Thais to cycle to mark fatherly king’s birthday
Bangkok (AsiaNews) – About 100,000 people have signed up for the ‘Bike for Dad’ rally in Bangkok. Another 450,000 had done the same in Thailand’s 77 provinces. An additional 8,000 Thais have joined abroad.
The event is scheduled for 11 December, 88th birthday of the country’s Bhumibol Adulyadej, who is viewed by Thais as their nation’s father.
Participants will follow Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn along a 29-kilometre route that will include some of the capital’s most important religious and government sites.
About 30,000 law enforcement agents, including a thousand Royal Guards, will provide security for the event.
Each participant will get a T-shirt, a wristband and a lapel pin that says: “I would like the people to be happy, don’t make any person be in trouble. Please bear in your mind that admiring and valuing our Dad’s gratitude is the best gift for him.”
Hataya Jantamai, a woman from the southern province of Phuket, is one of those who have registered. “I am so proud that an ordinary person like me can do something for my beloved king and father,” she told AsiaNews.
Tanakkorn and Taewin are brothers studying at the Bangkok Business College. “We would not miss the Bike for Dad rally because it is an honour for us who are nobody. We shall ride with hearts loyal to His Majesty.”
Bhumibol Adulyadej has been on the Thai throne for a record 60 years, making him the longest reigning monarch in the world. To protect him, Thailand has some of toughest lese-majesté laws in the world. Critics say however that they have been used in recent months by the military junta in power to repress dissent and rule Conviction can entail up to 15 years in prison.
For most Thais, the king is the symbol of national unity, the guarantor of the Constitution, and the protector of religions. Even Muslims in the south, despite fighting the central government, respect his figure as the true embodiment of the Thai soul.
During his reign, the king has pursued a development strategy towards a "self-sufficient economy" and dignity for the people via a slow, step-by-step approach.
In 2006, King Bhumibol Adulyadej himself received the United Nations Development Programme Award “for his dedication to develop and industriously uplift the living condition of Thai people all through his 60-year reign".
.png)
