Clipped from ANU

Since the days two decades ago when the Thaksin Shinawatra government banned Paul Handleys The King Never Smiles, the way to prevent books on the monarchy damaging the royal family has mostly involved pressuring local booksellers and importers to just not make the books available in Thailand. This has included several very good and well-researched academic books.

But exiled because of lese majeste academic Pavin Chachavalpongpun gets under royalists skin. So it is that his newest edited collection is banned before it is even published. Even the publishers site has...

Prachatai reports that on 6 July 2023, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights announced that Pui (pseudonym), a 40-year-old man, has acknowledged charges of lese majeste and computer crimes over his comment on a Facebook post inviting people to greet King Vajiralongkorn during a royal motorcade at Don Muang Royal Thai Air Force Base in 2021.

Pui had received a summons from dated 21 June 2023, after Thakun Nuankaeo, former spokesperson of the Vocational Student Group for the Protection of the Institution, filed a complaint. On 6 July Pui and his wife went to the Technology Crime Suppression Division the charges were made regarding his comment in Royalist Marketplace  Talad Luang FB group, inviting people to greet King Vajiralongkorn and the Queen during a royal motorcade at Don Muang Royal Thai Air Force Base.

An officer stated that on 14 January 2022, Thakun had joined the Royalist Marketplace Facebook group. The ultra-royalist was obviously looking for people to snitch on. He claims that he came across a users post from 19 November 2021. That post stated that wherever there is a royal motorcade, there would be a PR team arranging people to attend the event. But this time there was no government agency publicizing the event. The FB user expressed concern for the monarch, fearing that there would be no one to greet him.

Thakun then dug through comments and found one he alleged used offensive language that could be seen as an intention to harm and show disrespect towards the King.&...

Forbes tells us that, based on its calculations, between last year and this year, the combined wealth of Thailands 50 richest was up nearly 15% to $173 billion.

Based on PPTs calculations, the wealth of the richest 5 families has leapt by a massive $18.9 billion; thats up by about 22%.

Consider this in a context where the World Bank calculates that Thailands per capita GDP has fallen in the last year.

The names on the Forbes list havent changed much at all: the richest 5 are the same families who were listed top 5 in 2019.

The top 5 families are now worth more than double the combined wealth of the next 25 on the rich list. The total wealth of the top 5 has just about reached its pre-pandemic level. The wealthiest family on the list, the Chearavanonts, worth $34 billion now, is up a bit over $4 billion on its 2019 wealth. Receiving the minimum daily wage in Thailand, if the worker toiled every day of the year, that worker would earn about $3,500.

Since 2014 and the military coup, the richest 5 in Thailand have seen their total wealth more than double, being up about $54 billion. In that same period, if our calculations are correct, per capita GDP has increased by only about 18%.

And, as we all know, Thailands richest family is not on the list. Given that King Vajiralongkorn now personally holds almost all of the royal family...

Mad monarchist clipped from the Bangkok Post

We may be wrong, but we think the Bangkok Post has come up with a first on ultra-royalism. In a recent article labelled PR News it has reproduced an ultra-royalist diatribe.

Our understanding, and again we may be wrong, is that PR News is essentially paid advertising masquerading as news.

Assembly to Declare the Importance of Protecting National Institutions and Strengthening National Unity claims to be by a group in Chiang Mai calling itself Nationalism-Religion-Monarchy Group, Province.

One question we would have is: Who paid for this ultra-royalist propaganda? The military and ISOC have long promoted similar groups.

In the article, the ultra-royalists, worried by division in society that they themselves foment, claim a willingness to die for the king. The babble along: