Long Live the King!

Today, 5th December, is annually celebrated as Father’s Day here in Thailand because it is His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s birthday. This year marks the King’s 85th birthday. So, happy Father’s day and long live the King!

Today, Bangkok was once again turned into a stream of yellow-shirted people. (Yellow is the King’s color, because he was born on Monday, and in Thailand yellow represents Monday). I’m happy to say that I’m part of that stream. Usually the King’s birthday is a time where people (momentarily) forget the politics that divides the country so deeply into many factions, and it’s good to see everyone here in Thailand back together to celebrate the King’s birthday. The outcome of the amount of people waiting to see the King make his traditional birthday speech was huge (200,000 people is the estimate). I wasn’t there, though, but I did watch it from TV.

(Caption isn’t working for this pic, but image source: Yahoo.com)

A reason that I really like watching the King’s annual birthday celebrations is because it’s kinda like a reminder that there’s still something to be proud of in this country. Every year there’s always some sort of disaster that happens, whether it be floods because of the mismanagement of a corrupted government or riots that tear the capital apart, but at least Thailand still the monarchy, the symbol of the nation.

The King declared at the beginning of his reign that he would rule Thailand with righteousness for the benefit of the people of Thailand, and this has happened throughout his Majesty’s long reign. Long live the King!