Handley, Paul M. 1955-

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Handley, Paul M. 1955-

PERSONAL:

Born July 28, 1955.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Washington, DC E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer and journalist. Worked as a foreign correspondent in Asia and Thailand.

WRITINGS:

The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Paul M. Handley is a journalist currently based in Washington, DC with considerable experience in Asia, where he worked for more than twenty years. For thirteen of those years, he covered politics and events in Thailand. This extensive experience helps form the foundation of his book The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej. Pacific Affairs reviewer James Ockey called Handley's work "the first serious biography of perhaps the most important figure in modern Thai history."

King Bhumibol, who has ruled Thailand for more than sixty years, was born in Boston, one of the few foreign rulers to have been born on American soil. He grew up in Switzerland, and came to power unexpectedly when his uncle abdicated the throne and his brother, the other heir, died a mysterious death. When Bhumibol ascended to the throne, in 1946, he was eighteen years old. In Thailand at the time, there was considerable political turmoil stemming from the rivalry between Royalists and Constitutionalists. From such an unstable beginning, Bhumibol and his supporters have molded a stable and longstanding monarchy, one that has withstood repeated coup attempts. However, Handley also notes that Bhumibol also reinstated many concepts of the absolute power of the king, reestablishing many old rituals and anachronisms such as prostration and a special royal language, and portraying himself as a righteous king with unquestionable authority. "Many Thais revere him as a sort of latter-day Buddha, selflessly postponing his own enlightenment in order to guide his subjects through the mire of modern life," noted a reviewer in the Economist. With this claim to divine-like power, Bhumibol's word and will are unquestioned, and those few who do question are prosecuted. In Handley's view, the monarchy thus "continues to reshape the Thai political system to suit its own interests, undermining democracy in the process. It is a powerful argument, and the book should be read by all who are interested in Thai politics."

Handley's book has been banned in Thailand, where it is forbidden criticize the king. The Thai government even attempted to convince the publisher, Yale University Press, not the publish the book. Legal threats, political pressure, and other methods of suppression were unsuccessful. "There is, of course, a certain irony in using government censorship against an author who accuses the king of being undemocratic," mused Dan Zigmond in Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

"Handley introduces very little that is new for cognoscenti, but that in a way is the book's strength. It brings everything together, including many obscure sources. It connects the dots of a complex and important story with great narrative skill and very elegant prose," commented Chris Baker, writing in the Asia Sentinel.