18 TheEconomistOctober 17th 2020
1T
he monumentsdisappear in the dark.
In April 2017 it was a small bronze
plaque from Bangkok’s Royal Plaza. It
marked the spot where, in 1932, revolution-
aries proclaimed the end of Thailand’s ab-
solute monarchy. In December 2018 a stat-
ue was hauled away. It commemorated the
defeat of rebels who attempted a coup
against those same revolutionaries. Last
month activists installed a plaque in the
heart of Bangkok’s royal district to protest
against the missing monuments. “The peo-
ple have expressed the intention that this
country belongs to the people, and not theking”, it stated. Within a day it was gone.
The world knows Thailand’s King Maha
Vajiralongkorn as a playboy who has
churned through four wives, lives among
lots of women in a German hotel and rel-
ishes skimpy crop tops that reveal elabo-
rate temporary tattoos. For Thais, his four-
year-old reign has been more sinister.
The king makes elderly advisers crawl
before him, shaves the heads of courtiers
who displease him and has disowned sev-
eral of his children. Worse, he has steadily
amassed power, taking personal control of
“crown property”, assuming direct com-mand of troops and ordering changes to
the constitution. He makes no secret of his
hankering for the days of absolute monar-
chy (hence the disappearing monuments).
But Thais began to protest in July. Can they
prevent the removal not just of plaques, but
of constitutional constraints?
On October 14th thousands of protesters
marched through central Bangkok to camp
outside Government House, where minis-
ters’ offices are located. They also formed
human chains to carry away potted plants
that blocked the way to the country’s De-
mocracy Monument. Not far away King Va-
jiralongkorn himself, in the country on a
fleeting visit, passed by in a motorcade.
Clusters of royalists gathered wearing yel-
low shirts to show their loyalty to him.
That night a spooked government is-
sued an emergency decree banning gather-
ings of more than four people and prohib-
iting reporting on topics that could “harm
national security” or “cause panic”. The
government warned that protesters who
insulted the monarchy would be prosecut-
ed. Several prominent leaders of the prot-
est were arrested the following morning.
Yet tensions increased as protests contin-
ued in defiance of the decree.
Thailand defines itself as a democracy
with the king as head of state. The monar-
chy is revered. Photographs of royals adorn
public buildings and private homes. Fa-
ther’s Day is celebrated on the previous
king’s birthday. Thais hear a royal anthem
before films start at the cinema.
Technically King Vajiralongkorn rules
as a constitutional monarch. But ancient
structures have never entirely disap-
peared. The king used to sit at the apex of
society in a semidivine role. Defenders of
the vestiges of this order have long clashed
with those claiming to represent an alter-
native source of authority: the Thai people.
The conflict helps explain why Thai-
land has endured 12 coups and 20 constitu-
tions since 1932. Since the 1950s a symbiotic
relationship between the army and the pal-
ace has bolstered the legitimacy of military
regimes. For the past two decades the great-
est foe of such elites has been Thaksin Shi-
nawatra, a populist prime minister ousted
by the army in 2006. His supporters,
known as red shirts, battled their yellow-
shirted foes in the streets on several occa-
sions in the years after he lost power.
The generals engineered a coup in 2014.
The commander who led it, Prayuth Chan-
ocha, remains prime minister. An army-
friendly constitution disadvantaged large
parties, such as Mr Thaksin’s flagship one,
Pheu Thai, in an election last year.
One supposed reason why the army
seized power six years ago was to ensure a
steady succession between the ninth and
tenth monarchs of the Chakri dynasty.
King Vajiralongkorn’s path to the throneBattle royal
King Maha Vajiralongkorn is taking Thailand back towards an absolute monarchy.
A new state of emergency will make it harder to resist himBriefing Ruling Thailand