Increasing concerns for the health of the 81-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand sent the local stock market plummeting for the second consecutive day.
Bhumibol, the world's longest reigning monarch, was hospitalized last September 19 for fever, fatigue, and lack of apetite. The royal palace refused to divulge sufficient information concerning the state of the king's health, which may be partly the reason for the growing worry. His health condition is a sensitive topic nowadays in Thailand primarily because of concerns about his successor.
The palace revealed last Wednesday that the king had lung inflammation and said that he will only have to rest in order to recover, though it may take a longer time as is the case with normal elder people.
Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, Bhumibol's son, still does not have his father's moral authority, something that the king has wielded to unify Thailand in his more than six decades of stay as the head of state. If you will consider that there was a significant eruption of political unrest in 2006, the possibility of another such event might not be too far long, especially when a vacuum in the monarch's power is revealed.
Despite this, Teerachai Puwanartnaranuban, the secretary-general of Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission, said that there is no need for investors to panic because market fundamentals are still in good shape and that no new information has been revealed to alter these fundamentals.
Puwanartnaranuban refused to reveal any rumors circulating, owing to the traditional reluctance of government officials to talk about the sensitive issue of the monarch's health.
Thailand is now facing a trying position in the face of a sick monarch. With the possibility of losing the figure head that headed the state for more than six decades, the Thais may find themselves flatfootes and without anyone to have the moral authority to unify the country during trying times. We'll have to wait for improvements in the coming days.
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