The Day Capital Stood Still: Thai Capitalists and The Royal Cremation Ceremony

Abstract

October 29, 2017 was the day that King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the ninth monarch of the Chakri dynasty, was cremated. On that day, Thai leading corporations of the business sector temporarily closed their businesses in order to offer their condolences to the late king. This article examines that phenomenon and reveals that it apparently contradicts the principles of capitalism, as it led to the suspension of capital’s movement, the delay of capital accumulation, the devaluation of commodities, and the loss of profit among those companies. That phenomenon, this article argues further, is understandable if we consider the close and long relationship among capital, capitalists, and the monarchy, and the role of the palace in supporting and patronizing capitalist development in the kingdom. In this regard, even though the business shutdown on the royal cremation day caused the loss of economic gains among the nation’s elite capitalists, it happened only temporarily. In fact, it is the symbolic act that reveals the close, solidified, and continued relationship between the monarchy and the capitalist class, the relationship that will benefit the latter in the long run.