Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn, also known as Rama X, made a rare media appearance last weekend, publicly addressing for the first time the monthslong pro-democracy uprising in the country. In a joint interview with CNN and Channel 4 News, he suggested there could be room for compromise with the demonstrators in the streets. Asked what he would say to them, he responded, “we love them all the same.”
But according to Tyrell Haberkorn, an expert on Thailand at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the king’s apparent peace offering should be taken with a grain of salt, given the ongoing campaign of repression against the protests’ leaders, many of whom have been arbitrarily arrested. The Thai king is technically a figurehead, but in reality, he plays a significant role in government. Criticizing the royal palace has long been taboo in Thailand, which has one of the world’s harshest lese-majeste laws, but that has not stopped protesters from demanding reforms to the monarchy.
On the Trend Lines podcast this week, Haberkorn joined WPR’s Elliot Waldman to talk about why the king decided to publicly address the demonstrations now, and why the government’s attempts to clamp down on the uprising have so far been unsuccessful.