Confusion reigns: what next after Thai princess’s election bid was dismissed by king on television?
Sunday, 10 Feb 20197:38 AM MYT
by bhavan jaipragas
Thailand woke up to more questions than answers on Saturday to the unfolding drama surrounding Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya’s audacious bid to be prime minister, after her brother King Maha Vajiralongkorn stunned the kingdom with a late night rebuke of his elder sister’s political foray.
On Friday morning, it was confirmation of Ubolratana’s unprecedented candidacy that was the stunner, as the development grabbed headlines and saw footage of the 67-year-old, in recent times an actress, aired repeatedly on international news channels.
Observers immediately suggested the princess’s candidacy was likely to unify the two-decade turmoil between the wealthy Shinawatras – triumphant in all elections since 2001 – and royalist urban elites who have backed the 2006 and 2014 coups against them.
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As the day ended, however, Maha Vajiralongkorn all but extinguished that possibility.
In a late night statement he chastised Ubolratana, describing her move as “inappropriate” and against the constitution and royal norms.
While Ubolratana has relinquished royal titles except for the right to be called princess, Maha Vajiralongkorn said she remained part of the reigning Chakri dynasty.
The siblings are the children of late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died in 2016 after a record breaking 70 years on the throne.
“All royal family members adhere to the same principles … and cannot take any political office, because it contradicts the intention of the constitution,” Maha Vajiralongkorn said.
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While the king sits above politics, his comments are likely to weigh heavily on the minds of the country’s election commission which must rule on whether Ubolratana can enter politics.
Commentators who on Friday assumed Ubolratana’s bid had the blessing of her brother – the siblings are believed to be close – were at a loss for words following the king’s rebuke.
“These developments are wild and completely unexpected,” Tom Pepinsky, a Southeast Asia researcher at Cornell University, told This Week in Asia on Saturday morning.
In an commentary published hours earlier, Pepinsky wrote that Ubolratana’s candidacy was “much more momentous than, say, [Britain’s] Prince Harry running for office”.
James Buchanan, another Thai politics watcher, wondered aloud whether the exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra had been left in the lurch by Ubolratana’s candidacy.
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The princess accepted the nomination of the Thai Raksa Chart party – one of several parties linked to Thaksin and his sister Yingluck – meaning, the candidacy would at least have needed his endorsement.
Thai Raksa Chart was created last year as part of a strategy to diversify the clan’s political assets in case its main vehicle, the Puea Thai party, was dissolved by the junta that deposed the government Yingluck helmed from 2011 to 2014.
“Just a theory: Thaksin creates Thai Raksa Chart to mitigate the risk of Puea Thai being dissolved. He’s then given the green light from above [for] an unprecedented surprise candidate [who] could pave the way for the ‘deal’ he’s always wanted,” wrote Buchanan on Twitter.
By putting “all his eggs in one basket” with Ubolratana’s candidacy, Buchanan questioned whether Thaksin had walked into a trap set by the royalist establishment.
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Commentary among local analysts meanwhile has been muted owing to the country’s strict lèse-majesté rules prohibiting criticism of the royals.
Ubolratana, who on Friday wrote on Instagram that she was a “commoner” who does not enjoy royal privilege, on Saturday uploaded another post that appeared to ignore her brother’s rebuke.
image: https://cdn3.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2019/02/09/50273e56-2c1e-11e9-8864-9e8ab15a22ca_1320x770_134709.jpg
“Thank you to all Thais for the love and kindness you have shown,” she wrote in a caption accompanying a picture of herself. She said she “sincerely wished” to see the kingdom progress and for people to enjoy unfettered rights, opportunities and happiness.
The princess and the Thai Raksa Chart had not responded to the king’s statement but the party did cancel a campaign event scheduled for Saturday.
Ubolratana, a mathematics and biochemistry graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has a reputation for being more accessible to commoners than the rest of the royal family.
Observers have said she has in the past hinted that her political allegiances lie with the Shinawatras, whose political clout is rooted in the country’s northern, Laos-influenced region.
News agency AFP noted in a profile of Ubolratana on Friday that her post accepting Thai Raksa Chart’s nomination for prime minister candidate featured her wearing a traditional dress from that region.
She was also holding red flowers – the colour linked to Thaksin supporters.
Read more at https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2185517/confusion-reigns-what-next-after-thai-princesss-election#evErL5dtej1BBi3k.99
