Sydney Morning Herald, 2 December 2011
The King and us: fresh account of Thailand's royals
A new book has lifted a veil of secrecy surrounding Thailand's monarchy, detailing investments and ownership of tens of thousands of properties worth more than $US40 billion. The book, published ahead of King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 84th birthday on Monday, details his tireless work to improve the lives of Thailand's rural poor since he acceded to the throne 65 years ago.
Titled
King Bhumibol Adulyadej: A Life's Work, the book also documents for the first time that a unique and little known institution, the Crown Property Bureau, is one of the largest investors in Thailand, controlling assets valued at $US6.7 billion. The bureau owns 8400 hectares of land in Bangkok, mainly in the historic part of the city, worth an estimated $US33 billion at 2010 prices. Across the country the bureau has 40,000 rental properties, about 17,000 in Bangkok, including government offices, slum communities, shops, markets and prime sites occupied by hotels, office blocks and shopping centres, the book says. Outside the capital the bureau owns a total of 33,400 hectares of land, it says. The book says the assets belong to the monarchy as an institution which continues from reign to reign, not to the king in his private capacity.
It also reveals the American-born and Swiss-educated King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has been a critic of the harsh lese-majeste laws under which more than 300 people have been charged since 2006. Anyone who insults the king, queen, heir or regent faces up to 15 years in jail on each charge.
The book details the mysterious death in June 1946 of King Bhumibol's brother, Ananda Mahidol, the eighth monarch of Thailand under the Chakri dynasty, who was shot in the head as he lay on his bed inside the Grand Palace with a Colt 45 pistol. The weapon had been given to him by an American spy, Alexander MacDonald, who later founded the
Bangkok Post.
The book cites evidence the death was an assassination and discusses various possible suspects or conspirators, including three royal staff members, a Swiss girlfriend of King Ananda and a Japanese spy allegedly hiding in Bangkok at the time. The book lays out the facts of the death but makes no conclusion as to the cause.
. . . . . . . . . .
I should add that details concerning the management, wealth and extensive landholdings of the Crown Property Bureau are not "little known" and have been the subject of various media reports for many years now.
