Death and funeral of Bhumibol Adulyadej

King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand died at the age of 88 on 13 October 2016 after a long illness. A year-long period of mourning was subsequently announced. Formal Thai customary mourning practices and the cremation of the body have not yet been scheduled and may extend beyond the one-year mourning period.^[1][2] Following cremation his ashes will be taken to the Grand Palace and will be enshrined at one of the palace's Buddhist temples.^[3]

Illness and death

King Bhumibol Adulyadej had been treated at Siriraj Hospital since 3 October 2014.^[4] The king had a high fever due to a blood infection. His health improved after his doctor gave him antibiotics.^[5] Until 28 September 2016, he had a low grade fever and pneumonitis. His doctor then treated him with antibiotics and hemodialysis owing to hypotension. His health later worsened due to a liver infection, and his condition remained unstable.^[6]

The king died at the hospital on 13 October 2016 at 15:52 local time, as announced by the Bureau of the Royal Household later that day.^[7][8]

Funeral

Thai national flag flown at half mast at defence ministry building on 28 October 2016

On 14 October 2016, the body of the king was carried by an autocade from Siriraj Hospital to the Grand Palace. His body left Gate 8 of the hospital around 16:30. As the cortege passed Arun Ammarin Road, Phra Pin Klao Bridge, and Ratchadamnoen Road, crowds of Thais, most clad in black and many openly sobbing, paid homage. Led by Somdet Phra Wannarat (Chun Brahmagutto), the abbot of Wat Bowonniwet Vihara, the autocade entered the palace via Thewaphirom Gate. Upon arrival at the palace, the body was given the bathing rite, presided over by the king's son, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn. The event was live broadcast on television by the television pool of Thailand.^[9][10]

The general public were allowed to take part in a symbolic bathing rite in front of the king's portrait at Sahathai Samakhom Pavilion within the Grand Palace later that day.^[11]

Foreign dignitaries who attended the lying-in-state:

Country	Title	Dignitary	Date
Bhutan	King of Bhutan	Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck	16 October[12]
	Queen of Bhutan	Jetsun Pema	16 October
Bahrain	Prime Minister	Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa	18 October[13]
Singapore	Prime Minister	Lee Hsien Loong	21 October[14]
Maldives	Special Envoy of the President	Mohamed Saeed	21 October[15]
Malaysia	Prime Minister	Najib Razak	22 October[16]
Cambodia	Prime Minister	Hun Sen	22 October[17]
	Deputy Prime Minister	Tea Banh	22 October
China	Vice-President	Li Yuanchao	22 October[18]
Singapore	President	Tony Tan	24 October[19]
Laos	Prime Minister	Thongloun Sisoulith	24 October[20]
Gambia	Special Envoy of the President	Bala Garba Jahumpa	25 October
Indonesia	President	Joko Widodo	25 October[21]
Vietnam	Prime Minister	Nguyễn Xuân Phúc	28 October[22]
Sri Lanka	President	Maithripala Sirisena	30 October[23]
Lesotho	King of Lesotho	Letsie III	2 November[24]
Myanmar	President	Htin Kyaw	9 November[25]
Philippines	President	Rodrigo Duterte	9 November[26]
India	Prime Minister	Narendra Modi	10 November[27]
Bangladesh	Special Envoy of the President	Tarana Halim	15 November[28]
Timor Leste	Special Envoy of the President	Hernâni Coelho	22 November

Cremation

The public square Sanam Luang will be used as the cremation ground, where the construction of an elaborate, temporary crematorium will be started in early 2017 and will take more than one year to complete.^[29] The construction will cost the taxpayer ฿1,000,000,000.^[30] Once the cremation is over, the crematorium will be torn down.^[31]

Designs for the cremation complex were officially unveiled on Monday, 28 October, and a special ceremony will be held on 19 December for the royal funeral chariots to be used at the Bangkok National Museum.^[32][33] The construction work for the complex will officially commence in January 2017 with the building of the central column with a September target completion date.^[34][35]

On 19 November the Ministry of Culture's Fine Arts Department head Anant Chuchote visited Nakhon Pathom, where the royal funeral urns have been manufactured for centuries out of old sandalwood trees. He asked for public support and assistance for the making of the royal urn alongside 150 artisans from the Traditional Arts Office.^[36]

Mourning

The government declared a year-long mourning period for Bhumibol. Citizens were asked to refrain from participating in "joyful events" and entertainment for 30 days following his death; as a result, a number of events, including sports (such as the Thai League football season, which ended entirely),^[37] were cancelled or postponed. Entertainment outlets such as cinemas, nightclubs and theatres announced that they would shut down or operate under reduced hours during this period.^[38][39][40] The mourning period prompted concerns from Thailand's tourism industry, who felt that the mood of the country, as well as the cancelled events, would reduce interest in visiting Thailand.^[39]

Upon the announcement of his death, all television channels suspended regular programming and simulcast special programmes from the Television Pool of Thailand, which consisted of monochrome videos and photos of Bhumibol, and coverage of royal events. International channels were also blacked out and replaced by this programming. Following the funeral procession on 14 October 2016, the channels continued to air the pooled tribute content until midnight local time, after which they were allowed to resume regular programming. However, for the remainder of the 30-day mourning period, all broadcasters will be forbidden from broadcasting programmes that feature "any element of entertainment, dancing, joy, violence, impoliteness or overly expressed emotion", nor any non-official information, speculation or criticism related to the deceased King and his successor. Most Thai media outlets and websites switched to greyscale colour schemes as well.^[41][42]

To mark the mourning period even Thai shopping malls reduced their Christmas displays as a mark of respect, while planning to install memorial displays in the late King's memory.^[43]

Reactions

Aftermath

Since the death of the king, ultra-royalists in Thailand have criticized and harassed those who did not wear mourning black.^[44]

They also subjected to witch-hunts people whom they accused of disrespecting the deceased monarch. On 14 October 2016, angry ultra-royalist groups in Phuket Province thronged the residence of a man who posted on social media a number of comments which they thought offensive to the late king and violated the lèse-majesté law, despite the local police having declared that the comments were not in breach of the law. The groups dispersed after the police agreed to prosecute the man for the crime of lèse-majesté.^[45][46] Similar incidents happened on the following day in Phang Nga Province.^[44]

In November 2016, Nangrong School in Buriram Province seized colourful winter jackets from students and required them to wear those in mourning colours only. The students were reportedly distressed to lose their jackets due to the cold weather, and many did not own multiple warm articles of clothing.^[47]

On 28 November, the director of a public school in Ranong Province was removed from office for not wearing mourning black on her first day at work.^[48]

The National Council for Peace and Order, the junta ruling Thailand, also announced after the death of Bhumibol that it will hunt down lèse-majesté fugitives.^[49]

References

Further reading

• Head, Jonathan (16 October 2016). "Thai king's death: Who holds power now?". BBC. Retrieved 16 October 2016. 
• "Thailand King Bhumibol's death , after 70 years of reign". Death-notices.co.uk. London: Interpress. 17 October 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2016. 

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