Thailand yesterday celebrated the 79th birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, with tens of thousands of people expected to pay him tribute near Bangkok's Grand Palace.
Across the country, Thais donned yellow shirts, the colour traditionally associated with the revered monarch, and began their morning with traditional alms-giving in honor of the king.
In Bangkok, banners were hoisted atop buildings with birthday wishes for the king, who is revered with a semi-religious devotion. Businesses took out full-page adverts in newspapers, which ran editorials praising the monarch.
PHOTO: AP
"The contribution to the nation by His Majesty can barely be measured and never repaid in words," the English-language Bangkok Post said.
"So far as unifying the Thai people, His Majesty has succeeded exactly when prime ministers and autocrats have failed," it added.
The king on Monday delivered his annual address to the nation, his first major speech since the Sept. 19 coup that ousted twice-elected prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra after a turbulent year in the kingdom.
In it, he praised the country's post-coup government as "wise and experienced."
"This government is very old, but older is better, more experienced and wiser," the king said in a live televised address.
"Older people who maintain their virtue have an advantage over younger people, if they use their experience. But if they refuse to exercise their knowledge and just think of themselves as old, then our nation will crumble," he said.
The king, who with 60 years on the throne is the world's longest-serving monarch, hinted he was tiring of politics after a year that has seen street protests, an annulled election and the military putsch.
"I don't want to talk about politics. It's boring," he said.
And yesterday was mostly devoted to celebration rather than politics.
Newspapers predicted a "sea of yellow" throughout the country and approximately one million well-wishers were expected to gather at a park near the Grand Palace.
Yellow is the color Thais associate with Monday -- the day the king was born -- and Bangkok has been draped in the color for months.
"We have prepared about one million consecrated candles for the ceremony," one organizer said.
A traditional candle-lighting ceremony was due to take place at about 7pm and the day capped a year of celebration for King Bhumibol's 60th anniversary on the throne.
Over the decades, the king has won the hearts of the nation by sponsoring some 3,000 development projects, mainly to aid poor farmers.
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