Bangkok - A debate on the hitherto taboo subject of the role
of the monarchy in Thailand starts behind closed doors Wednesday at
Bangkok's Thammasat University, at a time of great political
uncertainty and an outpouring of national devotion for the revered
King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
The prestigious International Conference on Thai Studies, held
every three years, has included several potentially explosive
seminars that plainly deal with the role and future of the palace in
Thai society - a discussion that normally only takes place privately
in Thailand for fear of legal and social sanction.
The boldest - in Thai terms - discussion could take place when a
panel of foreign and Thai professors debate the merits of a generally
hostile and highly controversial recent biography of King Bhumibol,
The King Never Smiles, that is banned in Thailand.
The book views the monarchy as an anachronism. The author, a
former correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review, trashes the
king's life to the extent of criticising his painting and saxophone
playing.
The American author of the book, Paul Handley, who may never again
be allowed into Thailand, will nevertheless present a paper about the
powerful Privy Council at the conference, read in absentia by the
chair.
The role of the Privy Council in Thailand is delicate because its
chief, retired general and former prime minister Prem Tinsulanonda,
is thought by many Thai analysts to be the main instigator behind a
September 2006 coup that ousted controversial prime minister Thaksin
Shinawatra.
Another presentation will consider abolishing the century-old lese
majeste laws that are used to squash debate about the role of
monarchy and have frequently been used as weapons in political
squabbles.
These debates will take place over three days during the mourning
period of the king's respected elder sister Princess Galayani, who
died last week, reminding the nation that the late princess's brother
is also an increasingly frail 80 years old.
The king is widely seen in Thailand as having played a vital
restraining, correcting role for most of the time since his
coronation in 1950. His son and heir, Crown Prince Maha
Vajiralongkorn, is said by analysts to have little of his father's
popularity, experience or dedication in the eyes of ordinary Thais.
This extraordinary examination of the role of the monarchy comes
after some foreign academics proposed last year a boycott of the
conference if its organisers rejected any papers that grappled with
Thailand's contemporary political problems, alluding to a military
and older elite contending for power with a ruthless and allegedly
corrupt former telecommunications tycoon Thaksin.
This year's conference is officially themed around
transnationalism and the erosion of borders in the modern world.
Chris Baker, a Thai-based historian, wrote recently of the conference
'One border that may be swept away is the thick black line between
what can be said inside the country, and what already is being said
outside it.'
The boycott call appears to have fizzled out and popular Princess
Maha Chakri Sirindhorn is scheduled to open the conference. All
participants have been requested to wear black in memory of Princess
Galayani.
© 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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