Today marks the day Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej ascended to the throne upon his brother’s death in 1946. With his death marking the end of the world’s longest reigning monarch, the seventy years of his reign have been marked with both controversy and esteem.
Bhumibol’s reign saw Thailand’s monarchy survive tumultuous decades of conflict and war in the greater Mekong region. Through socialist revolutions nearby and coups at home and abroad, Bhumibol’s reign was a constant throughout.
With a grand total of 113 journalists currently in prison for press-related activities, the Chinese Communist Party has imprisoned over three times the combined total of all other nations on the map—that’s including neighboring communist Vietnam and Laos. Bringing population into light, China’s journalist imprisonment rate is 7.853⁻⁸ with East and Southeast Asia having a combined journalist imprisonment rate of 4.124⁻⁸.
Thai artist and gallery-operator, Danai Ussama, was arrested on the afternoon of March 23 while under self-quarantine in his home in Phuket
His crime?
Posting on Facebook that he and fellow passengers were not ushered through medical checks upon arriving at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok.
