King

The Thais have an institution we never had – and for them it has been a gift, especially in the seven decades the gentle Bhumibol Adulyadej sat on the throne.

King Bhumibol died Thursday afternoon at the age of 88 after many months of illness. He served his people for 70 years, ascending to the throne in 1946 at the age of 18. A year of grieving has been called by Thai authorities. Through the year of grieving, public servants will be expected to wear black.

There has been an outpouring of grief, and love, in the streets of Thailand since King Bhumibol passed away. Thousands have massed outside the Bangkok hospital as the king fought for his life against the many illnesses that beset him. Over the next few days, we will witness much more outpouring of love and grief in equal measure.

One woman, standing vigil outside the hospital put it quite succinctly: the King was everyone’s father. This is a death in the family. All the homes in Thailand will be darker and sadder because of this passing. Such is the extent of Bhumibol’s highly personal bond with his people.

In this age of iconoclasts and routine irreverence, monarchies survive only for as long as the monarch is loved. Constitutional monarchies such as we see in Thailand, Japan and the UK no longer set laws. They thrive solely on soft power.

Soft power was what Bhumibol had in abundance. Through seven decades he helped hold his nation together through the transition to modernity that was at times turbulent and at times aimless.

The late King was a musician and a farmer, a lover of jazz and a student of agriculture. Through his many decades on the throne, he tried to make sure his people were well-fed and his nation’s culture preserved. An avid photographer, he documented his nation’s unfolding through frequent visits to the most ordinary of his subjects.

A Buddhist society, Thailand could not possibly view its king a demigod. The King, like all his subjects, journeys through this world by performing acts of kindness. We are all travellers finding our way through life by doing good to all we meet on the road.

Bhumibol performed excellently as a Buddhist king. He offered his subjects only acts of kindness. He personified the mindful ethical society Buddhism aspires for.

It did help that Thailand’s civil authority imposes very strict laws against those who might speak crudely about the King or mock the institution of the monarchy. Tourists who tested the limits of these laws found themselves summarily imprisoned.

It is true, as well, that ordinary Thais avoided being crass or being crude for fear of embarrassing the King. Bhumibol ruled not by decree but by example. A most gentle person, he was constantly mindful of his duty to the nation and his obligation to his subjects.

Thailand has been, in its over eight decades as a constitutional monarchy, alternately ruled by wealthy politicians or by forceful generals. The King was anti-thesis to both types. Everyone looked to the King for the most discreet signals about what to do and where to go.

During a particularly turbulent period in Thai history, from the sixties to the seventies, coups happened intermittently. Only two institutions maintained continuity in Thai society: the strong bureaucracy and the King.

Once, when ambitious generals tried to mount a completely unwarranted coup, resisted by a rival cabal of generals, the King summoned all of them to the Palace. There the powerful men who commanded tanks that crisscrossed Bangkok’s streets, bowed very low before their monarch. Before the night was over, the contending military factions returned to their respective camps, leaving the capital in peace.

This man who could so easily shoo away hundreds of tanks also frequently visited farming communities to share new knowledge about one crop variety or another. Some leaders are justly described as well grounded. This King, literally, had his hands on the soil.

The Thais are so proud of their agricultural achievements – and rightly so. The country’s orchards not only grow tropical fruits in abundance. They have tirelessly improved on the varieties they cultivate until they had the best. No one is prouder of the country’s agricultural achievement than Bhumibol himself.

Thailand is fortunate to have had a King like this one through a period that constantly required a rallying symbol. Without Bhumibol’s assuring and calming presence, Thai society might have frayed.

Numerous fissures continue to plague Thai society, however. The most important one is the rural/urban divide in political opinion. Rural Thailand continues to be the base of Thaksin Shinawatra’s populist paternalism.

The current military-dominated government in Bangkok is the result of a peaceful coup that forced Thaksin’s sister from power. It is hesitant to return to democratic elections because this could again open the door to Thaksin loyalists. At some point, however, the democratic question will have to be settled in Thailand. That will have to happen without Bhumibol.

Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is expected to ascend to the throne sometime in the near future. The designated successor has postponed the process of succession to give way to ceremonies for his father.

The postponement can only be described as apt. Let the grief subside. Allow all the respects to be paid. Let the nation mourn without distraction.

A day after his father’s death, the Crown Prince remains invisible as he has always been. What awaits him, after all, is not a place of power but a place of respect.