Coronation Day in Thailand

Allow me to take a moment to introduce you to the man on the left here. He is respectfully known as His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. He is the current reigning King of Thailand, and has been officially since May 5th, 1950. That´s right, today is ¨Coronation day¨ in Thailand, the celebration of His Majesty´s 61st year as Thailand´s monarch leader. As Thailand´s longest serving King in history, he is also currently the longest serving head of state on the planet. No small feat, and one that does deserve a great deal of respect. The King was actually appointed to power in 1946 at the age of 19, but the official coronation was postponed by his mother until 1950 when he had finished school in Switzerland.

Now, here on the left is a great portrait of the man circa 1950. Soon after his appointment in 1946, he changed his studies from law to political science, and later returned for his official coronation on this day in 1950. His list of achievements since taking the throne is staggering, and studying them gives me a great deal of respect for the man. He has always ruled justly and fairly in a country where chaos always seems to be around the next corner. I have read a good many books about him. Some authorized, some unauthorized, and some outright banned here in the kingdom. The end result is always the same. I will always have a great amount of respect for the man and what he´s done for this country.

I would also like to point out one of my favorite things about the man. He is, among other things, an accomplished musician and composer. His forte is jazz, and he even rubbed shoulders with Elvis Presley back in the day. To guys like me and my fellow musicians, that gives him a true sense of credibility. He is, and always has been, a man of the people and quite possibly one of the most respectable leaders in world history. Living in a country ruled by a king is one thing, but living under a King who knows how to rock and roll is a true privilege.

And now, a word about ¨lèse majesté¨. For those unfamiliar with the term, it is the criminal act of violating royalty or committing an offense against a royal. In plain terms, cracking a rude joke about a member of the royal family here, will likely land you in jail. Even the simple offense of accidentally stepping on a coin containing the King´s image is a punishable offense. In this culture, the top of the head is most sacred and the bottom of the foot is most offensive. Just as a reference to the foot issue, I will give you an example. In America people tend to ¨flip the bird¨ when we want to express our utmost disgust with another human being. Here, you hold up the bottom of your foot. Sounds ridiculous, but it´s about the most offensive thing you can do to someone here. I have only seen it done twice in two years, and both cases were quite extreme. So, in getting back to the original issue at hand, the action of placing the bottom of ones foot on someones head or even image of someones head is about the worst thing a person can do. Doing it to the King´s image is enough to make even the most rebellious of people shake in their boots.

Now, with all that out of the way, I must say that even the King himself has spoken out in recent years against the ¨lèse majesté¨ laws here and on several occasions has issued a King´s pardon to those accused or convicted of the crime. So, why do I have such great things to say about the man? I was always taught that if I didn´t have anything nice to say, then don´t say anything at all. In all my reading and research, I have yet to find any good reason to speak ill of the man.

So, long live the King, bring on the 21 gun salutes, and let loose with the fireworks!!

Tonight is going to be a noisy one, but not without good reason.