A star of Asia: Farewell, Dhammaraja

A star of Asia: Farewell, Dhammaraja
By Maura Moynihan

Special to The Nation

BANGKOK: -- In the afternoon of October 13, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, Rama IX of the Chakri dynasty, passed away at the age of 88, in the 70th year of his reign. I ran to a cafe in Sukhumvit to watch the announcement, as streets in Bangkok grew quiet, people huddled around television screens, many sobbing in disbelief. 

The following day I went to the Grand Palace to join the half-million people who came to witness the solemn motorcade bearing the King’s body from Siriraj Hospital to the Dusit Maha Prasat throne hall. There was a special grace, dignity and warmth among the crowd. People shared water and food, made way for elderly mourners, gave comfort to those who were overcome with grief or fainted from the heat.

A young lady from Bangkok held my hand as the motorcade passed and I succumbed to tears. For so many years I loved and admired this great and good man, an artistic prodigy who excelled in science and statecraft, a catalyst of modern Asia who never sought regional dominance yet made his nation a powerful axis of global influence, who stated, when he was crowned in 1950, aged just 23: “My place in this world is being among the Thai people.”

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