#Thailand - ‘Inappropriate behaviour’ leads to ban on visitors entering Royal Crematorium

THE CULTURE Ministry announced |yesterday morning a ban on entering the Royal Crematorium of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej after visitors reportedly touched exhibits and displayed other inappropriate behaviour during a trial run on Wednesday spread on social media.

After HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presided over the opening of the Royal Crematorium exhibition yesterday morning, the ministry announced a new rule restricting photography to the area outside the Royal Crematorium in an effort to protect the sacred structure.

 The Culture Ministry hosted “trial run” tours for 16,500 invitees on Wednesday, including governmental officials, monks, students, physically disabled people and other citizens. Three separate hour-long tours of the complex took place.

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The exhibition organising committee, led by Deputy Prime Minister Tanasak Patimapragorn, permitted the select audience a close-up look of the Royal Crematorium, including visiting the interior second level.

But photos posted on social media showed visitors with their heads leaning together and posing with the Crematorium in the background. Additionally, people were seen touching the sculptures decorating the masterpiece, while others took items from the exhibition. 

“In order to run the tour smoothly with appropriate manners, the ministry announced that from November 2 [yesterday] onward, the general public can visit only the surroundings of the Royal Crematorium,” Anan Choochote, director-general of the Fine Arts Department, told Kom Chad Luek.

He added that the committee was also concerned for the safety of visitors.

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In the afternoon, Deputy Prime Ministry Wissanu Krea-ngam met with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha at Government House to discuss Princess Sirindhorn’s advice regarding related problems.

“The government will take action immediately on HRH Princess Sirindhorn’s advice to solve problems related to visitors crowding the area at the Royal Crematorium Exhibition, where items could be broken before the exhibition closes at the end of this month. However, there is no discussion on the extension of timetable,” Wissanu said.

Officials were seen yesterday equipping sensors on some items, which were said to be a preventive measure to detect if people came in too close a proximity.

Wassachon Thiangtae, a second-year student at Rajamangala University of Technology Rattanakosin Poh Chang, said that it was a pity that people cannot enter the second floor of thcrematorium after the prohibition was issued. “Because of them [people displaying inappropriate behaviour], people today missed an opportunity to get closer and to have an experience to visit the Royal Crematorium. 

“Those people are selfish and did not think about others,” said Wassachon.

She added that she and her friends would return to the site since one hour was not enough. 

“We waited at the screening point only a short time. Officials there have very good management,” Wassachon said.

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Sanchai Premsiri, 53, from Bangkok, said at first he planned to just look around, but after an official told him the queue was not long, he waited only 20 minutes to take the tour. 

He agreed with the prohibition preventing people from entering the second floor, saying items could be damaged if 100,000 of people went there each day for one month.

“This place is not a tourist attraction, it is a sacred site,” Sanchai said. He said he wanted the Royal Crematorium to be kept intact for the next generation. 

A Cultural Ministry official said the tours were running smoothly, with people dressing properly, behaving well and following the rules. 

As many as 100,000 people are expected to visit the exhibition daily, with the eight roads adjacent to Sanam Luang remaining closed. In total, more than 3 million visitors are projected to visit the Royal Crematorium exhibition, which is open to the public until the end of November from 7am until 10pm.

Source - TheNation

 

#Thailand - Royal Crematorium exhibition open on 2 November

IN A MUCH-ANTICIPATED move, the Royal Crematorium ceremonial grounds at Sanam Luang will open to the public tomorrow at 8am after Her Royal Highness Maha Chakri Sirindhorn officiates at the opening of an exhibition in honour of her father, the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, at 7am.

Eight roads linked to Sanam Luang will be closed from tomorrow as 100,000 people are expected to visit the exhibition each day. The security will be as strict as that during the Royal Cremation. 

Visitors must bring ID cards or passports, and will have to go through one of five screening points. There are four screening points for ordinary people at the Territorial Defence Command, Tha Chang, the Earth Goddess Statue and Thammasat University, which will also provide for the disabled, while monks and foreign visitors are invited to check in at the Defence Ministry screening point. 

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At Saman Luang, tents will be provided for people to wait before entering at one of two entrances. One is near the Earth Goddess statue and another is close to Thammasat University, where wheelchairs will be provided. 

Visitors will be provided pamphlets there about the Royal Crematorium and, before leaving the exhibition, postcards, which will come in nine versions. Three million each of the pamphlets and postcards will be available. There will be English-language pamphlets for foreign|visitors.

The one-way tour will take about an hour to complete, with 5,000 visitors at a time being able to view its three zones. In the first zone, visitors will see exhibits related to Royal projects such as demonstration rice fields, “Monkey Cheek” water-retention systems and Chaipattana water mills. Visitors will be able to stay 15 minutes and take photographs.

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Guides will then lead visitors to see the grand architecture of the Royal Crematorium, featuring the centrepiece Principal Pavilion (Busabok) with the fire screen surround by the Monks’ Pavilions and Dismantling Halls. Visitors will be restricted to the first level of the Royal Crematorium.

The tour will end at the Songtham Pavilion, where three murals depict the late monarch during his 70-year-reign. The exhibition will also highlight his biography in five sections. 

Special guides will be set up for the disabled, including an audio commentary and touchable exhibits. At Tab Kaset Hall, next to the Dismantling Hall, blind people will be able to imagine the grandeur of the Royal Crematorium by touching a replica and listening to audio.

From 8am to 5pm, a pipat – traditional Thai ensemble – from the Culture Ministry’s Musical Department will perform and, in the evening until 10pm closing time, there will be public performances by some of the thousands of artists who performed at the Royal Cremation. Khon masked dance will be performed on the weekend.

The Culture Ministry expects 3 million visitors to view the exhibition, which will end on November 30.

The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority will provide 60 free buses a day on six routes from 4am to 11pm. The routes to Saman Luang will depart Victory Monument, Hua Lampong Station, Mo Chit, Ekkamai, Southern Bus Station and Rattanakosin Island in Dusit district. Free ferries will be provided daily from 6am to 10.30pm from Rachanavik Sapha Pier at Thonburi’s Royal Navy Auditorium to Nivej Woradit Pier in Dusit near the Grand Palace. 

Source - TheNation

19.1 million Thais offered sandalwood flowers in homage

More than 19.1 million people across Thailand offered sandalwood flowers in homage to their late King Bhumibol Adulyadej on the day of his Royal Cremation on Thursday.

The offerings were made at 878 officially prepared venues across the country.

The Interior Ministry’s command overseeing sandalwood flower centres disclosed the figures on Friday. At up to 2.9 million people laying sandalwood flowers, Bangkok had the highest number of mourners doing so.

Every venue for sandalwood-flower placing was overcrowded on Thursday, said the Ministry.

Source - TheNation

#Thailand - Stickers allowing entry to ceremonial grounds become treasured souvenirs

STICKERS allowing mourners to pass through to the inner area of Bangkok’s Sanam Luang ceremonial grounds to observe the Royal Cremation ceremonies for HM the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej have become collector’s items for many people in memory of the beloved monarch.

Bearing each person’s registration number, the stickers – which come in different designs depending on which screening point people pass through – have become souvenirs for people attending the historic event.

“I intend to keep this sticker and will laminate it because it identifies that I, once in my life and for the last time, am at this place at this time in the last days of the farewell to HM King Rama IX. I’m one of the loyal Thai subjects that has a chance to be here,” said Theerayuth Kanchanaphetch, 39. 

“Each visitor passing through a screening point will get a sticker placed on his or her left chest. Mine is number 15458,” he said.

Theerayuth came from Songkhla’s Hat Yai district early Tuesday morning and spent the night camping under Phra Pinklao Bridge amid the rain. He woke at 3am to wait in a queue to access a visitor-screening point – two hours before the checkpoint was opened, then passed into the inner area where he sat in front of the National Museum at 7am.

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 Nakhon Si Thammarat resident Sathaporn Meelai, 43, said she and her daughter had arrived in Bangkok at noon on Tuesday and stayed overnight under Phra Pinklao Bridge. She was given a sticker with the number 14899 while her daughter received number 14898. 

After passing into the area, she carefully peeled off the sticker and attached it to her Thai national ID card as she was afraid she would lose it. “I will keep this sticker for the rest of my life as a souvenir of my attendance at the Royal Cremation ceremonies for HM the late King,” she said.

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Rayong resident Aree Tothong, 70, who also stayed under the bridge amid the downpour on Tuesday night, said she was determined to attend the ceremonies after three previous three trips to pay respects to HM the late King’s Royal Urn inside the Grand Palace’s Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall. 

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime event that I must attend. I had to pin my sticker number 14155 on to my chest to ensure it wouldn’t go missing. I intend to keep this item for the rest of my life to remember HM the late King. I want to keep it so my children and grandchildren know that I was born in the reign of King Rama IX and I live through two reigns,” she said.

Source - TheNation

#Thailand - Many thousands queue to secure a place to watch Royal Cremation ceremonies

Loyal subjects queued all night despite heavy rain in the hope of getting close to the Royal Procession route for the Royal Cremation Ceremony.

The difficulties of having to queue and sleep on the street side without any roof above their head did not deter the people’s will to find a viewing place for the Royal Cremation Ceremony.

They waited patiently at all nine screening points around Sanam Luang which opened to the public at 5am on Wednesday.

Thousands of people were seen queuing at the ninth check point at Pinklao Bridge alone around 4.30 am. The queue was over one kilometre long from under the bridge, down along Phra Arthit Road to Bang Lamphu Intersection. All were in black formal attire, many of them them were elderly women.

Ratchaneenart Sanguansapsiri, a 44-year-old woman from Nonthaburi, said she joined the queue to enter the Royal Cremation Ceremony area at the ninth screening point around 8pm on Tuesday, and she was very glad to be there.

“It was a long and rainy night, but finally we made it,” she said with a big smile early on Wednesday morning.

“We understand what we are going to get through, as we still have to wait inside the ceremony ground for day, yet we are determine to endure this hardship. All of us want to be a part [of this ceremony] to send our beloved King back to Heaven.”

 

It was reported that there were kilometres-long queues at the other screening points.

Along Phra Arthit Road, many nightclubs opened their doors for mourners to use the toilets free of charge. Some restaurants on this nightlife street also provided free snacks and coffee for the people at breakfast time.

Before passing through the screening point, people are required to show their identification cards and have their baggage checked by security officers. Officers are on standby to advise people how to get to the closet screening point.

Source - TheNation

Thailand - Historical ceremony begins

Bangkok at centre of the nation's attentions as mourners turn out to pay their final respects.

ALL ROADS LEAD to Bangkok today for the start of the Royal Cremation Ceremony for the much-revered HM the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. 

People have travelled by buses, private cars, trains and planes during the past days in the hope of getting as close as possible to the “Father of the Land” one last time. 

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The late monarch reigned over Thailand for seven full decades until his passing last year. People have been mourning his departure and are now prepared to bid him a heartfelt farewell. 

As of press time last night, thousands of black-clad people were sitting or lying on footpaths near the nine entrances to the prime zones for members of the public to attend the Royal Cremation. They were to be opened today at 5am. 

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 Deputy Metropolitan Police Commissioner Maj-General Jirasan Kaewsaeng-ek said officials had started clearing the areas last night before the reopening this morning.

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 The Royal Cremation Ceremony will run from today until Sunday, with the actual cremation taking place tomorrow. 

“I took a van ride from Nakhon Sawan province to attend the ceremony this week,” Piyapas Saengkhieo, 46, said as she queued for a shuttle bus to Sanam Luang, where the Royal Crematorium now stands tall next to the glittering Grand Palace. 

Aree Kantasak, a 60-year-old farmer from Lamphun province, said she would stay at Sanam Luang until the Royal Cremation ceremonies end. 

“I am not sure how near I can be to the ceremonial ground, but at least, I hope, I will be here for him,” she said. 

Montha Kanha and six friends from the border province of Nong Khai took a train to Bangkok, bringing along food, clothes, umbrellas and medicines so they, too, would stand by their beloved late King one last time. “From my birth, I have seen a lot of his royal projects. His royal guidance, such as the sufficiency economy philosophy, can apply to all aspects of life,” the 58-year-old teacher said. “We wish to see him off to Heaven.” 

Wichitra Busaba, a 53-year-old teacher, flew from Loei province to Bangkok but was prepared to sleep on the streets near Sanam Luang over the next few days. 

“I am here to pay final farewell to the late King,” she said. 

The government has estimated that about 250,000 mourners will turn up in areas near Sanam Luang tomorrow. Others can place sandalwood flowers at 85 replicas of the Royal Crematorium and hundreds of temples across Thailand to pay their final respects to one of the greatest Thai kings. 

Mourners near Sanam Luang will have a chance to see the royal processions in honour of the late King with their own eyes. People in other areas, meanwhile, can watch on TV, as the ceremonies will be broadcast live. 

PM’s Office Minister Omsin Chiwaphruek yesterday advised mourners to lay prostrate when the royal processions passed them, adding that umbrellas should not be raised at the time. 

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 “The royal processions and people along the way will be recorded and televised worldwide. Let’s act properly for the good image of the Royal Thai Kingdom,” he said.

#Thailand - Long list of foreign guests to attend the Royal Cremation ceremony

The latest list of foreign dignitaries to attend the Royal Cremation of HM the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej scheduled for Thursday. 

1. Lesotho : Their Majesties King Letsie III and Queen Masenate Mohato Seeiso
2. Bhutan : Their Majesties King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Ashi Jetsun Pema Wangchuck)
3. Tonga : Their Majesties King Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipau’u
4. Myanmar : President U Htin Kyaw and his wife; Su Su Lwin
5. Laos : President Bounnhang Vorachith and wife Khammueng Vorachith

6. Singapore : President Madam Halimah Yacob and husband Mohamed Abdullah Alhabsee
7. Sweden : HM Queen Silvia
8. Netherlands : Maxima
9. Belgium : HM Queen Mathilde
10. Spain : HM Queen Sofia
11. Australia : General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove and Lady Cosgrove
12. Canada : The Right Honourable Madame Julie Payette
13. Indonesia : Former president Megawati Soekarnoputri
14. Swiss Confederation : Former Joseph Deiss
15. Germany : Former president Christian Wulff
16. Bahrain : Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa
17. Denmark : HRH Crown Prince Frederik
18. Norway : HRH Crown Prince Haakon Magnus
19. Luxembourg : Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume Jean Joseph Marie
20. Malaysia : HRH the Sultan of Perak Darul Ridzuan Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah Al-Maghfur-Lah and HRH Tuanku Zara Salim the Raja Permaisuri of Perak Darul Ridzuan
21. United Kingdom : HRH Prince Andrew, Duke of York
22. Japan : HIH Prince Akishino and HIH Princess Akishino
23. Qatar : HH Prince Thani bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani
24. Liechtenstein : HRH Princess Margaretha
25. Vietnam : Deputy President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh
26. Cambodia : Prime Minister Hun Sen
27. Swaziland : Prime Minister Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini
28. New Zealand : Former prime minister James Bolger
29. France : Former prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and wife Brigitte Ayrault
30. China : Vice prime minister H.E. Mr. Zhang Gaoli
31. Turkey : Deputy Prime Minister Fikri Işik
32. Korea : Vice National Assembly Speaker Park Joosun
33. Russia : Deputy chairperson of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Olga Epifanova
34. Brunei : PM’s Office Minister, Second Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Pehin Dato Lim Jock Seng
35. United States of America : Secretary of Defence James Mattis
36. Philippines : Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano and wife Maria Laarni Cayetano
37. Sri Lanka : Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana and wife Stella Marapana
38. Nepal : Defence Minister Bhimsen Das Pradhan and wife Bidya Banmali Pradhan
39: Pakistan : Power Minister Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari
40. Bangladesh : Foreign Minister Mohammed Sahriar Alam
41. India : Deputy Foreign Minister M J Akbar
42. The Holy See : Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro

Source - TheNation