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Pro-democracy protesters holds hands as they march during an anti-government demonstration in Bangkok on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Thailand ‘Letter to King’ protest seeks royal support for purge of military from politics

  • The Sunday rally at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument came after a week of relative quiet in a city that has hosted months of boisterous protests
  • Protesters are also calling for reform of the super-rich monarchy, which is seen as remote and the real conductor of coups and court decisions
Pro-democracy protesters rallied again in Thailand’s capital on Sunday, this time carrying letters urging King Maha Vajiralongkorn to respect the country’s system of constitutional monarchy and back reforms to purge the military from politics.

The police briefly fired water cannons at the protesters as they reached the Grand Palace in Bangkok, while another line of riot police with shields stood behind parked buses being used as barricades to block thousands of protesters just 150 metres from the palace gates.

Using hand signals adopted from Hong Kong’s protest movement, the protesters ferried helmets to the front line while motorbikes carried protest guards. The demonstrators formed a line in front of the shimmering stupas of the palace, vowing to remain peaceful but unyielding in their demands for change.

“We are tired [but} something has to change here soon,” said Jan, a 39-year old protester. “The monarchy needs to come and talk to the people, reach out or in 10 years they will have lost everyone,” she said, before adding, “there will be no violence from our side”.

Another protester, Ton, 30, said that although he was not afraid to protest, “I’m really scared that we end up keeping this king.”

Thai king’s PR gambit ups stakes in war for support amid protests

The “Letter to the King” rally is the latest bold, creative protest in a country where questioning the palace was unthinkable until only a few months ago. It comes after a week of relative quiet in Bangkok, which has hosted months of boisterous protests calling for the government to quit, a new constitution to be drawn up and reforms to the way the powerful monarchy operates.

Protesters had paused their demonstrations to regroup after a deluge of legal cases against their leaders and to find an apt response to an unprecedented public relations campaign by the king to his royalist supporters.
That included a walkabout last Sunday with adoring monarchists cheering “long live the king” and his first ever interview – seemingly unscripted – with a foreign TV crew in which he insisted “Thailand is the land of compromise”.

Sunday’s rally at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument was called by Free Youth – one of the main protest groups behind this year’s rallies, which have previously drawn tens of thousands to the city’s historic quarter.

“Let us write a letter to King Vajiralongkorn,” Free Youth said in a statement on Facebook. “One person, one letter. Let’s take this historical step together by communicating directly with our monarchy so that the institution is constrained within the constitution and democratic system.”

Police use water cannons on pro-democracy protesters to disperse them during an anti-government demonstration in Bangkok on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Protesters are calling for reform of the country’s super-rich monarchy, which is not only seen as remote but also the real conductor of the coups and court decisions which have crushed pro-democracy movements in the past.

“If the king has taken the unprecedented step to be inches from Thai people chanting ‘long live the king’, is he really not going to hear us out?” asked Tattep “Ford” Ruangprapaikitseree, the 23-year-old co-founder of Free Youth. “We want to show the Thai public our intention is for real monarchy reform, not an overthrow.”

Thailand has seen 13 successful coups and at least as many constitutional rewrites since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932, an event commemorated by Bangkok’s Democracy Monument.

Today, the country is sharply divided between older, pro-establishment conservatives and a more radical, pro-democracy youth who were educated in the internet era – a split that could threaten violence, what with Thailand’s history of bloody street clashes.

Members of the yellow-shirt movement, who believe absolute deference to the monarchy is the central plank of Thai life, also rallied near the Democracy Monument in defence of an institution they say is being threatened by protesters.

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“Those who insult and criticise his majesty and the institution of monarchy will all end up in jail or have no country to live in,” said political activist Srisuwan Janya in a Facebook post on Saturday, signing off with a hashtag that read in Thai “Let them all go to jail”.

Observers say royalists have been emboldened by the king’s outreach to supporters, which has helped swing public relations momentum his way by showing him at ease among his adoring subjects.

“By encouraging supporters to write directly to the king demanding monarchical reform – itself unprecedented – the pro-democracy camp are ratcheting up tensions with arch-royalists,” said Paul Chambers, an international affairs professor at Naresuan University in Thailand. “It could spark violent retaliation.”

Several thousand police were deployed near the protest on Sunday, with roadblocks reported close to sensitive sites such as the royal palaces and grounds.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha. Photo: Reuters
So far the government of Prayuth Chan-ocha has played for time and mostly rejected protesters’ demands, while avoiding a violent crackdown on the streets. Water cannons were briefly deployed in mid-October but the widespread public backlash led to a softer approach from police.

Instead, protest leaders have been hit with waves of criminal charges, ranging from blocking roads to sedition, resulting in rounds of brief jail stays and court appearances.

Prayuth, a former army chief who seized power in a 2014 coup, this week said he would happily stand down if a “better, more capable and honest” leader emerged.

Meanwhile, the speaker of the parliament said he was in the process of setting up a reconciliation panel to discuss ways out of the deadlock, but appeared to rule out debate on reform of the monarchy.

Can Thai monarchy emerge unscathed as it faces its greatest challenge?

But both moves have been dismissed as play-acting by the protesters who say they will not step back from their three core demands.

Free Youth took to Facebook ahead of the rally to declare “it’s over elites” with an adaptation of the Avengers: Endgame film poster urging people to join their rally. “The people have awoken … there’s no going back,” it said.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Protesters ask king to support ban on military in politics
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