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WikiThai: Behind the Palace Doors

MsExPat's picture
Submitted by MsExPat on Thu, 12/16/2010 - 6:42am
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Thailand

The latest batch of WikiLeaks embassy cables has a delicious dispatch from the U.S. Ambassador to Thailand. (Via the Guardian).

Two thoughts: first, it's fun to know that the behind-closed-doors dish from the King's privy councillors about the Royal family and its foibles pretty much matches all the "unattributed" speculation that appears in the Thai and overseas press.

The other thought: unlike other folks, my take on the Wikileaks diplomatic cables is not "Gosh, how venal and duplicitous are the officers of our empire". Rather: I am encouraged by how smart, culturally savvy, professional and, well, diplomatic our foreign service officers reveal themselves to be. Based on what I've been reading, quite a few of our FSOs are out in the field doing their level best to mitigate the damage the idiots in Washington and the defense department are trying to shove through. Plus, many of them are damn good writers. This stuff is more compelling than any Graham Greene novel. (BTW the Guardian's coverage is WAAAY better than the NYT or the WP.)

But on to the Thailand goodies! (Note, the date on this dispatch is January 2010, about four and a half months before the Red Shirt protests in April-May 2010).

1. The ambassador on the Crown Prince:

When Ambassador asked where the Crown Prince was currently, in Thailand or Europe, Prem replied dismissively: "You know his social life, how he is." (Note: a presumed reference to Vajiralongkorn's preference to spend time based out of Munich with his main mistress, rather than in Thailand with his wife and son).

2. The ambassador on the succession:

Ambassador mentioned to Siddhi [one of the King's Privy Councillors]the Crown Prince's more engaging approach in the early December King's Birthday reception with Ambassadors, shaking each envoy's hand and appearing more at ease than in the 2008 reception. Siddhi stated that succession would be a difficult transition time for Thailand. According to Palace Law, the Crown Prince would succeed his father, but added after a pause, almost hopefully: "if the Crown Prince were to die, anything could happen, and maybe Prathep (Sirindhorn) could succeed."

3. Are these guys really so helpless?

Anand said that he had always believed that the Crown Prince would succeed his father, according to law. However, there could be complicating factors -- if Vajiralongkohn proved unable to stay out of politics, or avoid embarrassing financial transactions. After a pause, Anand added that the consensus view among many Thai was that the Crown Prince could not stop either, nor would he be able, at age 57, to rectify his behavior. After another pause, Anand added that someone really should raise the matter with the King, before adding with regret that there really was no one who could raise such a delicate topic

There's lots more, for those of you who follow Thailand's inside baseball, and Bangkok Pundit, natch, has already weighed in with his blow by blow of the dishy cable.

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affinis's picture
Submitted by affinis on

pieces I've seen regarding the situation in Thailand can be found here.
When reading this John Hempton post, I also found myself reflecting on the incredible uniformity of opinion I encountered among "people like me" in the 2008 U.S. election (almost no dissenting voices among science/academic elites, and it seems to a large extent also information technology and financial elites).

Submitted by wlarip on

I assume the 'uniformity' to which you refer was the general feeling among the intelligencia that Obama was our salvation. In the interest of fair disclosure, I have to admit I was one of those.

The King of Thailand is well loved by his people. He routinely pardons people sentenced to long prison terms for defamation against the Crown. It is interesting to note that the people doing the sentencing are his minions with their own agendas. His son is a slacker proving the old adage of 'shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.'

Like many of the so called 'elites', I was revolted by the excesses of the Bush administration. On this point, Merle Haggard and I agree:

"We are Americans. We don't torture people."

Covertly it has always been done. Covertly it will always be done (until human nature takes a turn for the better) either by ourselves or by our proxies. But to put the sanction of law on it is a 'bridge too far.'

Liberal elites(as distinguished from progressives) have been wandering in the wilderness since JFK's assassination. For those of us who can remember him,
the guy could flat make a speech.

"Ich bin ein Berliner."

Sound like anyone you know?

So when that same someone came along and promised to abolish torture, close Git'Mo and lift up the downtrodden among us; we looked at our 401-k's, turned off our critical analysis and smiled to think how much it would annoy conservatives to have a black man as 'their' President.

I was marching in lockstep until Sherrod. Complaining loudly in another forum about Obama's failures, another poster pointed out to me that it's his job to do the right thing;it's mine to be sure he does.

We are long since past the time that we can believe in any politician. The incestuous marriage between money and politics contaminates everything that is done and the audacity to say that they do it in our name makes it that much more galling.

I won't repeat the 2008 mistake. But, with the draconian effects of big money on the media, we are well into Goebbels' territory and the hallowed halls of academia or a machine room won't protect us.

For those of us who tend to put JFK on a pedestal, it is important to remember the Bay of Pigs. But I don't recall him laying down for the opposition.

lambert's picture
Submitted by lambert on

.... out of hospital (he dedicated a bridge, and there were fireworks) he was accompanied by Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn ("Princess Angel"). Although a Thai person would be able to read these tea, or rather basil, leaves better than I...

MsExPat's picture
Submitted by MsExPat on

is so intriguing! On the one hand, they all agree the Crown Prince is a deadbeat who shouldn't be king. They also seem to all agree the Princess is the best "monarch material" in the family. Yet none of them appears willing to go to the king and say anything.

They even seem to be suggesting, in a veiled way, that the US Ambassador say something to him!

And, rather than confront the King, they would sooner entertain the idea of a plot ("If the Crown Prince were to die....")

You know the story of King Bhumibol's brother, and his mysterious death by gunshot that paved the way for Bhumibol's succession?

Here's a thought: now that these cables have been made public, do you think that Prem or Siddhi could be prosecuted under the lese majeste rules of Thailand for speaking ill of the Royal Family?

By the way, I'm off for Thailand in two weeks...I'll be spending New Years there and the early part of January in Laos.

lambert's picture
Submitted by lambert on

.... since the King surely knows everything anyhow! So that nobody will tell him what he already knows adds another intriguing level of complexity and indirection.

Certainly the Thais have managed to open plenty of space for nuanced communication here! But " ... will nobody rid me of this ______ prince" is so clear that even a Westerner can see it.

Lucky you, in January. I hope we may have more posts from you, in a very not lese-majeste way, when you are there....

NOTE Had to look up Pra Thep; that is the Princess. Interesting.

MsExPat's picture
Submitted by MsExPat on

"Thep" is the Thai word for "angel". The city of Bangkok, in Thai, is "Krung Thep"...city of Angels.

Hmmm..maybe that's why its traffic is as bad as LA.

lambert's picture
Submitted by lambert on

On the other hand, human nature is on display on all sides of the issue in all its glory, unlike our own situation, where our elites seem to have gone beyond that.

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