Thailand¡¯s taboo-breaking demonstrations are about more than the right to criticize the monarchy without fear of going to prison: Protesters want taxpayers to control investments and real estate worth tens of billions of dollars.
Thailand¡¯s royal family has long been the biggest shareholder in two of the country¡¯s most valuable companies, Siam Commercial Bank PCL and Siam Cement PCL, as well as vast plots of land in central Bangkok that house luxury shopping malls, high-end hotels and towering office buildings. That portfolio, as confirmed by recent public records, has put the monarchy in business with many of Thailand¡¯s tycoons, affirming the king¡¯s position at the apex of power.
What¡¯s new is the level of public discourse about it, fed by disquiet over legal changes in 2017 and 2018 that were approved by a military-appointed parliament without public debate. Now the issue has become one of the rallying cries for protesters who march regularly through Bangkok¡¯s streets, numbering at times in the tens of thousands.
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