Book depicts Thai monarch as pawn of country's elite

A Kingdom in Crisis: Thailand’s Struggle for Democracy in the Twenty-First Century
by Andrew MacGregor Marshall
Zed Books

Thailand has veered from one political crisis to another during the past eight years. Prime ministers have been ousted by the courts, protests against an unelected administration prompted weeks of deadly violence on the streets of Bangkok in 2010, and there have been two military coups, the latest taking place in May.

Now, just as neighbouring Myanmar is emerging from decades of isolationist army rule, tourist-reliant Thailand is being run by a junta with the Orwellian-sounding name of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).

Worse still for a country that prides itself on being known as the "Land of Smiles", Thailand is split as never before. The metropolitan middle classes, senior military officers, establishment and business leaders are lined up against ordinary Thais, who could only watch as the Pheu Thai government they voted into power was overthrown by the generals. How did a country once regarded as a model of stability and economic growth for the rest of Southeast Asia come to this?

Andrew MacGregor Marshall's new book pins the blame partly on the one man in Thailand no one is supposed to associate with politics, or even talk about in public: King Bhumibol Adulyadej. After 68 years on the throne, he is the world's longest-serving monarch. His picture is everywhere in Thailand, from billboards at the airports, to the walls of Pattaya go-go bars, the most visible evidence of how he is revered by his subjects almost as a god.