OPINION

Take this sage advice

In these dire times, let us again turn to our beloved national father, HM the late King Rama IX, for advice on how to respond to criticisms. In his 2005 birthday speech, broadcast nationwide, he said:

"No one would dare to send those who insult the King to jail because the King will be troubled, since people will claim that the King is not a good person, or at least is over-sensitive -- sending them to jail for minor insults. Actually, the King has never told anyone to send them to jail. Under previous kings, even rebels were not sent to jail or punished. King Rama VI did not punish rebels. During the time of King Rama IX, who were the rebels? There have never been any genuine rebels. I also followed the same approach: do not send them to jail, but let them go. If they are already in jail, release them. If they are not in custody, I will not press charges as the offended party. The person who is insulted is the one in trouble. People who insult the King and are punished are not in trouble, rather the King himself is in trouble. This is a strange business."

The late king's views in 2005 were consistent with his 2003 birthday speech, also broadcast nationwide:

"[If] they criticise correctly then thank them, if they criticise wrongly tell them, very discreetly, but the person who is greatly troubled by this, is the king, he is troubled because no one can reproach him. … We did not tell those who wrote the constitution that no one can criticise or contradict the king. Why this was written, I do not know. If I cannot be contradicted, how can I know if I am right or wrong?"

We should ponder the late king's advice, for surely he was the expert on the monarchy -- and, to me, HM King Maha Vajiralongkorn's audience with ex-Communist Party of Thailand members a few days ago signals that he is following in his royal father's footsteps of forgiving those who disagree.

Our universities should lead debates on what HM Rama IX's speeches mean today. Does criticism mean that one is not loyal? What does our lese majeste law allow? Heed HM's sage advice.

So, once again the general public is inconvenienced by demonstrations of a minority. This really is not the most opportune of times to be causing more problems in addition to those we already have. Covid-19 has wreaked considerable damage on the Thai economy, and the unpredictable disruption caused by demonstrators -- major junction road closures, BTS and MRT closures, retail shop and business closures -- is irritating in the extreme. I may or may not support the views of the demonstrators, but at this fragile time perhaps they should act less selfishly and show some consideration to the people whose day-to-day lives are being impacted by their actions.

I don't see them demonstrating on weekdays around universities when students need to be in their classes… only in evenings or weekends, when the rest of the public need to go about their normal business.

Take your demonstrations to places that impact the government if the government is your main concern. Stop disrupting the rest of us who are trying to maintain or rebuild life after the impact of Covid on our business and economy -- then you might even build more support, not less.