Thai king to make rare public appearance on birthday

Nov 30, 2011, 3:19 GMT

Bangkok - Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej will make a rare public appearance on his 84th birthday, taking a respite from hospital, media reports said Wednesday.

The king will attend a royal birthday ceremony Monday at the Chakri Maha Prasart Throne Hall, which will be attended by 5,000 guests, the Bangkok Post reported, citing a special advisor to the Royal Household Bureau.

King Bhumibol, Thailand monarch for the last 65 years, was hospitalized in September 2009, and has since taken up permanent residence at the Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok. He is suffering from a variety of ailments.

On November 20, royal physicians announced the king had suffered from inflammation of the large intestine, but he recovered quickly.

King Bhumibol last left hospital on December 5, 2010, to preside over his 83rd birthday ceremony.

The government on Tuesday approved a 117.7-million-baht (3.9-million-dollar) budget to stage light and sound events and a film on the king's life for public viewing every evening from Saturday through December 9.

A new book, King Bhumibol Adulkyadej: A Life's Work, was published this week to commemorate the monarch's 84th birthday.

Written by a handful of foreign scholars and journalists, the 383-page tome is split into three sections, including the king's biography, work and the monarchy.

'The Thai monarchy has been subject to heavy criticism in the past few years not based on facts, so I have used my role as advisor to tell the truth to foreign audiences,' said former prime minister Anand Panyarachun, who headed the advisory board for the project.

Thailand has undergone unprecedented political instability over the last six years, resulting in months of street protests in Bangkok that have brought the role of the monarchy into open debate as never before.

The unprecedented outspokenness has drawn attention to Thailand's strict lese majesty law, which prohibits criticism of the king, queen and heir to the throne.

There has been a surge in lese-majesty cases and prosecutions, the most recent of which was 61-year-old Thai man who was sentenced to 20 years in jail for allegedly sending messages offensive to the monarchy on his mobile phone.

In a speech marking his birthday in 2005, King Bhumibol commented on the lese-majesty law: 'Actually, I must also be criticized. I am not afraid if criticism concerns what I do wrong, because then I know. But, the king can do wrong.'

Thailand has been under a constitutional monarchy since 1932, when a clique of army colonels overthrew the former absolute monarchy.