this. After 6th October 1976 massacre, Thailand was plunged into a civil war between the government and the communist party.
Pumipon with the Village Scouts
Pumipon with the Village Scouts
By the mid 1980s the democratic space in Thailand was opening up and an elected civilian government came to power. Soon this was toppled by a new military coup in 1991 and Pumipon supported the military leaders again. However, a mass popular uprising and street fighting in Bangkok, in 1992, ended the dictatorship. When it was clear that the army had lost, Pumipon appeared again in public in order to claim his democratic credentials. But scores of people had been killed. Democratic elections were held and the political elites fell over each other to grovel and praise the “Great King”, while promoting and re-promoting his “super human talents”. By doing this they increased their own legitimacy. Pumipon lapped this all up and probably came to believe himself, that he was Devine.
One of those elite politicians who helped to promote Pumipon’s image was Taksin Shinawat, who won repeated elections because his party had serious pro-poor policies. The vast majority of the Thai electorate enjoyed real and immediate economic and social gains from these policies. This was in stark contrast to the King’s supposedly good works over many decades. Going with the flow as ever, Pumipon praised Taksin’s brutal War on Drugs where 3000 people were killed by extra-judiciary means.
Taksin’s influence among the majority of the electorate eventually enraged his rivals among the conservative elites: the army, the bureaucracy and the conservative political and business classes. The result was the 2006 and 2014 military coups and the subsequent destruction of democracy. Pumipon was a willing tool in these coups too, allowing his name to be used by the army and the royalist thugs who had laid the ground for such coups. He never once had the courage or the integrity to help prevent the growing political crisis. In fact Pumipon has never built stability for Thai citizens and never managed to “hold the country together”. He is a symbol of naked class oppression.
When the army gunned down nearly a hundred civilians in April and May 2010, Pumipon remained silent. He was old, but he could still speak, often making speeches to newly appointed judges. This event alone was enough to show that having a King as Head of State was at best a complete waste of public money. It is this event, and the two military coups, which have raised serious questions in the minds of millions of Thai citizens about the so-called benefits of having Pumipon, or anyone else, as King. There is now a strong republican sentiment throughout Thailand. But it faces real repression.
Many wrongly believed that Pumipon was powerful and ordered the 2006 coup and even the 2010 killings. By the time of the 2014 coup, Pumipon was so incapacitated by old age that he probably had limited awareness about what was happening. This did not stop General Prayut from using him, however.
The fact is that Pumipon never had political power. His role was always to provide a strong ideological legitimacy for the elites and their actions, especially the actions of the army. Pumipon was never brave or resolute enough to be a political leader. He was the bright fairy on top of the Christmas tree. His ideological role was not just about defending the military and the undemocratic elites. His reactionary “Sufficiency Economy” ideology was designed to oppose any redistribution of wealth and to support neo-liberalism by opposing state intervention to alleviate poverty. All sections of the Thai elite sought to use him for their own benefit. This included top businessmen, including Taksin, and the civilian and military bureaucrats.
Pumipon lived a life of luxury built on lies. He was projected as the “Father of the Nation, loved by all”. Yet his son, the Crown Prince is a half-wit and a bully, hated by many. He oppresses all women by publicising naked pictures of his women on the internet.
Pumipon was supposed to be a “genius”. It was claimed that he led a “simple life”. Yet any criticism of his actions or those of the royalist elites, would be harshly punished by the use of the lèse majesté law. This is why many obituaries about him written by foreign journalists will continue to repeat the usual lies and nonsense in praise of this pathetic and loathsome man.
Pumipon was a shy and alienated individual, more comfortable in the company of his dogs than that of fellow human beings. Millions of Thais will hope that his death will open the door to progressive changes to Thai society. But they will be disappointed as nothing is automatic. We must continue the fight for democracy and social justice and we still have to deal with the military and Pumipon’s reactionary successor. It is time for a genuine democratic republic. The amassed wealth of the Thai Royal Family and all their palaces should be turned over to the people in order to build a welfare state. Shed not one tear for Pumipon. Instead, think of those who were killed in his name by the military and all the people who will have to suffer from the long drawn out and very expensive funeral rites.
Lazy journalists will claim that the long-running political crisis was all about the Succession. But the main reason for the decade of political crisis was never about the king’s failing health nor succession but can be traced back to the 1997 economic crisis and the attempt by Taksin Shinawat to modernise Thai society. The Asian Economic crisis was the spark that exposed the existing fault-lines in Thai society, and the actions of political actors in response to this, eventually led to a back-lash against democracy by the conservatives. [See http://bit.Iy/2d9UUAu ]
taksin hedged on the clown prince for his future plans but prem threw a spanner in the works and ostracized thaksin, as scheming prem knew that without the king's backing, his days were numbered. he now has to be in ocha's good books to ensure his survival, incl the other small players in the privy council.
The crown prince is pro-fetish. Here's some pictures of him and the former princess of thailand during happier times.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...reveals-royal-couples-decadent-lifestyle.html
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Deceased was a playboy who kena VD many times.
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