You accept they are holding the original Fufu, who died in early February 2015 – as well documented by AMM?
Then the Prince later appears at Bike For Dad on 11 December 2015, and suddenly the tattoos have disappeared from his arm/s. How?
There is no mention on the Fufu Wiki article about a Fufu mark 2 is there? If there is, perhaps AMM should update the Wiki.
Maybe sticker tattoos as someone suggested. I prefer Photoshop, but from the chronology the only graceful way out for AMM is to agree that it might at least be sticker tats if not Photoshop.
The validity of these Bild photos turns on whether it’s original Fufu or a new Fufu mark 2.
Everyone’s getting so obtuse and complicated re: the Thailand Crown Prince and his new tattoos and slovenly demeanor. When the obvious explanation is that he is in a perfectly normal state for someone who is totally blitzed-out from a 12 hour orgy of drugs/alcohol/sex (if he’s arriving in Germany then during the plane ride from Thailand, if he’s leaving Germany, then at his hotel or villa in Germany). No exactly “Buddhist King” material. Lucky for him it is a criminal act to say anything derogatory about him in Thailand.
Regarding the comment that he is just a private man doing private things in his private life, that is complete and total nonsense given the Crown Prince’s impending ascension to the Thai Throne, presently occupied by a Sacred Person/Buddhist King who is also the living re-incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu on Earth.
And, not to be overlooked, about to gain absolute control over the fifty billion dollar Crown Property Bureau, one of the largest fortunes in the world.
Brilliantly worded analysis, as always from you Christine. But is it correct ? The CP always turns up for his official duties, when required. And unlike others – eg. Boris Yeltsin – he has NEVER turned up drunk, or off his face. These sorts of suggestions are simply slander from his enemies, as is the suggestion he’s physically unfit – now pretty categorically proven untrue, as evidenced in the Bike4Dad. People like you and Paul Handley post brilliantly – but bias and prejudice mar your analysis. In Handley’s case eg. his ridiculous claim that the King NEVER smiles.
Of the many things that scare me about Donald Trump (no it is not the fluorescent rodent, according to many op-eds, on top of his head), is that if he becomes President of USA, he will be entrusted with the power to ‘push the button’.
In my time in the university system in Thailand I was very impressed by the scientists. I worked with a few of them closely. Of course, like in many places they tend to be better funded than academics in the humanities and social sciences. But their disciplines also have the advantage of being less subject to political limitations on what you can research and teach than the humanities and social sciences. I mean, lese majeste has no effect on what you can research in tropical medicine or molecular biology, for example, but it severely handicaps the study of history, political science, philosophy and law.
Also, as is well known, the “keng” students at school are under heavy pressure to choose science stream subjects, due to the way that science is seen as crucial to national economic development. So you get smart, self-confident science students graduating from school and university who often have quite limited social and political awareness. The political views of each discipline can differ, interestingly. For some reason, people in medicine seem to be the most conservative.
In recent years this has started to change. The value of a more rounded education is better recognised than before. Many Thai educationalists are well-aware of these kinds of problems in the education system. But like everything else, the political conflict of the last decade makes implementing change difficult.
I think the whole point of the Bild scandal is that no one from this point forward no one will be able to watch the Crown Prince performing his official duties without the half-naked version with tattoos coming to mind. Almost payback for Srirasmi, one might say.
Give the poor CP a break !! He’s simply modernising Royal dress codes. This is long overdue – not only re. Thailand, but just about every other boringly conservative monarchy attire also. Let’s face it : the only other Royals ANYWHERE who have shown ANY contemporary fashion sense have been 1) Princess Diana, and 2) the CP’s brilliant fashion-designer daughter Srivannasiri. Congratulations to the CP for dressing in contemporary style. It’s a lot better than when Britain’s Prince Harry dressed as a Nazi !!
It’s very difficult to see the details of his arm tattoo, but it is possible to see some detail of the tattoo on his back, and – apart from the fact it’s colorful – I don’t see any reason to conclude that it’s Japanese in origin. To the left of the singlet, there appears to be what looks to me to be half the face of Hanuman. Hanuman most definitely belongs to the sak yant tradition, and is considered a very powerful amulet of power, conferring bravery and good luck, and projecting humility. In the absence of a high-resolution photograph, this is conjecture, but it’s the best I can do. I can’t find anything of anthropological credibility on this subject, but as one website on the subject of sak yants puts it, “Bearers of Hanuman yants are protected from danger as well as becoming fearless in the face of adversity.”
With the exception of sailors, tattoos were once the preserve of convicts, bikers, bohemians and other outcasts from society. Today, forty percent of millennials have tattoos. Although they are no longer shocking to Westerners they still have some negative associations in Asia.
Sak Yant tattoos are a form of occultism, not a form of body art. To practice occultism in this way, for wealth, sex and power, is considered to be extremely disreputable and contrary to orthodox Buddhism.
So perhaps these royal tattoos are a compromise in terms of rebellion; enough to offend the family but not enough to offend the population at large. Alternatively, he may just like these particular designs.
As Bernd points out, the prince probably knows exactly what he’s doing unless his judgement is totally compromised for some reason: drugs, alcohol, orgy, jet lag. What doesn’t quite add up is why the guy’s pants are hanging off the rotal derrière. That is almost the most disturbing part of the picture, even more disrespectful to the people who serve him.
I met many people who served the king and royal family very sincerely. One can’t help feel for them — like the fully clothed royal servants at Srirasmi’s birthday party. In my experience, they were polite, modest, reserved people.
In any event, knowledge and intelligent discussion have been so long suppressed, it’s time to let the lid blow. When the political lid blows, as it surely will, one wonders how many royal servants (not politicians) will go down as collateral damage, like the innocent palace servants (except for what they had seen) who were executed for King Ananda’s death.
L’etat, c’est moi. This is the explicit claim of Thai royals.
Royals Gone Wild, here or anywhere else, can have a devastating effect on the lives of ordinary people. And this definitely looks like it fits the bill.
What’s extraordinary to me is, as Paul points out, is the timing. And as Bernd points out, as evinced in Bike4Dad, the prince knows publicity and protocol, so WTF is going on? Is Vajiralongkorn like Trump, where overgrown ego meets historical turning point incidentally produces hilarious or incongruous results — Trump’s orange face and rant at the Ohio convention — or is this deliberate in some sense?
The similarly casually dressed wife at side indicates … ?
Paul makes an excellent point and raises fascinating questions. Speaking as a cultural anthropologist, I have no idea what the tattoos mean, because, as Nick and others point out, these things tend to be very specific.
Not my specialty. I wonder where these tattoos stand in relation to those portrayed in Susan Conway’s book, “Tai Magic” (River Books 2014).
In the context of the succession, nothing the prince does is private. Millions of people’s lives are linked to his whims and his behavior. Royal bodies are not like other bodies.
What we know for sure: the significance of the tattoos, like the serial wives, is by no means trivial.
The consequence of extreme royal privilege in Siam has been to make the most public things private on risk of death and imprisonment. One strange outcome of absolute power and wealth wielded by these royals is making prostration traditions visible abroad — in Germany. At least his predecessors knew to fake it and guard context while on international tours and the like. The public/private line with royals is much different in England and Japan.
If he’s coming from Thailand, the key is which monk or tattoo artist created the design and dared to touch the Royal person.
That person’s affiliations, i guarantee, are key.
It is indeed shocking that Thai authorities seek to follow North Korea in that a relative, partner, and/or sibling is arrested and prosecuted as they are deemed to be “guilty by association”. Had this matter not gotten international attention, who knows what Thai authorities would do.
It is scary that the Thai authorities are considering to increase the harshness of their dictatorial regime by introducing the “guilty by association” practice when it comes to silencing opposing political opinion.
All I can say is I am glad I have “left” Thailand long time ago and established my own career overseas so that I wouldn’t have to go back to live there. I, however, am quite uncertain that “the day of the regime collapse” is coming near like most of you suggested above. There are still so many Thais who agree with the current regime and they are extremely fanatical to the Thai Monarchy. Thailand would never change if these people still don’t wake up and realise what’s actually going on behind the scenes.
McDaniel is also one of my favourite authors. Although there are a few varieties of Thai Buddhism, and hundreds of varieties of Buddhism across the world, there is actually a surprising consensus between them. If one were to ask a hundred different types of Buddhist whether something was correct and in accordance with the Buddha’s teaching their answers would be remarkably consistent.
For example, the idea of a worldly military leader controlling the government of a monastic Sangha is incorrect for every variety of Buddhist.
The merit of a poor farmer, who can ill afford to spare any food, giving a humble donation to a wandering forest monk, immeasurably exceeds that of a Bangkok celebrity donating millions on camera to a celebrity abbot.
Unfortunately, this distinction is lost on many Thais. A century of state interference has replaced the great depth and diversity of Thai Buddhism with a moribund uniformity.
I accept that Buddhism was originally pitched at the Indian warrior caste, and later to the merchants, but I would argue that this was to break the monopoly of Brahmanism. Buddha discarded his royal heritage for the superior life of a penniless ascetic, so I dispute the assertion that Buddhism is uniquely elitist. I suspect the answer is that all religions are inherently elitist.
I love the comparison between Mossadegh and Pridi. To be honest I hadn’t thought of that one. Thanks, it makes my Thailand-Iran theory stronger hahaha. Jit Phumisak as an Ali Shariati, both leftist anti-regime intellectuals murdered by the regime. Btw Khomeini was more of a rabid anti-monarchist than an anti-socialist. The Shah had eliminated most of the Left anyway. It’s really after the Revolution that Khomeini moves against the remainder of the Left, many of whom had supported the Revolution. Ali Shariati was heavily influenced by Marxism and if you look at the Iranian Constitution brought in after the Revolution (you can google an English translation easily) there are a lot of socialist ideas dressed up as Islam.
I’m not sure any particular religious tradition is more suited to republican regimes. In the case of Sri Lanka and Myanmar their monarchies were abolished by the British, so they don’t count. The cases of Laos and Cambodia are complicated because of the Indochina War.
In fact I think Muslims have gone much further than Buddhists in theorising republicanism. Muslim republicans often reference the period of the first four “Rightly Guided Caliphs” who were chosen by the Muslim community after the death of the Prophet as an example of a democratic / republic society. Then it gives way to dynastic monarchy of the Ummayad Caliphate. Khomeini used to compare the Shah to Muawiyah, who he held responsible for the death of Hussein (a key figure in Shia Islam) and the establishment of the Ummayad Caliphate, which in an Islamic republican reading is despotic monarchy.
Modern monarchies in the Middle East survived in large part due first to the protection of the British Empire, then the Americans – again, similar to the Thai experience. This is actually one of the root causes of modern political Islam – which is republican. Yikes.
Polygamy and incest have a long tradition in the family of the Crown Prince –
just see rama II, rama IV, rama V, ramaVI,……and the parents of the crown prince ……
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Royal ink
UPDATE — I have received another photograph, which leads me to conclude that Vajiralongkorn’s tats are not permanent, they are transfers. Of course, this raises as many questions as it answers… https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154159623061154&set=a.419593026153.213934.627196153
Royal ink
Good on you Andrew. You set those royalists on fire.
Royal ink
Damn! I want him to turn out the old king’s toadies BEFORE fucking up totally. He’s making his run too early.
Royal ink
You accept they are holding the original Fufu, who died in early February 2015 – as well documented by AMM?
Then the Prince later appears at Bike For Dad on 11 December 2015, and suddenly the tattoos have disappeared from his arm/s. How?
There is no mention on the Fufu Wiki article about a Fufu mark 2 is there? If there is, perhaps AMM should update the Wiki.
Maybe sticker tattoos as someone suggested. I prefer Photoshop, but from the chronology the only graceful way out for AMM is to agree that it might at least be sticker tats if not Photoshop.
The validity of these Bild photos turns on whether it’s original Fufu or a new Fufu mark 2.
Royal ink
Everyone’s getting so obtuse and complicated re: the Thailand Crown Prince and his new tattoos and slovenly demeanor. When the obvious explanation is that he is in a perfectly normal state for someone who is totally blitzed-out from a 12 hour orgy of drugs/alcohol/sex (if he’s arriving in Germany then during the plane ride from Thailand, if he’s leaving Germany, then at his hotel or villa in Germany). No exactly “Buddhist King” material. Lucky for him it is a criminal act to say anything derogatory about him in Thailand.
Regarding the comment that he is just a private man doing private things in his private life, that is complete and total nonsense given the Crown Prince’s impending ascension to the Thai Throne, presently occupied by a Sacred Person/Buddhist King who is also the living re-incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu on Earth.
And, not to be overlooked, about to gain absolute control over the fifty billion dollar Crown Property Bureau, one of the largest fortunes in the world.
Royal ink
Brilliantly worded analysis, as always from you Christine. But is it correct ? The CP always turns up for his official duties, when required. And unlike others – eg. Boris Yeltsin – he has NEVER turned up drunk, or off his face. These sorts of suggestions are simply slander from his enemies, as is the suggestion he’s physically unfit – now pretty categorically proven untrue, as evidenced in the Bike4Dad. People like you and Paul Handley post brilliantly – but bias and prejudice mar your analysis. In Handley’s case eg. his ridiculous claim that the King NEVER smiles.
Magic families
Of the many things that scare me about Donald Trump (no it is not the fluorescent rodent, according to many op-eds, on top of his head), is that if he becomes President of USA, he will be entrusted with the power to ‘push the button’.
Royal ink
I guess what we are raving about: in the context of the recent purchase of the multimillion dollar German villa, are these abdication tattoos?
Or merely the latest expression of a middle age crisis?
Or just another expression of extreme prerogative and rebellion?
One thing’s for certain, unlike Trump, the CP rarely speaks.
Thailand’s hidden republican tradition
In my time in the university system in Thailand I was very impressed by the scientists. I worked with a few of them closely. Of course, like in many places they tend to be better funded than academics in the humanities and social sciences. But their disciplines also have the advantage of being less subject to political limitations on what you can research and teach than the humanities and social sciences. I mean, lese majeste has no effect on what you can research in tropical medicine or molecular biology, for example, but it severely handicaps the study of history, political science, philosophy and law.
Also, as is well known, the “keng” students at school are under heavy pressure to choose science stream subjects, due to the way that science is seen as crucial to national economic development. So you get smart, self-confident science students graduating from school and university who often have quite limited social and political awareness. The political views of each discipline can differ, interestingly. For some reason, people in medicine seem to be the most conservative.
In recent years this has started to change. The value of a more rounded education is better recognised than before. Many Thai educationalists are well-aware of these kinds of problems in the education system. But like everything else, the political conflict of the last decade makes implementing change difficult.
Magic families
I think the whole point of the Bild scandal is that no one from this point forward no one will be able to watch the Crown Prince performing his official duties without the half-naked version with tattoos coming to mind. Almost payback for Srirasmi, one might say.
Royal ink
Give the poor CP a break !! He’s simply modernising Royal dress codes. This is long overdue – not only re. Thailand, but just about every other boringly conservative monarchy attire also. Let’s face it : the only other Royals ANYWHERE who have shown ANY contemporary fashion sense have been 1) Princess Diana, and 2) the CP’s brilliant fashion-designer daughter Srivannasiri. Congratulations to the CP for dressing in contemporary style. It’s a lot better than when Britain’s Prince Harry dressed as a Nazi !!
Royal ink
It’s very difficult to see the details of his arm tattoo, but it is possible to see some detail of the tattoo on his back, and – apart from the fact it’s colorful – I don’t see any reason to conclude that it’s Japanese in origin. To the left of the singlet, there appears to be what looks to me to be half the face of Hanuman. Hanuman most definitely belongs to the sak yant tradition, and is considered a very powerful amulet of power, conferring bravery and good luck, and projecting humility. In the absence of a high-resolution photograph, this is conjecture, but it’s the best I can do. I can’t find anything of anthropological credibility on this subject, but as one website on the subject of sak yants puts it, “Bearers of Hanuman yants are protected from danger as well as becoming fearless in the face of adversity.”
Royal ink
With the exception of sailors, tattoos were once the preserve of convicts, bikers, bohemians and other outcasts from society. Today, forty percent of millennials have tattoos. Although they are no longer shocking to Westerners they still have some negative associations in Asia.
Sak Yant tattoos are a form of occultism, not a form of body art. To practice occultism in this way, for wealth, sex and power, is considered to be extremely disreputable and contrary to orthodox Buddhism.
So perhaps these royal tattoos are a compromise in terms of rebellion; enough to offend the family but not enough to offend the population at large. Alternatively, he may just like these particular designs.
Royal ink
As Bernd points out, the prince probably knows exactly what he’s doing unless his judgement is totally compromised for some reason: drugs, alcohol, orgy, jet lag. What doesn’t quite add up is why the guy’s pants are hanging off the rotal derrière. That is almost the most disturbing part of the picture, even more disrespectful to the people who serve him.
I met many people who served the king and royal family very sincerely. One can’t help feel for them — like the fully clothed royal servants at Srirasmi’s birthday party. In my experience, they were polite, modest, reserved people.
In any event, knowledge and intelligent discussion have been so long suppressed, it’s time to let the lid blow. When the political lid blows, as it surely will, one wonders how many royal servants (not politicians) will go down as collateral damage, like the innocent palace servants (except for what they had seen) who were executed for King Ananda’s death.
L’etat, c’est moi. This is the explicit claim of Thai royals.
Royals Gone Wild, here or anywhere else, can have a devastating effect on the lives of ordinary people. And this definitely looks like it fits the bill.
What’s extraordinary to me is, as Paul points out, is the timing. And as Bernd points out, as evinced in Bike4Dad, the prince knows publicity and protocol, so WTF is going on? Is Vajiralongkorn like Trump, where overgrown ego meets historical turning point incidentally produces hilarious or incongruous results — Trump’s orange face and rant at the Ohio convention — or is this deliberate in some sense?
The similarly casually dressed wife at side indicates … ?
Royal ink
Paul makes an excellent point and raises fascinating questions. Speaking as a cultural anthropologist, I have no idea what the tattoos mean, because, as Nick and others point out, these things tend to be very specific.
Not my specialty. I wonder where these tattoos stand in relation to those portrayed in Susan Conway’s book, “Tai Magic” (River Books 2014).
In the context of the succession, nothing the prince does is private. Millions of people’s lives are linked to his whims and his behavior. Royal bodies are not like other bodies.
What we know for sure: the significance of the tattoos, like the serial wives, is by no means trivial.
The consequence of extreme royal privilege in Siam has been to make the most public things private on risk of death and imprisonment. One strange outcome of absolute power and wealth wielded by these royals is making prostration traditions visible abroad — in Germany. At least his predecessors knew to fake it and guard context while on international tours and the like. The public/private line with royals is much different in England and Japan.
If he’s coming from Thailand, the key is which monk or tattoo artist created the design and dared to touch the Royal person.
That person’s affiliations, i guarantee, are key.
Royal ink
It was real, confirm from staff who work with this flight at BKK.
Thai authorities target critic’s wife
It is indeed shocking that Thai authorities seek to follow North Korea in that a relative, partner, and/or sibling is arrested and prosecuted as they are deemed to be “guilty by association”. Had this matter not gotten international attention, who knows what Thai authorities would do.
It is scary that the Thai authorities are considering to increase the harshness of their dictatorial regime by introducing the “guilty by association” practice when it comes to silencing opposing political opinion.
All I can say is I am glad I have “left” Thailand long time ago and established my own career overseas so that I wouldn’t have to go back to live there. I, however, am quite uncertain that “the day of the regime collapse” is coming near like most of you suggested above. There are still so many Thais who agree with the current regime and they are extremely fanatical to the Thai Monarchy. Thailand would never change if these people still don’t wake up and realise what’s actually going on behind the scenes.
Thailand’s hidden republican tradition
McDaniel is also one of my favourite authors. Although there are a few varieties of Thai Buddhism, and hundreds of varieties of Buddhism across the world, there is actually a surprising consensus between them. If one were to ask a hundred different types of Buddhist whether something was correct and in accordance with the Buddha’s teaching their answers would be remarkably consistent.
For example, the idea of a worldly military leader controlling the government of a monastic Sangha is incorrect for every variety of Buddhist.
The merit of a poor farmer, who can ill afford to spare any food, giving a humble donation to a wandering forest monk, immeasurably exceeds that of a Bangkok celebrity donating millions on camera to a celebrity abbot.
Unfortunately, this distinction is lost on many Thais. A century of state interference has replaced the great depth and diversity of Thai Buddhism with a moribund uniformity.
I accept that Buddhism was originally pitched at the Indian warrior caste, and later to the merchants, but I would argue that this was to break the monopoly of Brahmanism. Buddha discarded his royal heritage for the superior life of a penniless ascetic, so I dispute the assertion that Buddhism is uniquely elitist. I suspect the answer is that all religions are inherently elitist.
Thailand’s hidden republican tradition
I love the comparison between Mossadegh and Pridi. To be honest I hadn’t thought of that one. Thanks, it makes my Thailand-Iran theory stronger hahaha. Jit Phumisak as an Ali Shariati, both leftist anti-regime intellectuals murdered by the regime. Btw Khomeini was more of a rabid anti-monarchist than an anti-socialist. The Shah had eliminated most of the Left anyway. It’s really after the Revolution that Khomeini moves against the remainder of the Left, many of whom had supported the Revolution. Ali Shariati was heavily influenced by Marxism and if you look at the Iranian Constitution brought in after the Revolution (you can google an English translation easily) there are a lot of socialist ideas dressed up as Islam.
I’m not sure any particular religious tradition is more suited to republican regimes. In the case of Sri Lanka and Myanmar their monarchies were abolished by the British, so they don’t count. The cases of Laos and Cambodia are complicated because of the Indochina War.
In fact I think Muslims have gone much further than Buddhists in theorising republicanism. Muslim republicans often reference the period of the first four “Rightly Guided Caliphs” who were chosen by the Muslim community after the death of the Prophet as an example of a democratic / republic society. Then it gives way to dynastic monarchy of the Ummayad Caliphate. Khomeini used to compare the Shah to Muawiyah, who he held responsible for the death of Hussein (a key figure in Shia Islam) and the establishment of the Ummayad Caliphate, which in an Islamic republican reading is despotic monarchy.
Modern monarchies in the Middle East survived in large part due first to the protection of the British Empire, then the Americans – again, similar to the Thai experience. This is actually one of the root causes of modern political Islam – which is republican. Yikes.
Magic families
Polygamy and incest have a long tradition in the family of the Crown Prince –
just see rama II, rama IV, rama V, ramaVI,……and the parents of the crown prince ……