There was a time when a public assembly was not just a mob

But yesterday, hundreds of thousands of Thais came together, not to protest against anything or anyone, but to demonstrate their love and reverence for His Majesty the King, and their gratitude for all that he has done for the nation and his people.
There was no anger, no resentment and no hatred. For once, for what seems in a very long time, people seemed to think that they belong to the same country. 
They behaved civilly toward one another. Some passed out free bottled water, some free meals in plastic bags with plastic utensils. Some sent around chopped and chilled green guava with the customary accompaniment – the salt, sugar and chili pepper mix. Some brought their prayer books to ask for blessings for His Majesty. Yellow flags and national flags were distributed for free without any incident. There was no stampede to get them, and there was no hoarding. People were willing to share their mats and umbrellas. They took photographs of one another and of themselves as mementos of the day, and to pass the time. 
The sun was blazingly hot, but nobody minded. Some had camped out overnight to get the “best seats” in the house. They slept on concrete floors and pavements. They sat patiently waiting for the beginning of the official ceremony to commemorate the 85th birthday of His Majesty.
It was a time when Thais were at their best. It was how people could behave when they had recaptured their soul, no matter how fleeting such a moment was. It gave rise to the hope that we, as a nation, do not have to be so hopeless, if and when we can learn to love one another again.
Nobody paid these people to come together at the Rama V Plaza and the roads leading up to it. They went even with the knowledge that there was no way for them to see His Majesty when he came out to greet the crowds from the balcony of the Anantasamakom Throne Hall. They went because they wanted to be part of the crowd that His Majesty would see. They each wanted to pay tribute to the man who has done so much for the country and yet is misunderstood so badly.
These were the people who think of themselves as the “silent majority”. But for this one day, they wanted to be silent no more. The crowd shouted “Long live the King” from the top of their lungs at the very first glimpse of him leaving Siriraj Hospital and as they watched the large screen televisions closest to them. They chose to do the same thing when the prime minister and the House speaker read their pledges of allegiance to the King – to do their very best in the interest of all people and of the country. 
The voices of the people drowned out the spoken pledges when they were delivered. The crowds deemed those words coming from the two top officers of the land vacuous utterances unworthy of being listened to. With grand theft unlimited being carried out at every strata of the government, and with it being allowed to blossom by the government itself and its politicians, how could anybody in their right mind not want to shut themselves off from these empty promises? 
In his address to the crowd and to the nation from the balcony of the former throne hall, His Majesty stressed the importance of being kind toward each other. Several times in his short remarks, he mentioned honesty and integrity as the proper guiding principles in our work and our way of life. His message could not be more succinct as we the ordinary and the so-called silent majority watch in pain how our tax money has been pilfered unscrupulously and at will. 
Commissions were set up to “look into” wrongdoing by government officers and irregularities in government-sponsored projects. But what these commissions were really meant to do was to whitewash the grand theft unlimited. At the end of this laundering process, the most outrageous irregularities would receive a seal of approval as being “clean” and not out of ordinary. Case closed.
Just how long the people and the nation can tolerate this highway robbery that takes place under our noses everyday and in every aspect of our lives, is anybody’s guess. 
These days some people cannot even spell the Thai word for “honesty”. Soon, it may disappear completely from our lexicon and our conscience. Shame that is rendered obsolete in a society where the colour of money shines blindingly and alluring will then follow its cousins honesty and integrity into oblivion. Already, the looting of the national treasury has become more and more accepted as just the way the government does its business – the new normal.
As the crowds quietly disbursed at the end of the ceremony, the three words from His Majesty still resonated – kindness, honesty and integrity. Many ponder dishearteningly how they can buck the trend of the highway of robbery of their tax money. It is to them the “sixty four thousand baht question”.
Many people cried openly when His Majesty appeared in sight. He reminded them of everything good, decent and right. No mobs, paid or duped, could match the number of people who went of their own free will yesterday to pay tribute to the soul of the nation. It was a day in Bangkok that could make a hard man humble.