page_title: Bhumibol Adulyadej
section_title: Criticism
hierarchical_section_title: Bhumibol Adulyadej / Criticism
caption_attribution_description: English: Governor Tanin Subhasaen, of Chiang Mai province, bows to a portrait of His Royal Highness at the reception held in honour of HM the King on December 6, 2012.
context_page_description: Bhumibol Adulyadej, conferred with the title King Bhumibol the Great in 1987, was the ninth monarch of Thailand from the Chakri dynasty, titled Rama IX. Reigning since 9 June 1946, he was the world's longest-reigning current head of state from the death of Emperor Hirohito of Japan in 1989 until his own death in 2016, and is both the second-longest reigning monarch of all time and the longest-reigning monarch to have reigned only as an adult, reigning for 70 years and 126 days. During his reign, he was served by a total of 30 prime ministers beginning with Pridi Banomyong and ending with Prayut Chan-o-cha.
  Forbes estimated Bhumibol's fortune – including property and investments managed by the Crown Property Bureau, a body that is neither private nor government-owned – to be US$30 billion in 2010, and he headed the magazine's list of the "world's richest royals" from 2008 to 2013 although the same magazine also estimated the worth of the British monarchy triple that of the Thai. In May 2014, Bhumibol's wealth was again listed as US$30 billion.
context_section_description: Although Bhumibol was held in great respect by many Thais, he was also protected by lèse-majesté laws which allowed critics to be jailed for three to fifteen years. After the Thammasat University Massacre in 1976, the laws were toughened during the dictatorship of royalist and anti-communist Premier Thanin Kraivichien. Criticism of any member of the royal family, the royal development projects, the royal institution, the Chakri Dynasty or any previous Thai king was also banned.
  During his 2005 birthday speech, Bhumibol invited criticism: "Actually, I must also be criticised. I am not afraid if the criticism concerns what I do wrong, because then I know. Because if you say the king cannot be criticised, it means that the king is not human", he claimed. "If the king can do no wrong, it is akin to looking down upon him because the king is not being treated as a human being. But the king can do wrong." A widespread barrage of criticisms resulted, followed by a sharp rise in lèse-majesté prosecutions. Lèse-majesté cases rose from five or six a year pre-2005 to 478 in 2010.
  Although lèse-majesté officially only applies to current kings, the law is very flexible in practice. Even after his death, Bhumibol remains protected by lèse-majesté.
caption: A government officer pays respect to the portrait of King Bhumibol.
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