Thailand still mourning its beloved King Bhumibol
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 พ.ค. 2024
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He was the world’s richest monarch - wealthier than Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II - and the longest-serving, spending 70 years on the throne. Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died four months ago aged 88, was respected and worshipped by his people. His death plunged Thailand into uncertainty and an unprecedented period of mourning. Our Southeast Asia correspondent Clovis Casali reports on this historic event.
Although King Bhumibol Adulyadej had been ill for several years, his passing on October 13, 2016 still shocked the nation. In the hours following the announcement, millions of Thais clad themselves in black while a sense of sadness could be felt in the streets. In Thailand, the monarch is a pillar of society and most of Thailand’s 67 million people had never known any other king than Bhumibol, who spent seven decades on the throne. A semi-divine figure, Bhumibol Adulyadej was immensely popular due to his efforts to unite the country, while making sure not to forget the poorest.
While military coups regularly rocked Thailand during his reign (most recently in 2006 and 2014), King Bhumibol symbolised stability. But no citizen dared or could criticise him, due to a law on lèse majesté, or the crime of "violating majesty", the infamous Article 112 of the Thai penal code. Recently denounced by the UN as a tool for political repression, this law is among the strictest in the world. Anyone defaming the image of the monarchy can be sentenced from three to 15 years behind bars. But Buddhist intellectual Sulak Sivaraksa, who met Bhumibol Adulyadej on several occasions, insists the late monarch took a dim view of the law.
Long before his death, Bhumibol Adulyadej had chosen his son Maha Vajiralongkorn to succeed him. The heir, who already represented him at official ceremonies, first asked for some time to be able to mourn his loss with the rest of the nation. It was only on December 1, 2016, some fifty days after his father’s death, that he was proclaimed king with the title of Rama X - his father having been crowned in 1950 with the dynastic name of Rama IX.
As a long chapter of Thai history comes to a close, expectations are high for the new king, a 64-year-old former army officer educated in the United Kingdom.
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Thai people, the most generous and helpful.
You guys at this station pronounced his name wrongly.
It's A-Dun-ya-dej. Please do your homework.
And using negative comments; cult, forced to kneel down, etc is a form of disrespectful to HMK Bhumipol and the people of Thailand.
That is the name we call in Thai, we call him in English differently.
Another example is "Suvarnabhumi Airport" is "สนามบินสุวรรณภูมิ".
John Texas I could not have said better
Boycott voice tv
1:19 why is the aunty using money to pay tribute to King Bhumibol
Its something with his picture. No need to pay anything
If only queen Elizabeth has the les majesty law, then the English might show 100% fake love as well lol
Williams B LEE Fake love ? lol. . Nobody forces them to stand in line for 10 hrs just to have a chance to pay respect to him for 5 mins. By the way, there were 35+ million people who have done so during the past 11 months. And close to a million volunteered to facilitate the process. Fake love ?.. lol. You may know a lot about other things, but you know very little about him.
*Edit* The les majesty is strong here because in our culture the King doesnt argue back, the same way you and i do. It's not like in some country where a president can sue his people. If there were no such a law, there would be oneway critisism which is not fair.
Jirattikorn L.
For the past 70 years that's all most Thai people's know, one should only look at North Korea , Thailand is not much different from north Korea regarding the King love and admiration, what kind of a love when you can go to jail for just saying the truth about the king or his family?
True love would be? Let's say royal family of England, where the people's is free to read and write the honest truth about their society and talk freely, Thailand you can't.
Williams B LEE
The funny thing is that i was going to type that we are very much different from north korea. If you don't know, i will tell you . Please allow me, sir.
1. Unlike DPRK(north korea), Thai King has no constitutional power. His power derives from pure respect of his people. People obey him on their free wills. He didnt rule the land physically, he ruled the hearts of his people. People you see in any vids were not forced to go. Trust me. Some of them even paid their ways to be there.
2. With the exception of our les majesty law, we have a very common set of laws like you guys do. Unlike DPRK, We have a fully functioning legal systems (independent from political influence). You can see that 2 of our prime ministers were sentenced for years in prison from their abuse of power.
3. In DPRK, no demonstration what-so-ever is allowed. Any one who are arrested will have his whole lineage in prison along with him : 3 generations up and 3 gen down the family tree. In case of foriegners : an american student was arrested in DPRK just because he strayed out of his tour group.. only to return to the US years later in coma. I can't remember his name.
But in Thailand, foriegners are allowed to take photo here, and free to go whereever they please as long as it is not trespassing or violate any laws. In fact, you are very welcome to visit Thailand.
4. Despite your claim, we are pretty much a free country. We have a freedom to discuss politics, society or even laws. As long as it doesnt insult the king. As i have said, it's not in our tradition for the king to reply any (no matter it is true or false)accusation.
And forgive us for our love to the king and our unique way to protect his honor.
Jirattikorn L.
The dear leader of North Korea would say the same thing and the love over in the North Korea is much much more real then in Thailand, people's cry with real tear with whole family lol..... If the king is soooo nice? Why is the Les majesty's law is needed? Do you have any ideas of how many people's go to jailed or killed because of the king and his Les majesty law?
Williams B LEE .. Believe what you want. At this point, there is no use to tell you,sir. In fact ,right now, i am waiting in a-mile-long line just to pay respect to him on the cremation day today. This is just a local temple; not even a real place. Tens of thousand temples are like this. I wish you were here today. To actually see it yourself.
Gotta go. Have a nice day.