This Thai royal consort was stripped of her title — she hasn't been seen in public since
By the ABC's Asia Pacific Newsroom
Updated about 2 hours ago
PHOTO: Former royal consort Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi has not been seen publicly since her demotion. (AFP: Thailand Royal Office )
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A prominent critic of the Thai monarchy has voiced concerns for the wellbeing of the recently demoted royal consort, who was described in a palace statement this week as "scheming" and "ungrateful".
Key points:
- Ms Sineenat has not been seen publicly since her demotion from royal consort
- Academic Pavin Chachavalpongpun is one of few who openly criticises the monarchy
- Now in Australia, he says he was the subject of a capsicum spray attack in Japan
Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi was
appointed as the King's official consort in July, the first such appointment in a century.
Just three months later,
her demotion was announced in the royal gazette, in unusually descriptive terms.
"She is also not content with the title bestowed upon her, doing everything to rise to the level of the queen," the official palace statement said.
Ms Sineenat has not been seen publicly since then.
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One of the few Thai academics who openly criticises the monarchy is Pavin Chachavalpongpun, who is currently in Australia on a fellowship.
"We can only guess what happened to Goy, perhaps maybe from looking back into the past, what happened to the two wives before Goy," said Mr Pavin, using the former royal consort's nickname.
Mr Pavin told the ABC the King's second wife fled to the United States, with the couple's four sons, who were subsequently disowned.
The King's third marriage also ended, but there is little official information about her whereabouts.
"I know for sure that she has been placed under house arrest but what exactly caused her house arrest [has] never been told," Mr Pavin said.
The ABC was not able to independently verify those allegations.
"Judging from these two cases, I think Goy might follow in the same footsteps," he said.
On Wednesday, another statement announced
the dismissal of six palace staff, including a "a nurse at the bedroom guard service" and a veterinarian.
"They have severely breached disciplinary conduct for their evil actions by exploiting their official positions for their own or other people's gain," the royal gazette said.
Late night pepper spray attack in Japan
PHOTO: Pavin Chachavalpongpun is one of the few Thai academics who openly criticises the King. (ABC News)
Discussion of royal matters is severely restricted within Thailand, due to the aggressive use of lese majeste, computer crimes legislation and other laws.
Breaking those rules can be risky.
Mr Pavin is still shaken by an attack at his home-in-exile in Japan, where he is an associate professor at Kyoto University.
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In July, a man broke into his bedroom at 4:45am, pulled off the bedsheets and sprayed Mr Pavin and his partner with a substance believed to be capsicum spray.
The assailant fled and nothing was stolen.
Mr Pavin believes the attack was a message from someone in Thailand, an attempt to intimidate the outspoken academic into silence.
Japanese police have not notified him of any progress in the case.
There has been a string of brazen attacks, disappearances, arrests and murders of high-profile critics of the Thai monarchy and military-led Government.
The bodies of two Thai men who
disappeared from Laos were found in December in the Mekong River with their faces disfigured and their stomachs filled with concrete.
The Thai Government has denied responsibility.
'The rise of a modern absolute monarch'
PHOTO: The Thai King appointed Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi as royal consort three months after he married Queen Suthida (pictured). (AP: Bureau of the Royal Household)
The 2014 coup, led by current Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, was widely seen as a way of stabilising Thailand ahead of a royal succession.
King Maha Vajiralongkorn took the throne in 2016, after the
death of his father King Bhumipol, who was widely revered by Thais as a father figure.
King Vajiralongkorn — who studied at Sydney's King's College and at Duntroon military academy — is yet to gain the same popularity as his father.
PHOTO: Former King Bhumibol Adulyadej was widely revered. (Reuters: Damir Sagolj)
He spends much of his time in Germany but has made several decisive changes, taking direct control of the Crown Property Bureau and two key military units near Bangkok.
Mr Pavin said the public demotion of the royal consort was part of the King's consolidation of power.
"By demoting Goy, by punishing her in this way, I think it's part of him trying to express his absolute power to the public," he said.
That's a theory shared by Tamara Loos, professor of history and Thai studies at Cornell University.
"The demotion of Thailand's Royal Noble Consort Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi by King Vajiralongkorn is part of a larger phenomenon: we are witnessing the rise of a modern absolute monarchy in Thailand," Professor Loos said.
"This seemingly personal event is profoundly political."
