The university’s faculties were told not to decorate their premises with congratulation banners as that would be seen as not being in keeping with national grieving.
Instead, the faculties will welcome graduates with banners quoting royal remarks or other phrases that fit with the theme “Thammasat graduates inherit determination of HM the King”.
The banners can also have the late King’s photos and be black, white or grey.
Students are also prohibited from performing mass singing and engaging in other fun activities.
Guests can give flower bouquets to graduates but they should be appropriate choices.
Gift-sellers are not allowed to set up shops on pavements since the place of the events, Thammasat’s Tha Prachan campus, is close to Sanam Luang where thousands of mourners are paying tribute to the late King every day.

Pabphim Pholdhampalit, 12, Satriwittaya 2 School

When I heard the news about the passing of Nai Luang [His Majesty the King], I was numb with loss, distress and disbelief and couldn’t stop crying.
Ever since I was born, I saw him everywhere; on newspapers, in magazines, on television, banknotes and coins. There are portraits of him in every corner of the country – in my house too. Though I did not have the fortune to meet Nai Luang in person, I felt closely connected to him. He is my other father and the father of the nation.
During my life, Nai Luang had been in and out of the hospital. My parents always told me how much Nai Luang had devoted himself to developing the country, and I also learned in school about his royal duties. I was once taken on a school trip to Chitralada Villa and was surprised to find that it has rice fields, a head of cattle, fish farming and plots devoted to experimental agriculture.
Since I couldn’t explain my sorrow in words, two days after his passing, I drew a picture that took just 10 minutes. I wanted to show that Nai Luang had gone to heaven, while his black-clad people were in deep mourning.

Punthicha Prasartsak, 15
I learned about the King from my family, school and the media. When I was young, I loved asking my grandmother to tell me about the King. She always said that he worked very hard for his people. Once she was very happy and excited as she had an opportunity to have an audience with him. That’s why I wanted to learn more about him. What impressed me most was that during every visit, the King waved and smiled to his people. But I never understood why people always cried when they saw him, until I learned about their love for him.
At that time, I still wondered why we loved him. Now I know why we loved him and why we cried.
The King is like our father, he loved us like his children. He sacrificed his personal happiness, so that people were happy. People never saw him tired, as he always smiled. It made him happy to see his people united.
These reasons have made me love the King with all my heart. I don’t love him because I was told to do so. Now, though he is not with us physically, his teachings and goodness remain in our hearts.
Nippita Pongern, 18, freshman, Chulalongkorn University
My understanding of the role of His Majesty and the monarchy was very limited in my early years. I did not know what ‘Long Live the King’ meant, but I heard people chant it every time the King appeared in public and saw the words written in posters and billboards during royal occasions such as the birthdays of members of the Royal Family.
I must emphasise that it was out of ignorance and not intention that I once proudly told my mum that my hairstyle [song phom in Thai] was the same as ‘Song Phra Charoen’ [Thai for Long Live the King’]. The word song in Thai functions as a prefix followed by verbs or actions performed by the Royal Family. It can also mean shape or style. So I thought that ‘Song Phra Charoen’ was a type of hairstyle!
Of course, my declaration was met with laughter, and I got an explanation.
Years later when I could read well and developed an interest in history, I came across a lot of information about the King, his virtues and his genuine dedication to lift the lives of Thai people, especially the poor. However, the level of my appreciation and love for the King may not be the same as that of the older generation, because the King was rarely seen in public while I was growing up.
Yet, when the news about him passing away hit the nation on the night of October 13, I was too choked to speak. This was the only time I actually felt the sentiment shared by others, the loss of the soul of the nation.
Now, I realise why people say ‘Long Live the King’. People want their beloved King to live forever.
Today, I can look back and appreciate why the king is so loved and respected.

Poochita Prasartsak, 17
It’s not right to say that the new generation born after His Majesty stopped working did not know about his devotion to the country. The King worked even while he was in hospital. I know for sure that he was always worried about his people.
I’ve known about him for as long as I can remember. At first, I did not understand when I was told that the King worked very hard to improve our lives.
But one day, I had the honour of seeing him during the royal funeral of his sister Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana. The King was very sad about the loss, but he always had a smile on his face for his people, because he loved his people and put them before himself. From that moment on, I understood how much he loved us.
His love was one of a father for his children. Sometime we do not know how much our father loves us; we just know that he does and that we love him.
The King worked hard because he could never let his people live difficult lives. He taught us things so we could be self-sufficient, love others as well as do good deeds even though nobody saw these.
I think it must have been very difficult for him to work hard throughout his life for all his people. His activities reflected his love for us all. We didn’t need to see him work to know that he had worked for the country. We can see the results.
That is enough for me to love him as the ‘Father of Thailand’.

Yada Norma, 13, Thanyaburi School
My aunt loves telling me about the King and his dedication to the country. I once had the honour to see him when he was discharged from Siriraj Hospital. I had gone to the hospital with my aunt when I was about 10.
When I saw him, I was delighted and left speechless by the projects and activities that he had done for the people.
For as long as I remember, I have loved watching the Royal News programme on television and have learned about his activities.
I have always known that he is the King who worked very hard to help his people. The project I remember is the Kaem Ling [monkey cheek] project that helped save water and prevent flooding. The King’s teaching that pops up in my head is the one about sufficiency economy.

Kasidit Rewsakul, 20, Nation University student
I learnt about King Bhumibol from my parents who often talked about his devotion to and projects for people across the country. When I grew up, I began searching online for articles on his work and followed news articles. I learned about his sufficiency economy philosophy and the monkey cheek projects.
I used to wonder why the King had to work so hard and travel to remote areas to meet and help people. Why didn’t he stay in his palace and enjoy his stature… it would certainly have brought him happiness.
The news of him passing away shocked me. The King was sick and needed medical attention for many years, because he had worked tirelessly all his life.
It’s a big loss for the country that he is no longer with us. As my family is in the hospital business, I understand that it’s the natural cycle and a fact of life. I am determined to follow his teachings and do good deeds.

FARMERS ARE struggling to survive the lowest rice prices in a decade. For many, profits from selling paddy to rice millers are not sufficient to pay their debts and income from directly retailing their produce to consumers is unreliable.
This harvest season has seen the lowest prices in the last 10 years with jasmine paddy sold for about Bt5 per kilogram. Farmers have complained that profits for selling paddy this year were not enough to pay off debts incurred to sow the crop. Rice millers have also said they could not pay higher prices to farmers because the global price had fallen so low.
Several academics have suggested that farmers should try selling rice directly to end consumers, bypassing middlemen.
Justice Ministry deputy permanent secretary Tawatchai Thaikyo yesterday assured farmers that direct sales would not violate the law, dismissing comments by a lawyer who said farmers could be liable for legal penalties under the Direct Selling and Direct Marketing Selling Act.
“That act is used to regulate direct sellers within a network of independent distributors to reach out to consumers,” Tawatchai said. “This law is not related at all to farmers’ efforts to sell their rice to end consumers.”
Buri Ram farmer Sopin Selalak said her family had been hit hard by the very low paddy price this year, but they had no option but to accept the circumstances.
“Normally, we can sell jasmine paddy for around Bt10 to Bt11 per kilogram and we can get some profit. But selling for only Bt5 per kilogram means we not only do not have any profit from selling rice, but we won’t have enough money to pay off our debts,” Sopin said.
She added that her family could mill some of the rice for sale in Bangkok directly. But only some of the rice could be sold directly because the family does not have many customers and the profit is unreliable.
“We can get far better prices from selling rice ourselves, but we cannot wait until we can sell all of our rice and pay out our debts. Moreover, rice can spoil, so we cannot store a lot of rice waiting for sale,” she said.
“I am trying my best to find a new market and help my family get through the financial crisis. If the rice price remains low until next year, we cannot just change jobs because we are farmers and we don’t know how to do anything else.”
The head of Ban Kiatcharoen Farmers Group, Chanida Srila, referred to similar financial problems, in which farmers’ income is insufficient to cover their needs.
“Many of our members borrow money from the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives and they have to pay it back when the rice is harvested. They just cannot wait for money from the direct sale of rice to customers. They must sell the rice to the mills to get one big sum of money to pay their debts,” Chanida said.
However, she said, her group grows organic rice, which earns better prices when sold to mills so the low prices were not such a heavy burden.
The problem has been addressed by Kasetsart University faculty of economics lecturer Decharut Sukkumnoed, who has campaigned to urge farmers sell their produce themselves. He also requested the government provide micro-finance funding to farmers to provide them with working capital as they sold their produce.
Decharut said many farmers were interested in joining the project and many people wanted to help farmers in various ways.
“I have seen many people who want to help farmers by buying their products. Some rice mills volunteered to help the farmers mill their paddy and Kasetsart and Thammasart universities allowed farmers to stand by their promises to help to sell their rice. This is a good start for this campaign and I’m glad everyone is very energetic in helping the farmers,” he said.
The Rice Policy and Management Committee is expected to discuss measures to shore up rice prices at its meeting today.

The clash broke out at about 3.50am after rangers surrounded the house where insurgent suspect Mahama Maeroh, 29, was hiding.
“The exchange of gunfire lasted more than 10 minutes. After the gunshots stopped, we found Mahama was dead,” 46th Rangers Regiment commander Colonel Pasit Charnlekha said.
He said rangers also arrested three other suspects at the scene.
Rangers had been on Mahama’s trail for three days before they found him at the house, Pasit said.
Mahama was wanted in connection with at least six incidents, including four attacks in Narathiwat province and two in Yala.
Officials said Mahama was shot three times during the gunfight.
“His body will be sent to a hospital for an autopsy. After that, we will contact his relatives so that they can collect his body for religious funeral rites,” an official said on condition of anonymity.
Authorities have said that Mahama led a group of about six insurgents who had been active in staging attacks in the deep South, particularly in Narathiwat.
Authorities reportedly instructed security officials in Narathiwat to be extra vigilant based on a theory that the RKK might stage revenge attacks.

Village leaders and residents from Tambon Chaiburi in Nakhon Phanom’s Tha Uthen district jointly submitted a petition against the small-school merger project at Nakhon Phanom City Hall.
Chaiburi Administrative Organisation member Banjong Saensorn said he had received a letter from Ban Na Nong Bok School director Pranee Taoklang inviting the Basic Education Commission, community leaders and students’ parents to participate in a meeting to discuss the policy to manage small schools.
“The policy is that schools in the area which have less than 40 students have to be merged with Chumchon Ban Chai Buri School, which is four kilometres from our village” he said, adding that residents disagreed with the plan for several reasons.
He said residents opposed the plan because the small schools would eventually be closed and abandoned, resulting in students being forced to travel a greater distance while parents would have to shoulder more expenses.
“Nakhon Phanom Primary Educational Service Area Office 2, however, tricked us by implementing the project on November 1, when the second semester is opened for the first day, without permission, displeasing villagers,” he said, adding that villagers will not let their children go to the larger school which was located farther away from the village.
Working at Nakhon Phanom’s complaint centre, Chaiwut Watcharensoonthorn, who received the petition, said he would send a letter to the Primary Educational Service Area Office 2 to reconsider the small-schools merger project.
“I have sympathy for the |villagers because they have to take care of their children despite being impoverished,” Chaiwut said. “These children are facing the problem of broken families – the parents work in other places, so the grandparents have to take care of them instead.”
He added that he would raise the matter with senior officials as soon as possible.
The scheme is to be implemented by the Office of the Basic Education Commission.
Minister of Education General Dapong Ratanasuwan said the policy to merge small schools faced a number of challenges including consent from local communities, which would be adversely affected if their schools are merged with others.
However, he said it was fortunate the scheme had been largely welcomed by local communities.