New Mandala has taken a long-term interest in Thailand’s royalist yellow fever. In one of our earliest posts (from 20 June last year) Nich Farrelly highlighted the phenomenon and asked:
I do wonder what colour t-shirts everybody will be wearing in three months time [20 September!].
The answer, of course, was yellow. In the lead up to the coup both sides’ political manoeuvrings were draped in the royal colour (despite attempts by anti-Thaksin forces to appropriate it solely to their cause). During the coup itself the army was unashamed in wrapping their illegal and violent intervention in royal cloth. And in the post-coup environment yellow shirts have become a key component of the Surayud regime’s more compulsory royalism.
Yesterday, a New Mandala reader wrote to me about the new compulsion of the royal yellow:
The craze seems to be dying down a bit. Mondays are still big, but other days seem less yellow, thankfully. However, I have had reports that the yellow is now enforced as a measure of loyalty. Well it has been for a while, but this seems to be going further. Some villagers told me that their shirts were provided free by “the government” – not clear exactly who – to all households. Actually, last year, at my condo, unknown people delivered free yellow shirts as well. In the village, these people also delivered 60th anniversary photos for each house and ordered that they be displayed. And I also heard that the current AIDS national conference – where the theme is sufficiency (what else could it be!) – had a minor glitch when a facilitator showed up in yellow shoes. This caused a bit of a problem and the facilitator was not permitted to facilitate, by orders of Ministry of Public Health bigwigs who were, of course, all in yellow shirts.
What other experiences have New Mandala readers had with the royal yellow?
31 responses so far ↓
1 Maylee Thavat // Jul 8, 2007 at 10:38 pm
The teachers at my husband’s Thai class asked him why he was no wearing yellow the other day. To which the response was a firm “I’m not Thai”. This didn’t much seem to phase the tutor, it seems now even Farangs are supposed to be coming out in their royal colours….I prefer black
2 Vichai N // Jul 9, 2007 at 1:14 am
What are you up to these days Andrew Walker? I leave New Mandala a few weeks and each return I find your latest subject matter even more jejune than previous.
Has Thaksin Shinawatra started reducing his stipends to his courtiers again? Now that is what I call \’insufficiency reward\’, eh Andrew?
3 Tip // Jul 9, 2007 at 5:49 am
Chiang Mai isn’t crazy about yellow shirts as in Bangkok. However, the other week I was sipping latte at my local favorite–Wawee, suddenly I looked up and saw a yellow shirt. To my surprise, it was the barista! And the shirt had Wawee logo embroidered! The other staff were still wearing their usual brown shirt though. Let’s hope this wasn’t going to be a new staff uniform.
Earlier this year, Thongchai Winichakul was wearing yellow shirt (under the jacket) to his keynote speech at the 6th annual conference at the Sirindhorn Anthropology Center. Half way through he took the shirt off, and threw it on the floor. I wasn’t there, but found the transcript on Prachatai:
http://www.prachatai.com/05web/th/home/page2.php?mod=mod_ptcms&ContentID=7752&SystemModuleKey=HilightNews&System_Session_Language=Thai
4 Grasshopper // Jul 9, 2007 at 12:40 pm
I think Vichai provides an experience with virtual royal yellow!
5 jonfernquest // Jul 9, 2007 at 2:45 pm
There are a lot of variations on yellow shirts. There are some subtle light shades that are really nice. Then there is the color on the edge, orange, or light blue which I like. The Royal insignia, there are differences there too. I haven’t noticed Jatukam amulets worn much with yellow shirts, maybe there’s some incompatibility or difference in the people who wear these fashion++ items? IMHO Yellow shirts are nice, but being forced to wear them isn’t. I wear mine at home and at friend’s houses.
“In the village, these people also delivered 60th anniversary photos for each house and ordered that they be displayed.”
That’s just what they do in villages (and have always done). We display the flag and have all sorts of Royal Stuff on our family altar and whether it was an order or not is irrelevant, mother treats these gifts as if they were an order. I don’t see what is bad about this. It keeps social order and I think if you really didn’t want to do it, they wouldn’t make you do it. (You could always experiment and see what happens) I never wore the Phayao blue shirt that the university requested you wear on Fridays, because they made me itch. I was a real rebel, not.
6 saraburian // Jul 9, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Vichai N,
You are a sick man.
7 Srithanonchai // Jul 9, 2007 at 7:46 pm
“It keeps social order” > Which surely is the most important thing, and ordering things in this way is the only possible method. Otherwise, chaos would ensure. That’s the nice thing with this military coup — it also “keeps social order,” right? Well, well…
8 Nong Juu // Jul 9, 2007 at 7:49 pm
The water pump in our BKK home broke the other day. We ordered a new machine from a distributer, and received along with it a bonus gift in the form a yellow shirt with Mitsubishi Motors lettering and insignia stitched in on the left side of the chest.
Don’t go out much on Mondays, but am just wondering, are people generally wearing shirts with the old or new insignia (celebrating which current auspicious royal benchmark i forget now)?
9 Non-believer // Jul 9, 2007 at 9:10 pm
“I haven’t noticed Jatukam amulets worn much with yellow shirts, maybe there’s some incompatibility or difference in the people who wear these fashion++ items?”- NO difference- both are getting conned.
10 Yellow Lover // Jul 9, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Mr Fernquest is no expert on “what we do in villages” I’m sure, for I have been to a few villages lately, and the response is not uniformly to treat these enforced “gifts” as treasures. Many see them as threats. If you don’t put them up you get into trouble. I know that in the NE, villagers going to any government meeting are “encouraged” to wear yellow. I was told by one villager that a good way to get out of silly government meetings was to show up in any colour other than yellow.
I must say that when I see a foreigner in yellow I find myself thinking they must be a bit silly. But then again, I know that many local foreign employees are also “encouraged” to be in yellow.
During the anniversary celebrations last year the yellow shirst were also delivered free to the bars in Soi Cowboy. One of the bar owners went further and had his dancers in little yellow skirts and tops, both see-through. That kind of loyalty is hard to top!
11 Historicus // Jul 9, 2007 at 9:25 pm
What on earth is Vichai on about? Is the point that no one should question the national yellow mania or the elements of royalist propaganda?
12 Diego // Jul 9, 2007 at 9:52 pm
andrew/nich, any discussion on the ruckus created by thongchai’s bold fashion statement as tip mentioned? i am interested to find out whether he got ‘lese-majested’.
13 Nicholas Farrelly // Jul 9, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Diego,
All I know is contained in the Prachatai post that is was linked to by Tip. Perhaps other New Mandala readers, or Thongchai himself, can shed some more light on the incident in question.
Best wishes to all,
Nich
14 Vichai N // Jul 9, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Historicus you realy truly sincerely earnestly believe that this forum on the subject of “yellow”, led by Andrew Walker questions something relevant, important and even earth shaking?
I give the ‘royal yellow fever’ a fad rating only two stars higher than the hula hoop!
But enjoy yourselves people . . . and let Andrew Walker be your guide . . . he he he he
15 Srithanonchai // Jul 9, 2007 at 11:19 pm
That there has to be a discussion on this sort of nonsensical issue at all somehow demonstrates in what sort of shape Thai politics is at the moment.
16 Vichai N // Jul 10, 2007 at 11:56 am
I commiserate with you Srithanonchai impelled to participate at this \’sort of nonsensical issue at all\’ just to give credence to the sad shape of Thai politics at the moment, now that Beloved Leader Thaksin Shinawatra had been banished.
But there is a more tickling subject matter elsewhere whether or not \’PM Potjaman Shinawatra\’ is a realistic view. Sure why not? After all I do NOT believe all Thaksin\’s \’honest mistakes\’ have been uncovered and as sure as lightning will strike Manchester City sooner or later, lightning can strike again to bless or curse Thailand with another Shinawatra at the PM\’s chair.
17 Historicus // Jul 10, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Vichai’s comment is silly. It seems he thinks that national crazes associated with political movements and enforced displays of loyalty are unimportant. That is a shame for he is missing something important.
I don’t recall hula hoops being symbolic of any political movement. Swastikas were around for a long time, but then were taken up by the Nazis as a symbol. That’s why symbols are significant.
It seems that people not wearing yellow are making a statement today. Like the guy who sat down during the national anthem in the cinema I was in the other day and was abused by a yellow shirt.
18 Vichai N // Jul 10, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Historicus was that a fact – - the yellow shirt abusing you at the cinema because you were not so royally adorned? My my my my . . . what a pity.
But there is another possibility that you were just a total nuisance during the whole movie show. I did abuse someone in a movie house a week ago because the guy was flatulently very rude in the middle of a romantic kiss between my favorite actor and actress!
19 Grasshopper // Jul 10, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Vichai, how do you rationalize talking to ฝรั่งตาน้ำข้าว when traditionally, the Westerner has seen the color yellow to mean sickness? Therefore we farang were never going to be acceptable to your daffodil inclinations through the nature of our own conservative PIETY!!
20 Historicus // Jul 10, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Vichai. My sincere apologies. I had mistakenly assumed that you read posts, understood them and were interested in serious response.
21 Vichai N // Jul 10, 2007 at 10:14 pm
Historicus you have not answered my question: Was that a fact, was that a deliberate lie, that you have been abused by a yellw-shirt at a cinema just because you were not in fashion yellow? I thought that was one b.s. that should not just slip away unchallenged.
22 Vichai N // Jul 10, 2007 at 10:30 pm
When do grasshoppers morph to be locusts . . to swarm and infestate and consume everything in sight, whether they be green, red and yes YELLOW!
i don’t know if you realize Grasshopper how imbecillic your #19 poster sounds. Color yellow traditionally meaning sickness to the farangs??? Surely Grasshopper you jest or you hallucinate!
Yellow is sunshine, yellow is gold and yellow to a yankee can be used to denigrate a coward.
Let’s take Thaksin . . . I could easily call him yellow for refusing to face the courts and face his accusers while during his rule he cowardly allowed the cold blooded murder of thousands by his extrajudicial edict against very poor blacklisted village suspects!
I would also think yellow may take a more romantic theme to the die-hard red-shirts waiting for the return of their Thaksin with a Tony Orlando song: ”
I’m coming home I’ve done my time (not yet but may soon happen) . . . . Tie a yellow riboon on all Suvarnabhumi trees and poles . . . et al (I forgot the lyrics, sorry!)
23 Diego // Jul 10, 2007 at 10:50 pm
It is interesting how colour became an emblem (or at least symptomatic) of harmony or discord, fight or retreat, and health or ill health. I am reminded of Cory Aquino’s yellow revolution which turned the yellow in the “tie a yellow ribbon” on-some-tree song into an emblem of struggle/fight against an oppressive regime. Then later, yellow became her official fashion colour. I can imagine seeing her in a yellow casket in not too distant future!
24 jonfernquest // Jul 10, 2007 at 11:03 pm
“Mr Fernquest is no expert on “what we do in villages” I’m sure, for I have been to a few villages lately”
Just because I’m a Farang doesn’t mean I haven’t lived in Thai villages and know what people do in some, but not all, Thai villages. Gossip pretty much ensures you learn the whole history of a village good and bad whether you want to or not.
We have a house in a Thai village land my mother-in-law has a house in another Thai village. I haven’t taken a statistical survey of villages. Neither have you. We both draw on our limited experience in the villages we live in.
“Coercive” is a word that could apply to a lot of things in village life and **it was this way during the Thaksin era and before.**
Do I like this? No. Do I see the Thai system as generally an effective one that works? Yes. **I have also lived in a lot more dysfunctional places than you will ever live in**, like Burma, for instance.
25 Grasshopper // Jul 11, 2007 at 2:03 am
Dearest Vichai, as it seems I cannot out-ponce you; I must simply say: whatever.
26 Kulap // Jul 11, 2007 at 5:16 am
Nobody’s mentioned that it’s easier for women to get a free pass than men. Well, in government agencies they don’t, but in private companies they do. No matter what the shade, it’s a godawful color. Men can get away with a yellow tie and then, after work, take it off.
In some very large foreign companies, if men forget on Mondays, the boss will make some joking remark. You don’t have to don something yellow, but it’s a reminder not to do it again.
A friend of a friend is a rather simple country boy. Orphaned, dirt poor, but somehow with some luck and foreign friends, he and his brother now have their own store. I don’t think he has any interest in politics or the king, one way or another. He just thinks wearing yellow is stupid. He gets asked all the time on Monday why he isn’t wearing yellow. He got asked on other days of the week some months ago.
He’s got a stock response: “Oh, I carry the king in my heart.” He says that he can do it because he has his own business but he couldn’t get away with it if he worked for the government or a company.
27 saraburian // Jul 11, 2007 at 11:49 pm
On my way to work on Monday I notice that more than 90% of people on the bus wear yellow. If you get on BTS, the number come down to about 60-70%. Not sure how this can be interpreted.
28 jeru // Jul 12, 2007 at 1:44 am
It is mainly economics.
At least that is how my girlfriend explained it to me how this ‘yellow uniform culture’ grew in her architectural firm (Australian). She said at about November last year, the office workers just sort of started wearing yellow nearly daily on their own volition, copying the growing yellow phenomenon in government & private companies. My GF said that the Thai women employees particularly like the yellow unitorm daily . . saves them money because now they don’t have to wear fashion and chic clothes in the offices. The farang bosses did not like it and right after the King’s celebrations, started asking the employees to only wear yellow Mondays. At least in her office, there are less office employees wearing yellow every Monday.
29 Historicus // Jul 12, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Vichai (19): As I said, I thought you read postings carefully. I said I was in a cinema where this happened. You should be able to read that in my posting. Clear?
30 Diego // Jul 12, 2007 at 8:10 pm
whether it is by force or sheer respect, we should credit the thais for their patriotism at least when it comes to wearing yellow and what it represents. in a thai night in durham, 40 or so thai students wore that ubiquituous royal yellow. i also saw a group of thai tourists in hoi an, vietnam all in yellow early this year. then another group in ha long bay. to say that group pressure forces thais to wear the shirt is, i think, too much. we would have to give ordinary thais some trust on their judgment on this matter.
31 Srithanonchai // Jul 15, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Thai Rath/Manager: For an example of what sort of bizarrely nonsensical form this ideological complex can assume in the Thai public discourse, see http://bangkokpundit.blogspot.com/
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