Outpouring of love and loyalty for HM the King

On Wednesday, songwriter Nitipong Honark on his Facebook status invited others to wear yellow shirts, as a symbol of celebration for the King. He said that now in his fifties, and considering he only worked for his own benefit, he was starting to feel tired. “I can’t imagine, a man with two hands and two feet and one head just like others but works so hard mainly for other people taking the burden of social status and taking the responsibility for the lives of tens of million people since he was 19.” 

“Don’t respect him for his status or as a divine King, respect him for just being an ordinary human who bears the burden and loses his freedom of being an ordinary man since he was young until today,” he wrote. 

Also on Wednesday, @advenger_art wrote on Twitter: “Let’s wear yellow to work tomorrow on the occasion of His Majesty the King’s 70th anniversary of accession to the throne. I feel so happy.” 

On Thursday, many Thai social media users on Facebook and Instagram posted pictures of them with their family, friends or colleagues – all wearing yellow. Some shared pictures with a special edition of the new Bt70 banknotes issued to commemorate the occasion, which was quickly snapped up within hours. 

@SuwananChin: “I love this so much, the day that everybody wears the same colour.”

However, @PravitR posted a picture on the BTS train and wrote, “The variety of colours people are wearing today.” He also wrote, “Ultra-royalist touted me this morning saying all will wear yellow to celebrate #King 70th [anniversary of] accession, I had to reply that it’s my right to decide what colour of shirt I would wear today and any day.”

Saruttaya Rose Mahanavarani invited her friends to pray for the health of His Majesty the King.

Many other people shared the memories of their celebration a decade ago or their impression of King Bhumibol.

A Tale From Hospital, a page sharing stories related to doctors’ lives and public health, posted a story from 58 years ago of how His Majesty donated money for research and production of a saline solution to treat cholera patients at a time when such a solution had to be imported. 

Gwyn Chatranon quoted a message of monk Pramote Pramojjo: “Some revered monks said that he [HM the King] was a Bodhisattva [a person who would become a Buddha in the future]. I don’t know his past or if he would be a Buddha in the future. I know that he is like no other at present. He is the best, especially when I don’t see we can count on any power holder in our country. He is old now and not so healthy. Some people said contemptuously that he cannot do much nowadays. They might forget that, likewise, our parents raised us until we are grown-ups, until they are old, and then they insulted the parents. So ungrateful.”

Kalyakorn Earn Naksompop posted a video clip of HM King Bhumibol being interviewed by foreign journalists and wrote part of the transcript:

Journalist: You think that is evidence that you’re winning?”

King Bhumibol: “Winning against what?”

Journalist: “Communist insurgency.” 

King Bhumibol: “Oh, I don’t know, but we’re winning against hunger. This is what we’re doing: We are not fighting against people; we are fighting against hunger. We want to have them have a better life. If we make this, they’ll have a better life. The people you call communist insurgents will have a better life also. So, everybody is happy.”

@runrun_rominic: “Dad never teaches everybody to love him, but he teaches everybody to love each other.” 

@CurtisSChin, former US ambassador to the Asian Development Bank posted pictures and message: “DYK [Did you know]: Thailand’s revered King is the only reigning monarch born in the US.” He also used the hashtag #LongLiveTheKing in Thai language.