Thailand prepares to bid farewell to ‘the people’s king’

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand is putting the finishing touches this month to a lavish five-day funeral ceremony in a final goodbye to its late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who helped shape the Southeast Asian nation for decades after World War Two.

Many of the hundreds of thousands of black-clad mourners are expected to camp for days near Bangkok’s Grand Palace to capture a good view of the ceremonies, which will be guarded by 78,000 police officers and culminate in the cremation on Oct. 26.

“October is a sad period,” Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who announced plans for a national election next year, told reporters in the capital on Tuesday. “I ask that politicians and political parties be peaceful and orderly.”

Artisans have worked for ten months in Bangkok’s ancient quarter to build an elaborate cremation site fashioned after a vision of heaven, where Thais believe dead royals return to live above Mount Meru, a golden mountain in Hindu mythology.

The funeral of King Bhumibol, who died on Oct. 13 last year after seven decades on the throne, is also a time of uncertainty for some Thais, said a Thailand-based analyst, who declined to be identified because of sensitivities around the monarchy.

“In many ways the king was Thailand and his death has left a huge vacuum in the Thai psyche,” said the analyst, pointing to social and political upheavals in recent decades.