Thailand prepare for late king’s cremation

IGNACIO MENDEZ DE VIGO, Spanish central government spokesman BANGKOK: The streets of Thailand’s capital here have turned monochrome again as the military government urges the public to wear black and white and mute celebrations in the weeks leading up to the cremation of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The kingdom had been prepping for the elaborate royal funeral since the October 2016 death of Bhumibol, a charismatic monarch who commanded a cultlike following during his 70-year reign.

His passing plunged the nation into a year of official mourning that has been heavily orchestrated by the ultra-royalist junta, which grabbed power in 2014.

In his weekly address on Friday night, junta chief Prayuth Chan o Cha urged the public to adhere to mourning guidelines as the Oct 26 cremation approaches.

He also asked TV stations and entertainment venues not to schedule any overly-joyous material.

Last month, broadcasting authorities issued detailed guidelines for all television channels, including instructions to “include special programmes to recall King Bhumibol’s royal grace”.

Networks must also reduce their colour saturation by 40 percent, according to the guidelines from Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission.

Similar curbs were put in place in the month directly after Bhumibol’s death, when all TV stations were initially replaced with black-and-white state media programmes praising the monarch. AFP