Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
At the beginning of his reign King Bhumibol was primarily a figurehead promoted
by various factions to appeal to the public's imagination of national unity. The milit-
ary dictator, General Sarit, who controlled the government from 1958 to 1963, sup-
ported the expansion of the king's role as a symbol of modern Thailand. The attract-
ive royal couple, King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit, made state visits abroad, met
Elvis and were portrayed in photographs in much the same way as the US presid-
ent John F Kennedy and his wife: young and fashionable models of the post-war
generation.
Through rural development projects the king became regarded as the champion
of the poor. The Royal Project Foundation was created in 1969 and is credited for
helping to eradicate opium cultivation among the northern hill tribes. During the viol-
ence of the 1970s protest movements, the king came to be regarded as a mediating
voice in tumultuous times and called for the resignation of the military leaders. He
also gave his consent to the reinstatement of military rule three years later, a sym-
bolic gesture that helped ensure civil order. During another political crisis in 1992,
the king summoned the leaders of the warring factions to the palace in an effort to
quell street protests. His annual birthday speech (5 December) is often regarded as
something akin to the US State of the Union address and indicates palace senti-
ments towards rival factions.
The king is in his 80s now and his health
has been failing while the country's political
future remains uncertain. Since the late
1950s the palace and the military have been
closely aligned, a relationship that is currently
cemented by General Prem Tinsulanonda, a
retired military commander, former prime
minister and current high-ranking palace ad-
visor who is believed to have instigated the
2006 coup. In previous political confronta-
tions, the king has appeared to be above the
bickering, but the palace's role in ousting the
popular prime minister and the ensuing street
protests between anti-Thaksin groups, who
wear the royal colours and proclaim to be
protecting the king, and the pro-Thaksin
groups, who see themselves as the inheritors
of the 1932 revolution, indicates a destabil-
isation of the monarch as a unifying figure. Though King Bhumibol has carved out a
Historic Museums
1 BANGKOK NATIONAL MUSEUM
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