RIGHT, CLOCKWISE FROM MAIN PICTURE: Following in her father's footsteps, HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhornhas witnessed the suffering of her compatriots and pledged to do whatever she could to help them. Getting direct information from the local people is one of His Majesty's main working principles. His Majesty turns his camera to HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn while she cuts rice stalks.

Get the facts right. Go to the source. Listen to the people.Build coordination between different state agencies. And never give up.Whether it’s a royal effort to improve the livelihood of the rural poor or to fight floods for Bangkokians,His Majesty the King always operates on the same working principles – as recounted here by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha
Chakri Sirindhorn.

As His Majesty’s daughter and personal secretary, the Princess probably knows best how His Majesty works – with a thorough understanding of the country’s big picture while always maintaining an eye for detail.

The following is a transcript of a well-known interview with the Princess’ which clearly shows His Majesty’s dedication to the people,His absolute selfdiscipline and His tireless quest for knowledge that has made him the world’s hardest working monarch.

His Majesty’s primary task is to do his best to develop the country. However, his idea of development is not just to go into a village and blindly give directions.

First, he must know all the geographical conditions of the area – the height, depth, everything. It seems he knows the entire country very well. That’s because he’s got first-hand experience. Which he believes is very important.

And that’s why he always drives himself during field trips and doesn’t mind walking. He says it gives him insight into a place.

When travelling by other types of vehicle, like helicopter, he also uses these chances to review and correct maps. He would be very angry if we fell asleep. He said that to ride in a helicopter – using petrol paid for by the public – is a privilege, and therefore we must make the most of it, for the good of the people. We can’t just listen to the whirr of the engine and go to sleep. Still, His Majesty is the only one who always observes the terrain below and compares it with what was shown on maps and aerial photographs.

It takes a long time to make a map, and sometimes by the time the map is finished, the landscape has already changed, for example, new settlements, new reservoirs that change watercourses, and so on.

I don’t know exactly when His Majesty began to use aerial photographs. But the furthest back I can recall is one day when I was little, and he asked me to help him arrange pictures of a project. I remember I quit to go out and play when the work was only half done. That’s why I didn’t gain knowledge in this field.

The aerial photos he uses are provided by the Royal Thai Survey Department and the Air Force’s Directorate of Aerial Reconnaissance. Instead of using two reference pictures like we do, His Majesty can just look at a photograph and plot things down on the map. But sometimes he has trouble with mosaic pictures because in such pictures the same house can appear in two places.

He doesn’t just use the photos provided by government agencies but also takes some himself. He always brings along both compact and SLR cameras. Like when the construction of a dam is completed, he would take pictures of the dam and the engineers. He keeps these pictures in catalogues.

Every time he rides in a helicopter, he takes pictures of the landscape below. Afterwards he lays the pictures out and tapes them together. The result is a makeshift aerial photograph which can be used for planning development projects.

Speaking of maps and aerial photos, I must also talk about His Majesty’s use of satellite images. They are one of the things he is interested in because he has long been involved in agricultural planning, and particularly working on artificial rain. To help in agricultural planning and the making of artificial rain, you need to have knowledge of the wind and rain, of meteorology.

Every day for the past 10 to 20 years, the Department of Meteorology has sent His Majesty the daily weather forecast map. Lately, they also send him the meteorological satellite photos.

His Majesty would then read the weather forecast map and the satellite images, make notes, and plot the paths of storms, their names, and the effects they tend to create. This information would be used in determining the development of agriculture and water sources.

In 1986, Bangkokians faced a big flood problem. Seeing the people’s hardship and equipped with his map-reading habit, His Majesty believed he might find a way to alleviate the situation and fix some damage.

I had seen him working on his plan before the flood. First he hunted around for Bangkok maps, from the oldest ones he could find to the most current ones. Then he arranged them in chronological order to compare the city and its water drainage system during different ages. He also studied old aerial photographs.

When the flood crisis was about to begin, he went out to observe several areas. I didn’t go with him so I can’t give much detail. I once followed him after he left but couldn’t find him. Instead, I got stuck in a tremendous flood, so I decided to go back home. But from what he told me, whenever he goes on such observation trips he brings along officials from several agencies—the Irrigation Department, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and other concerned agencies.

And like when he plans for rural development, His Majesty looks at each area to see how water naturally flows in and out of it. For different areas have different problems. If we look at it superficially, we tend to think it is the same flood problem.

But His Majesty looks at each place very closely and sees that they are actually different. He considers every factor that contributes to the flood. And during his surveys he uses every person he knows, even if they are not engineers and not related to engineering.

Policemen, for example. He would ask them to measure the water level and report it to him. He also asked a friend who lived in the flooded area to measure the water level at his house every day and keep him informed.

His Majesty also uses people he doesn’t know by having people he knows ask their friends to keep records of the water level every morning and evening so he could use the information for his planning.

When he visits an area he would explain the system of that area and how its problem could be solved as well as how things work in other areas.

These days he understands Bangkok more thoroughly. He understands the water pattern in each canal – its flood and ebb tides and what happens when it wreaks havoc, what goes wrong.

Some canals are no longer natural drains because they are blocked. For instance, in one case someone was growing banana trees that blocked a canal. His Majesty gently asked people in the neighbourhood who the trees belonged to.

When the owner showed up, His Majesty asked him: “How much do you care for these trees?” And the man replied: “Not so much.” To this His Majesty said: “Not so much means you still care a little.”

He knew the man had consideration for him. So His Majesty told him that he didn’t want to bully him but: ‘If you don’t care for them so much, please allow me to have them cleared out.’ He always negotiates diplomatically like this.

Sometimes he gives ideas to officials and passes on the work to them. He would use anybody who could possibly help him with information. His idea is to gather all the information and keep it systematically and comprehensively. For example, we can’t just use hydro-engineering to explain a flood. There are several factors involved – meteorological elements, water in Bangkok, water flowing down from the northern part of the country, and the tides from the gulf.

His Majesty seeks information from all sources. For example, officials concerned with hydrography, meteorology, irrigation and power generating. And many more. That’s how he builds his database.

■From Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s interview with Radio Chula in 1987, which clearly shows His Majesty’s working principles, just as applicable today as they were back then.

In her latest book, Duj Duang Tawan,Her Royal Highness
Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn shares personal anecdotes that give insight into His Majesty the King’s commitment to education and information to improve the lives of the rural poor – a shining example of a dedicated monarch, as illustrated by this excerpt:

CRIGHT, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Being keen on Thailand's geography, His Majesty has made accurate and comprehensive maps to be used for rural development. His Majesty has had a tight schedule with both royal ceremonies in the city and development work. His Majesty is often at the wheel himself, navigating through rough terrain during his upcountry visits to improve the livelihood of the rural poor. When traveling by helicopter, His Majesty takes the opportunity to review and correct maps. A farming couple offers a bucket full of vegetables to His Majesty and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn during a royal trip to foster community self-sufficiency. The hard-working monarch has guided the people through all types of hardship.

His Majesty the King is interested in various fields of knowledge. He is a thinker and inventor who can explain his thoughts to others. He is a good teacher himself. Often when he goes out to meet the people, he advises those who come to welcome him on various matters such as the preservation of watersheds and farming. From my experience, an example of His Majesty’s qualities as a teacher could be seen during a trip upcountry many years ago.

I was about seven or eight years old at the time and we were travelling in the same car. On the way, he taught me and my brother and sister how to determine the traveling time by calculating the distance and speed. He also taught us about the topography and at night he taught us about stars in the sky.

One day I teased people in the entourage by asking them how many grains of rice there were in a sack. Nobody answered. When His Majesty heard about this he had somebody fetch him a litre of rice and made me agree that the result of that calculation would be an estimate.

He told me to fill a cup with rice to see how many cups it took for the whole litre. After that he told me to count the rice grains in the cup and multiply that by the number of cups taken out. The result was the number of rice grains in one litre.

Then I had to multiply that by the number of litres in one thang [a traditional unit for measuring rice], and multiply the result with the number of thang in one sack. What I got at the end was the number of rice grains in the sack. That was the first time I learned to do estimated calculations.

A few years later when I had to study math and do exercises from the Education Ministry’s textbook, which were all similar to one another, I became bored and didn’t pay much attention to the subject, claiming that I didn’t see any use for it in real life.

His Majesty cured my laziness by giving me just two math exercises to do during the following summer break, which lasted almost three months. The first exercise was about water buckets, which I was familiar with because the Hua Hin district where we spent the holidays was pretty arid and the buckets were necessary items.

Every time the Royal Medic Squad went out to visit villages we would gather money to buy buckets for the villagers. In the exercise, I had to calculate from the number of donated buckets the amount of water people used each day and the amount of rainfall.

To make it worse, it was assumed that the buckets had holes. There was simply no answer to this exercise.

The other exercise was about the income and expenses of a family that is rather poor. Despite the fact that the children of this family receive Royal scholarships and some financial aid, they still have a hard time making ends meet.

One day, a member of the family became sick and, worse still, their house was hit by a heavy storm which damaged the roof. The family had to borrow money from a loan shark to buy corrugated iron and have their roof repaired. This exercise, too, had no definite answer. But it helped me learn about the prices of food and things because I had to find out the real prices from the market. I couldn’t make them up.

As for geography, instead of just letting me learn it from books, His Majesty encouraged me to compare the actual landscape with the map. Clouds too. He taught me with real clouds in the sky, not just their names in a book.

He didn’t do this just with his children. He wants every Thai to have the chance to study. And this determination of his is evident in the ‘Rongrian Phra Dabos’ project.

■From the article titled “Rongrian Phra Dabos” in “A Compilation of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s Writings”, Bangkok Bank, 1978, page 185-7.

PHRA DABOS PROJECT

The Phra Dabos project (initiated by His Majesty the King in 1976) is basically a kind of nonformal education.

There are lots of people in society who are equipped with useful knowledge but these people don’t have enough money to open a school of their own. At the same time, they don’t want to work with the government, but they are ready to pass on what they know to others.

His Majesty said that the concept of the Phra Dabos project is like that of the Phra Dabos (hermits) in folktales. In the old days, anybody seeking knowledge would go into the woods to stay with the Phra Dabos, serve them and learn from them.

His Majesty said that even these days, there are still people who are glad to be Phra Dabos. We should provide them with the facilities and food they need, like creating a forest for them.

Meanwhile, children who come to study should have moral responsibilities so the relationship between the teacher and the children will be good. The most concrete field of study so far is electronics and a few other subjects. Students who have finished the course can study further in a related field. Many have managed to use the knowledge to earn themselves a living.

¦From HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s interview with Prof Pairash Thajchayapong, on May 12, 1995, on His Majesty the King and information technology, at Chaipattana Building in the Chitralada Palace.

THAI JUNIOR ENCYCLOPAEDIA

His Majesty told me about how HRH the Princess Mother used to teach him how to do research. And she did research herself, too. The Princess Mother told him that whenever her children had questions about things, she would try to find the answers. So she bought an encyclopedia for the whole family to use.

Later, His Majesty wanted to have that kind of encyclopedia produced for Thai people, in Thai. He said that at that time, we – the children – were still of school age. The older child could teach the younger one. So he had them produced in three levels.

The high level is for older children and grown-ups who do not have specialized knowledge in those subjects. The other two levels are intermediate and elementary. Actually, it’s not easy to explain complicated subjects in language young children can understand. But that was made possible with the help of several people. They’ve been working on the project for 20 to 30 years, producing one set after another.

The encyclopedia is a compilation of academic information for easy reference. I’d like to cite a few parts of a speech His Majesty made to the committee in 1974:

‘Again, we can conclude the purpose of encyclopedias: They’re books that include all the knowledge humans have gathered since ancient times, processing it for later generations.

‘Normally, this knowledge is learned at schools or educational institutions. But due to the lack of teachers and schools, there needs to be a source of knowledge which enables people to learn by themselves, or from relatives and friends who know more. Knowledge could be passed on from one person to another without having to be gained through school.’

And here’s a bit more from the speech.

‘The purpose of this encyclopedia is to point out to readers and users that all sciences are related. It’s not that a person who is a specialist in one particular field can work completely on his own. Furthermore, it shows that to succeed, everybody must depend on another person – one science is completed by another science.

‘In short, it’s education for underprivileged children and a conjunction of all sciences’.”

¦From a speech titled “Education and National Development” given on November 7,1995, at Srinakharinwirot University, Bangkok.

PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY

Their Majesties are very good at recognizing people. They also remember what should be done for every single person. His Majesty has it all recorded in his head.

Other people can’t remember such things and when they ask how His Majesty manages to do so, he says that if we care, we remember. When we care for people, love them and wish to help them find happiness, we think about

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: With his vision, His Majesty guides government officials for a rural development work that is both efficient and sustainable. ■His Majesty observes the livelihood of the people. ■His Majesty, accompanied by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration officials, inspect the Makkasan swamp to tackle water pollution there.

them. Hearing this, I felt like I’m the one who does not love the people and does not want them to be happy. And I felt guilty. So I had to find ways to compete with him, to serve him. That’s why I started building up a database.

Actually, the truth is we wanted to do this, not him. He could remember it without any help.

■From HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s interview with Prof Pairash Thajchayapong, on May 12, 1995, on His Majesty the King and information technology, at Chaipattana Building in the Chitralada Palace.

TOWARDS SELF-SUFFICIENCY

As for rural development, especially in remote and dangerous places, Their Majesties the King and Queen always cover all areas of life. They would start by getting to know the villagers and trying to gain their trust. That is not so difficult for them because most people regard His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen as their father and mother who can help them solve problems and lessen their hardship. Whatever they say, people listen.

In areas where communication is lacking, His Majesty would put an emphasis on people’s self-sufficiency – enabling them to rely on external factors as little as possible, especially for rice. Everybody must eat rice. We’ve got to do everything that gives farmers enough rice to eat.

Also, we’ve got to make sure there are markets for their products so they have the money to buy the necessities they can’t produce. Buying consumer goods is wasteful because you have to pay prices that include transportation and service costs. So people should try to grow their own rice. It is also important that the people enjoy good health and that the sick get proper medical care. Sickness causes a lot of problems. Some people lose everything when they have to pay the hospital bills.

We’ve also got to give the people the chance to have an education. At least they should be literate and able to read official documents to gain knowledge about new technologies. This is difficult in some remote areas.

In some places, even though schools are available, students cannot go to school because they cannot afford to pay for the textbooks (despite the fact that primary education is compulsory and free of charge). Some students have to work and some live too far away from school.

¦ HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn during an interview on development and aid to rural villagers, given to the Office of the Royal Development Projects Board in 1985.

NOBLESSE OBLIGE

The reason I like to help people is, I guess, because I’m used to it. Ever since I was young, I’ve seen that His Majesty the King, Her Majesty the Queen and Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother were always busy trying to find ways to help better the living conditions of the Thai people.

Following him around, I witnessed the hardship my compatriots were facing. That made me feel I should help with whatever I could. I shouldn’t be idle. So when I grew up and had the ability to help, I just did it automatically, following His Majesty’s instructions and guidelines. Anyway, to help the people is a duty of the royal family. Besides, helping those who are in trouble is in accordance with Buddhist teachings. Merit-makers achieve happiness from giving, which is a merit.

One more thing—I always feel that being a princess is a privilege. I get trust, help, knowledge and all kinds of cooperation. Dealing with people is also made easy. It’s a hereditary benefit for the family whose ancestors have done good deeds for the country.

The benefits fall on their children and grandchildren. So we should use this privilege for the good of other people.

¦ HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn during an interview on development and aid to rural villagers, given to the Office of the Royal Development Projects Board in 1985.

MASTERING TECHNOLOGY

His Majesty uses a computer every day. And when he composes a song he doesn’t use a ready-made music programme. He does it with an ordinary, basic one. These days when he writes stories he always writes them on a computer. But before he actually writes a long story he would first make up some short stories as experiments.

Another thing he does with the computer is drawing. He doesn’t use any modern software, but an old one. I don’t know how he does it. He does it by himself. Like when he wrote the Phra Mahajanaka book, he also drew the picture of Phra Mahajanaka swimming while Nang Manee Makhala flies towards him.

When drawing a map (for the book), he didn’t use any map-making programme, either. He drew a map of India. And from what was said in the Jataka tale, he worked out where the places mentioned should be; like where Phra Mahajanaka swam, and where each character in the story travelled.

He plotted the places on a modern map. Then he got out the meteorological map and figured out what the weather would have been like on that day. He compared the situation to what happened when a fierce storm swept fishermen over to Bangladesh. He said the weather must have been like that.

While trying to alleviate suffering and poverty for adult villagers, His Majesty also tries to ensure that the future of rural Thai children will not be bleak.

He then compared different positions of the sun and the moon. Everything that he converted from the Jataka into modern-day terms, he typed on the computer. He also writes his new songs on the computer. Songs like Pleng Rak and Menu Khai he did on the computer.

When typing letters or any other document, he does it on the computer himself. Also, he uses it to write speeches for different occasions, like the royal speech on December 4. After he finishes writing those speeches, he translates them into English himself and types the translated version on the computer. Now he is writing an autobiography. I have no idea how far he has gone. I’ve never seen it. But he writes it on the computer.

¦ From HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s interview with Prof Pairash Thajchayapong, on May 12, 1995, on His Majesty the King and information technology, at Chaipattana Building in the Chitralada Palace.

BUILDING A DATABASE

His Majesty is interested in information and the filing of information. He gathers and files information he has, not on the computer, but in conventional files which he keeps in different categories. He’s been doing this for a long time. He told me that he has taught his filing system to Khun Khwankeo (Grand Chamberlain Khwankeo Vajarodaya) who now does the work for him.

If anybody asks Khun Khwankeo about His Majesty’s royal duties during the early years of his reign, he’ll find that Khun Khwankeo has all that information carefully filed. There are details about public health, and the royal visits to the United States and Europe in 1960, for example. Also, there are photographs taken by His Majesty’s private photographers. Each of them is numbered in order to make it easy to retrieve. That’s also a system he has set up.

As for maps, His Majesty doesn’t use digital mapping, which is a popular method nowadays. Instead, he remembers the features of the places when he visits them. When driving across bridges, he would look down at the stream and see which direction the water flows—that gives him some idea about the inclination of the terrain. He records and processes the information in his head the way we do for the digital models and maps in the computer. Then he would describe the model he has in his mind to other people so that they could work on the details.

¦ From the speech titled “Information Technologies Beneficial to National Development” given by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn on June 2, 1995, at the United Nations Convention Centre in Bangkok.

MAPPING OUT SOLUTIONS

His Majesty has maps from the Army’s Royal Thai Survey Department. Most of them are 1:50,000 maps. He compares them with the actual terrain. If the map is incorrect or the landscape has changed he makes corrections on the map.

Also, he adds changes that villagers tell him about. When people come to him to request that a reservoir be built, he would ask villagers about their farmland and the watercourses so he would know what should be done. Some may say that the villagers might not have given the correct information but I think His Majesty double checks that information with several people. So what he’s got is basic information that is accurate enough for the officials to use.

Sometimes he obtains information that field officials missed or details the aerial photographs could not record because the area was covered by clouds.

Since he always writes things down on his maps, he couldn’t keep them in the plastic map envelopes. The information he notes down is useful for a long time. After some time, though, the maps get worn-out. And when he gets new maps, he has to copy all the notes onto the new ones. He also connects the maps himself. Nobody does it the way he wants.

The gadgets he uses with the maps are nothing more than a compass and the car’s altimeter. When he draws up a map, he doesn’t do it on the computer. Let’s say he uses only his skills and some basic equipment. When he travels, he is always followed by officials from the Royal Thai Survey Department. They use His Majesty’s remarks to help them correct the maps.

As for aerial photographs, His Majesty looks at them one by one. Sometimes he compares the photos he already has with the maps. In case the given project does not have aerial photos or those available are too old, he would have new photos taken.

A lot of his knowledge, I think, came from experience. For example, in rain-making he’d observe the wind direction and read the air pressure from the meteorological map. Then he knows what to do. And when a storm comes, he would know it from the map.

Knowing the speed the storm is moving, he can predict when it would arrive and has some time to warn the people to get ready for it.

The meteorological maps are delivered to His Majesty in envelopes. Actually, all the information he uses is nothing mysterious. Nothing beyond the reach of other people. Nothing special. The difference is just that he has them delivered. But more to the point is his ability to decipher information from them. As for maps, they are ordinary ones but he can read them.”

¦ From HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirinndhorn’s interview with Prof Pairash Thajchayapong on May 12, 1995 on His Majesty the King and information technology, at the Chaipattana Building in the Chitralada palace.

Duj Duang Tawan (“Like the Sun”) is a compilation of excerpts from writings and speeches by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. The palm-sized book also features poems and drawings by the Princess for His Majesty as well as His Majesty's computer drawings and music notes. Compiled by Suparat Lertpanichkul, the book is published by Nanmee Books.

This is excerpted from an article entitled “A Regal Example”, which appears in the book A Visionary Monarch published by the Bangkok Post to celebrate His Majesty the King's 72nd birthday.