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Event fit for a king serves up pad thai and pointlessness

By Tom Plate
Syndicated Columnist
HONOLULU — Not every monarch is alike. It's true that many are
mean and
greedy and full of themselves, selfish squirrels who sock
their ill-gotten
gains beneath everyone's eyes overseas while sticking their
political
opponents into dark, dank prisons — or graves. But some are
comparatively
mild, even perhaps honestly patriotic. Britain's Elizabeth,
the old girl,
strikes one as a rather civilized queen if you have to live
with a monarch,
and Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX of the Chakri
Dynasty, tends to
get pretty pro-king media reviews as a nice-guy sort of King
George III.

But the Thai royal image suffered a bit of a setback about a
year and a half
ago when seasoned Siamese observers detected the subtle claw
of the
otherwise humble King Bhumibol behind the shocking removal of
a sitting
prime minister in September 2006. The Thai military fronted
for the king and
did the dirty work, of course, removing the government of
Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra while the PM was traveling abroad.

But while Thanksin himself was — and still is — no doubt a
rogue and a
demagogue, he had, in fact, gotten into office by honest
election, not by
brutal force; and the military government that was put in
place while he
cooled his heels abroad until his return to Thailand last
month was of
Burmese junta quality (incredibly incompetent).

And perhaps so the royal image burnishers of Siam felt the
need to go into
action to regain the PR momentum, and in fact they sure looked
to be in fine
form recently in a Honolulu hotel ballroom. There, the place
was decked out
almost like a set for "The King and I."

The only flavor missing was the dear king himself — the actual
honoree for
whom a fancy award was ordered up. But being 80, not even a
magic carpet was
going to be able to whisk him to the scene of the Asia Pacific
Community
Building Award proffered by the East West Center of Honolulu.
So, standing
in His Majesty's place, on behalf of her father, was Her Royal
Highness
Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

Her flowery speech, read to a bored audience — word for word —
praising her
father's many countless deeds, was preceded by an amazingly
boring video on
the good king's many good deeds. It was a weird scene.

Let me be clear. The East West Center, which organized the
evening and gave
the award to Adulyadej "in recognition of His Majesty's
dedicated work
toward the welfare of the people of Thailand," is no bad
joint. It's
certainly no front for the Pentagon or the CIA or anyone else.
It does good
and important work. As nonprofits tend to go, it's one of the
kinder,
gentler ones, sitting sunnily on the campus of the University
of Hawaii in
Manoa.

What's more, the East West Center has a solid history, going
back nearly
half a century, with the good king and his kingdom. And of
course Thailand
is no black sheep internationally, as far as U.S. foreign
policy is
concerned: It was a staunch ally during the bitter days of the
threatening
Soviet Union, and remains a good friend of the West.

And, like all nonprofits, the name of the game in survival is
fundraising.

The significant and deep-pocketed Thai Diaspora undoubtedly
appreciated the
kingly toast Friday night, and funneled its spare change
accordingly. As the
evening was aboveboard and totally public, there is nothing
wrong with that.

But even so, somehow the whole event left a taste in the mouth
that one
doesn't ordinarily associate with things Thai. Democracy is
not the
one-size-fits-all formula for all, and as mentioned, the
elected Thaksin was
no second coming of Thomas Jefferson. But removed as the PM
had been by the
force of arms, the East West Center's bow to the king seemed
odd. One rests
happily when American nonprofits honor geniuses or freedom
fighters or even
the otherwise disenfranchised. But kings — or queens, for that
matter —
would seem to need no honorific welfare from American nonprofits.

The East West Center is entitled to honor almost anyone it
wants. But upon
leaving the hall, one had to wonder why the king's handlers
felt compelled
to organize such an unnecessary and questionable event as this.

Why go out of your way to honor a king who allegedly is so
wonderful he
doesn't need any more honors? One had to wonder.

UCLA professor Tom Plate is a veteran author and journalist.

2008, Tom Plate



______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
2617 Humanities Building
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu