Strict protocols for funeral

THAILAND: The exactingly planned five-day funeral for Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej will be governed by strict protocols for how the public and media conduct themselves that are as much about honouring the monarch as they are about controlling a delicate political moment.

The prescriptions for appearance and behaviour show a concern for what images of Thailand and its royals are circulated during and after the elaborate ceremonies, which include Bhumibol’s cremation today.

Thais are known for a highly emotional adulation of Bhumibol, which palace officials assiduously cultivated over his 70-year reign, but the funeral will be an intensely sombre event.

Only state-controlled TV can provide a live broadcast, and police have prohibited screenprinting of pictures of Bhumibol and his magnificent goldencoloured cremation pyre on T-shirts and the like.

The crowds of mourners who will squeeze into Bangkok’s historic royal quarter will be a sea of black attire. They will be permitted to prostrate in silence when the royal procession passes, but must not take selfies with the procession in the background.

Besides considerable security, an army of volunteers will be on hand to police behaviour. ‘‘If people act inappropriately, volunteers must be psychological and speak to them with soft voices to avoid violence,’' said Sansern Kaewkumnerd, a spokesman for the military government in power since a 2014 coup.

‘‘The bigger issue going on here is that spontaneity means lack of control, and if there is anything the current regime wants to avoid, it is disorder or any evidence that they are not in control,’' said Tamara Loos, a professor of Southeast Asian studies at Cornell University.

The October 13, 2016, death of the 88-year-old Bhumibol, known as Rama IX as the Chakri dynasty’s ninth monarch, sparked a national outpouring of grief and a year of mourning. –