THAILAND'S MOMENT OF TRUTH - ZENJOURNALIST

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fast cars and American music. By the war’s end, both were better suited for the life of well-heeled bon vivants in Europe than golden-robed, sacral princes in an impoverished tropical Asian state… Most of the pressure on Ananda came from Sangwal herself. She tried to prepare him for kingship, but he was frustratingly inattentive, she complained in letters to Sawang. Pushed hard, he became inattentive and moody. Bhumibol, meanwhile, was merry, energetic, and curious. His mother’s letters make it clear that he was her favorite, noting that he readily completed his schoolwork and chores before running off to play. Still, the difference between the two boys was only a few degrees. They were their own constant companions and best friends, and Bhumibol looked up to Ananda. [Handley, The King Never Smiles] Rayne Krueger also noted Bhumibol’s playful personality and closeness to his mother: Closest of the children to their mother was the youngest, Bhoomipol, two years Ananda’s junior. He played the clown of the family, and no one today would recognize the stern good looks of the present monarch in the irrepressibly comical bespectacled boy. [Krueger, The Devil’s Discus] Relations were strained between Sangwan and government leaders back in Bangkok who wanted the king back in Siam. Several times she threatened that Ananda would abdicate unless he was allowed to finish his studies and return permanently to Siam only when he felt ready. He visited Bangkok for the first time as king in 1938, aged 13. And in December 1945, after World War II was over, Rama VIII flew to Bangkok again with his mother and brother. It was supposed to be a relatively brief visit; King Ananda and Prince Bhumibol were expected to go back within months to their studies in Switzerland. After various delays, and discussions with the royal astrologers, their departure was eventually set for June 13, 1946. - - - - - Rama IX’s reign was haunted from the start. When he was 18 years old, his world was transformed by one shattering event, and the consequences and emotional cost and unanswered questions have pursued him through the decades, despite his repeated attempts to shake himself free. As king, the ghost of his elder brother Ananda was always with him. Ananda Mahidol, 20-year-old King of Siam, was found dead of a bullet wound yesterday in the Royal Palace, and twelve hours later the Siamese legislature named his brother, Prince Phumiphon Aduldet, 18, as the new king. The Siamese police director-general told an emergency session of the legislature last night that the king’s death was accidental and that the bullet went through the center of his forehead. Ananda… arose at 6 a.m. yesterday and took some medicine. Nothing was known of his actions from then until his body was found by a servant in the bedroom of the Barompiman Palace about 9 a.m. The historic night session of the legislature unanimously selected Phumiphon Aduldet as the new king, rising together to signalize his election with a “Chai Yo, Chai Yo, Chai Yo” – the Siamese hurrah. [Associated Press, Gun Kills Siam’s Young King, June 10, 1946] Bhumibol’s life was utterly changed by Ananda’s death. It robbed him of his only real friend, 16
and broke his mother’s heart, and of course it made him king, but its impact went much further even than that: the tragedy was fused into the DNA of the Ninth Reign. It profoundly shaped Bhumibol’s behaviour and choices as Rama IX, and blighted Thailand’s destiny for decades, tipping the balance of fate away from democracy and towards prolonged militarism. Bhumibol himself acknowledged the extent to which Ananda’s death moulded his reign, in comments to William Stevenson: When my brother died, I became my brother. I did what he wished to do. Stevenson says Bhumibol was not speaking metaphorically: he meant it literally. Bhumibol believed Ananda’s soul had been fused with his own and became part of who he was as Rama IX. Several times in his discussions with Stevenson, describing events long after his brother’s death, he mentions that Ananda was with him: When I became my brother, we shared a schoolboy innocence. A great asset. I try to keep his clarity of vision, but I am the brother that everyone sees, and I have to be pragmatic. Half of me is him, and half of him is me. So, if anything, I’m really Rama Eight-And-A-Half. [Stevenson, The Revolutionary King] Famously, Bhumibol’s whole demeanour altered too: As the palace plunged into shock, suddenly, life changed prodigiously for Bhumibol. Within hours, the bright, often smiling and joking prince, more interested in European cars and American jazz than anything Thailand had to offer, would be named king of a country in which he had spent less than 5 of his 18 years. He would almost never be seen smiling in public again. [Handley, The King Never Smiles] In his memoirs, British pathologist Keith Simpson, who was asked by the Thai authorities to give his opinions on the case, describes the last hours of Ananda’s life: 17 On 8th June, a Saturday in the Year of the Dog 2489, Buddhist era (AD 1946), he was slightly indisposed, suffering from a mild intestinal upset. At 10 p.m. he retired to his private suite, dressed for bed in a light T shirt and blue Chinese silk trousers. He was protected while he slept by a guard of four men and the Inspector of the Watch. At 6 next morning he was visited by his mother, who woke him up and found him perfectly well. At 7.30 a.m. his trusted page, Butr, came on duty and began preparing a breakfast table on a balcony adjoining the King’s dressing room. The night guard went off duty, and the day staff assembled. At 8.30 a.m. Butr saw the King standing in his dressing room. The page took in the usual glass of orange juice, a few minutes later, but by then the King had gone back to bed. With a gesture he refused the juice and dismissed Butr, according to the page’s own evidence. At 8.45 the King’s other trusted page, Nai Chit, appeared unexpectedly. The two pages were on alternating duty, but Nai Chit was not due to relieve Butr for another two hours. He said he had called to measure the King’s medals and decorations on behalf of a jeweller who was making a case for them. At 9 a.m. Prince Bhoomipol, Ananda’s younger brother, called on the King to inquire about his health. He said afterwards that he had found the King dozing peacefully in his bed: a mosquito netting covered him over all.
Page 1 and 2: 1 THAILAND’S MOMENT OF TRUTH A SE
Page 3 and 4: a targeted grenade attack at the Kh
Page 5 and 6: The victims of the massacre had com
Page 7 and 8: and their outrage over pressure for
Page 9 and 10: Dictatorship (DAAD) and leader of t
Page 11 and 12: Sombat also understood the potentia
Page 13 and 14: It wasn’t true. Doctors had clear
Page 15: accept the throne is because it is
Page 19 and 20: in that room or just beyond the ope
Page 21 and 22: Among the officials congregating do
Page 23 and 24: He paused. Then he said: ‘You mus
Page 25 and 26: gold unfolded Nan. Through the perf
Page 27 and 28: So he was suspected and mistrusted
Page 29 and 30: Within 48 hours after the death of
Page 31 and 32: during his last days. The medical p
Page 33 and 34: e more powerful than the living. Du
Page 35 and 36: - - - - - A month and 64 years late
Page 37 and 38: few months since the crackdown …
Page 39 and 40: Back in Siam, duties and problems a
Page 41 and 42: ambitions to restore the pre-eminen
Page 43 and 44: not inward towards the centre of th
Page 45 and 46: Meeting going on below. An equally
Page 47 and 48: If, then, the assassination theory
Page 49 and 50: and too many doubts, and the cynica
Page 51 and 52: generals and the throne. It read:
Page 53 and 54: Mountbatten said Dhani told him tha
Page 55 and 56: purposes as a heaven-sent means of
Page 57 and 58: and strange life in Bangkok, where
Page 59 and 60: told me, “We really aren’t as s
Page 61 and 62: We were made to believe they are th
Page 63 and 64: Thailand] This was what started man
Page 65 and 66: monarch: King Phumiphon Aduldet of
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jitters gripping their US backers.
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Palace, which appeared to have gain
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This special relationship was encou
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ights had been violated. Chotisak a
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young man's safety. The case of Min
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demonstrators and donated 100,000 b
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Thais were swapping gossip and comp
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of the soil and the sky - a metapho
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within Thailand and around the worl
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touch with his rapidly changing cou
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THE OTHER HAND, CARRIES THE ACCURAT
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Benedict Anderson, the palace was i
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or show off their power, he instruc
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Nurtured in magic, the movement pea
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Councillor Siddhi is 86 years old,
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ideology. Initially, this required
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IN THE COURSE OF A LONG LUNCH TODAY
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It is quite normal that people will
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called Tito by Phyllis Auty. [Natio
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Many of the thoughts expressed in W
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iron mask, worn in the presence of
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Japan’s self-proclaimed God of St
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Told to drop Tsuji’s case altoget
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footballs, sent Lek a disturbing do
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enefits to Thailand. Had Ananda liv
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In fact, as earlier correspondence
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works while living ‘in a goldfish
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some of it highly accurate, some of
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stifled Thais starting to take adva
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had to be employed in the media to
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have to persist in our swimming in
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about why he had decided it was not
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shown with the demeanor of a religi
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THAILAND'S MOMENT OF TRUTH - ZENJOURNALIST

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