A cabinet resolution declaring Sept 28 to be Thai national flag day might have left many wondering why Thailand waited so long to declare such a day.
Some may be curious as to why the government suddenly wants to highlight the importance of the national flag. They might wonder how Thais feel every time they stand still to show respect to the flag when the national anthem is played at 8am and 6pm every day? Is it a habit they have been taught to adopt at school? Or do they simply fear they will face legal action if they don't do so? Do they feel proud of their nation?
"The national flag is a symbol of the Thai nation and paying respect to the flag demonstrates the people's respect for their own nation and their pride in it," explained Vice-Admiral Jumpol Lumpiganon, deputy chief-of-staff of the Royal Thai Navy.
He was part of the PM Office's team pushing to make national flag day happen.
Sept 28 next year will become the first national flag day, to commemorate the day in 1917 when King Rama VI issued the trai rong (three-coloured) flag as the new national flag.
The Thai flag has an interesting history of several hundred years since the Ayutthaya era. In the the 1600s during King Narai's reign Thailand didn't have a national flag. Thailand used a red cloth when doing trade with other nations.
The red flag had been inherited from era to era until King Rama I decided to add the gear wheel symbol of the Chakri dynasty to the red flag. Later during the reign of King Rama IV, a white elephant symbol was then included in the middle of the flag.
The first formal law about the national flag was written during the reign of King Chulalongkorn. The National Flag Act Rattanakosin Era 110 required the national flag to be red.
It also bore a white elephant symbol in the middle.
The national flag underwent a major adjustment during King Rama VI's reign when King Vajiravudh observed a mistake about the flag that he thought could be repeated again and again unless changes were made to the flag.
An old lady accidentally raised the national flag upside down when she installed it in haste before a visit by the king to Uthai Thani province in 1916.
The king then adopted a new idea to make the national flag more international and consist of five stripes. The blue represents the king.
"But since it has never been clearly indicated what the exact shades of blue, red and white of the Thai national flag are, there have been copies of the national flag in varying shades of these colours," said Vice-Admiral Jumpol.
The Prime Minister Office's team responsible for implementing the cabinet's resolution on the national flag day then decided to take the occasion of the centennial of the Thai national flag on Sept 28 next year to make all copies of the national flag the same standard in terms of both colour shades and size proportions.