Essential reading for anyone interested in ai politics ­ and culture e ai monarchy today is usually presented as both guardian of tradition and the institution to bring modernity and progress to the ai people. It is moreover Saying the seen as protector of the nation. Scrutinizing that image, this volume reviews the fascinating history of the modern monarchy. It also analyses important cultural, historical, political, religious, and legal forces shaping Saying the Unsayable Unsayable the popular image of the monarchy and, in particular, of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. us, the book o ers valuable Monarchy and Democracy insights into the relationships between monarchy, religion and democracy in ailand – topics that, a er the in Thailand September 2006 coup d’état, gained renewed national and international interest. Addressing such contentious issues as ai-style democracy, lése majesté legislation, religious symbolism and politics, monarchical traditions, and the royal su ciency economy, the book will be of interest to a Edited by broad readership, also outside academia. Søren Ivarsson and Lotte Isager www.niaspress.dk Unsayable-pbk_cover.indd 1 25/06/2010 11:21 Saying the UnSayable Ivarsson_Prels_new.indd 1 30/06/2010 14:07 NORDIC INSTITUTE OF ASIAN STUDIES NIAS STUDIES IN ASIAN TOPICS 32 Contesting Visions of the Lao Past Christopher Goscha and Søren Ivarsson (eds) 33 Reaching for the Dream Melanie Beresford and Tran Ngoc Angie (eds) 34 Mongols from Country to City Ole Bruun and Li Naragoa (eds) 35 Four Masters of Chinese Storytelling Vibeke Børdahl, Fei Li and Huang Ying (eds) 36 The Power of Ideas Claudia Derichs and Thomas Heberer (eds) 37 Beyond the Green Myth Peter Sercombe and Bernard Sellato (eds) 38 Kinship and Food in South-East Asia Monica Janowski and Fiona Kerlogue (eds) 39 Exploring Ethnic Diversity in Burma Mikael Gravers (ed.) 40 Politics, Culture and Self: East Asian and North European Attitudes Geir Helgesen and Søren Risbjerg Thomsen (eds) 41 Beyond Chinatown Mette Thunø (ed.) 42 Breeds of Empire: The ‘Invention’ of the Horse in Southeast Asia and Southern Africa 1500–1950 Greg Bankoff and Sandra Swart 43 People of Virtue: Reconfiguring Religion, Power and Moral Order in Cambodia Today Alexandra Kent and David Chandler (eds) 44 Lifestyle and Entertainment in Yangzhou Lucie Elivova and Vibeke Børdahl (eds) 45 iChina: The Rise of the Individual in Modern Chinese Society Mette Halskov Hansen and Rune Svarverud (eds.) 46 The Interplay of the Oral and the Written in Chinese Popular Literature Vibeke Børdahl and Margaret B. Wan (eds) 47 Saying the Unsayable Søren Ivarsson and Lotte Isager (eds) NIAS Press is the autonomous publishing arm of NIAS – Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, a research institute located at the University of Copenhagen. NIAS is partially funded by the governments of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden via the Nordic Council of Ministers, and works to encourage and support Asian studies in the Nordic countries. In so doing, NIAS has been publishing books since 1969, with more than two hundred titles produced in the past few years. CoPeNhAgeN University Nordic Council of Ministers Ivarsson_Prels_new.indd 2 30/06/2010 14:07 Saying the Unsayable Monarchy and Democracy in thailand Edited by Søren Ivarsson and Lotte Isager Ivarsson_Prels_new.indd 3 30/06/2010 14:07 Saying the Unsayable edited by Søren Ivarsson and Lotte Isager Nordic Institute of Asian Studies NIAS Studies in Asian Topics 47 First published in 2010 by NIAS Press NIAS – Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Leifsgade 33, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark tel (+45) 3532 9501 • fax (+45) 3532 9549 email: [email protected] • website: www.niaspress.dk © NIAS – Nordic Institute of Asian Studies 2010 While copyright in the volume as a whole is vested in the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, copyright in the individual chapters belongs to their authors. No chapter may be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Saying the unsayable : monarchy and democracy in Thailand. -- (NIAS studies in Asian topics ; v. 47) 1. Monarchy--Thailand. 2. Thailand--Politics and government. 3. Democracy--Thailand. 4. Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand, 1927- I. Series II. Ivarsson, Soren. III. Isager, Lotte. IV. Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. 959.3-dc22 ISBN: 978-87-7694-071-3 hbk ISBN: 978-87-7694-072-0 pbk Typeset by NIAS Press Printed in Singapore by Mainland Press Pte Ltd Ivarsson_Prels_new.indd 4 30/06/2010 14:07 Contents Preface • vii Contributors • ix 1. Introduction: Challenging the Standard Total View of the Thai Monarchy • 1 Søren Ivarsson and Lotte Isager Part i. SaCral KingShiP in a MoDern WorlD: CUltUral anD iDeologiCal FoUnDationS 2. Virtual Divinity: A 21st-Century Discourse of Thai Royal Influence • 29 Peter A. Jackson 3. Entertainment Nationalism: The Royal Gaze and the Gaze at the Royals • 61 Sarun Krittikarn 4. Culture of Monarchy: A Repertory Theatre through Time • 89 Martin Platt Part ii. the legal SanCtion oF SaCreDneSS 5. The Intricacies of Lese-Majesty: A Comparative Study of Imperial Germany and Modern Thailand • 105 David Streckfuss Part iii. thai-Style DeMoCraCy 6. The Monarchy and the Royalist Movement in Modern Thai Politics, 1932–1957 • 147 Nattapoll Chaiching 7. ‘Thai-Style Democracy’: The Royalist Struggle for Thailand’s Politics • 179 Kevin Hewison and Kengkij Kitirianglarp 8. Post-Coup Royalist Groups: Re-inventing Military and Ideological Power • 203 Han Krittian v Ivarsson_Prels_new.indd 5 30/06/2010 14:07 Saying the Unsayable Part iV. SUFFiCienCy eConoMy 9. Strengthening the Moral Fibre of the Nation: The King’s Sufficiency Economy as Etho-Politics • 223 Lotte Isager and Søren Ivarsson 10. Royal Sufficiency and Elite Misrepresentation of Rural Livelihoods • 241 Andrew Walker Index • 267 vi Ivarsson_Prels_new.indd 6 30/06/2010 14:07 Preface Monarchy and democracy in Thailand are topics that have engaged researchers for many decades. After the coup in 2006 these topics came to the forefront of academic and public discussions about the future of Thai society. However, under the current political conditions in Thailand such discussions are curtailed by censorship, the lese-majesty law and political persecution. In light of this situation we felt that an anthology containing critical academic analyses of Thai- style democracy and monarchy was timely. The anthology is a result of lengthy and continuous exchange of ideas among researchers, journalists and diplomats and others who share an interest in these topics. Some of them have contributed chapters to the book. Others have provided ideas and valuable insights. In the final stage of the editing the suggestions by the two anonymous readers were particularly helpful. We wish to extend our gratitude to everyone involved. We would also like to thank the Swedish School of Advanced Asia Pacific Studies (SSAAPS), The Danish Council for Independent Research | Social Sciences, the Asian Dynamics Initiative under the University of Copenhagen for their financial support during the preparation of this book. Without this support the publication of the book would not have been possible. vii Ivarsson_Prels_new.indd 7 30/06/2010 14:07 Ivarsson_Prels_new.indd 8 30/06/2010 14:07 Contributors Andrew Walker is a Senior Fellow in the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University. He is author of The Legend of the Golden Boat: Regulation, Trade and Traders in the Borderlands of Laos, Thailand, Burma and China (University of Hawai‘i Press, 1999); co-author with Tim Forsyth) of Forest Guardians, Forest Destroyers: The Politics of Environmental Knowledge in Northern Thailand (University of Washington Press, 2008); and editor of Tai Lands and Thailand: Community and State in Mainland Southeast Asia (National University of Singapore Press, 2009). He is currently writing a monograph about Ban Tiam, a village in northern Thailand. He is the co-founder of New Mandala, a blog which provides anecdote, analysis and new perspectives on mainland Southeast Asia David Streckfuss is an independent scholar whose work has focused on the cultural and political dimensions of Thailand’s defamation-based laws, including lese-majesty. His book, Truth on Trial in Thailand: Defamation, Treason, and Lèse-Majesté, published by Routledge, is forthcoming. Han Krittian (penname) is a long-term observer of Thai politics. Kengkij Kitirianglarp holds his doctoral degree in Political Science from Chulalongkorn University and is a lecturer in History at Faculty of Social Science, Kasetsart University. He has published on Thai politics, social movements, intellectual history and social theory. His most recent article was co-authored with Kevin Hewison and published by The Pacific Review in 2009. Kevin Hewison is a Professor at the Department of Asian Studies, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and concurrently Director at the Carolina Asia Center. He has published extensively on Southeast Asia, democratization and globalization. His current research interests include: globalization and social change in Southeast Asia, especially Thailand; democratization; and labor ix Ivarsson_Prels_new.indd 9 30/06/2010 14:07 Saying the Unsayable issues. He is editor of Political Change in Thailand. Democracy and Participation (1997) and co-editor of ‘Thailand’s “Good Coup”: The Fall of Thaksin, the Military and Democracy’ (a special issue of Journal of Contemporary Asia (with M. Connors) (2008). Lotte Isager is a researcher at the Department of Geography and Geology, University of Copenhagen. Her primary research interests are environmental management, agrarian change, governance and identity politics in Southeast Asia and East Africa. Martin Platt is an assistant professor in Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Copenhagen, with interests in languages, literature, history, and art. He holds a Ph.D. from SOAS and an M.A. from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and has been studying various Southeast Asian languages since 1984. He has just completed a book, Isan Authors, Thai Literature: Writing and Regionalism in Modern Thailand.