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A trip down fantasy lane
A historical soap reveals a lot about modern Thai politics
It’s about far more than dressing up

 IN SWELTERING heat at Ayutthaya Historical Park north of Bangkok, Thailand’s capital, a bevy of beautifully clad ladies strut ostentatiously in their silky traditional costumes, known as chut thai. They are among thousands who visit daily to have their pictures taken amid the scenic ruins of the old city of Ayutthaya, destroyed by Burmese invaders in 1767.

Many of the tourists are not really there for the remains. Ayutthaya is the setting of a television series called Buppesannivas or “Love Destiny”, which has broken audience records in Thailand and stirred the nation into a frenzy of sartorial nostalgia. It is a time-travel love story about a woman in contemporary Thailand who is reincarnated in ancient Ayutthaya. In front of an old royal temple, Wat Chaiwatthanaram, half a dozen women dressed in the protagonist’s iconic pink chut thai wait their turn for a professional photo shoot. The temple’s periphery is plastered with posters depicting scenes from the soap.

These days the park receives 18,000 visitors daily, up from just a thousand when the series began in February (it finished in April, but is being re-run). Most visitors are Thai, but there also many foreigners—the soap is also being screened elsewhere in the region, including Vietnam, Laos, China and Russia. Some ruins have been damaged by the sudden surge of visitors. Sukanya Baonoed, the site’s director, says visitors have been climbing on ancient structures and taking “inappropriate photos”. In March a picture of a woman (not in chut thai) sitting on the lap of a Buddha statue caused fury among social-media users.

Mania for the show is widespread. Ayutthaya-era dishes have been added to the menus of Thai eateries. Hair salons offer styles seen on the show. It is a distraction for a country that has been plagued by divisive politics for more than a decade. “The show serves as escapism for Thais who imagine a kingdom that is united against foreigners instead of fighting amongst themselves,” says Waranya Pimsri, who studied anthropology.

It also happens to suit the agenda of the army, which took control in Thailand just over four years ago. Prayuth Chan-Ocha, the coup’s leader who is now prime minister, has complained that television dramas make people “fight and create divisions”. He says scripts must be written “on reconciliation, on tourism and on Thai culture”. He has praised “Love Destiny”.

Since 2015 junta leaders have been encouraging officials and students to wear traditional dress, perhaps believing that this will help to inculcate a spirit of patriotic conservatism and thereby boost support for the army, a bastion of such sentiment. Until now they have had little success. Yukti Mukdawijitra of Thammasat University says that before the show, people rarely wore chut thai except at weddings. He says Western dress has long been regarded by Thais as a symbol of modernity.

The monarchy, another stronghold of conservatism, has been encouraging the wearing of period costume. In February King Vajiralongkorn, who in 2016 succeeded his late and long-reigning father, Bhumibol Adulyadej, revived a traditional “Winter Festival” associated with one of his ancestors. Citizens were encouraged to attend in traditional wear and take part in retro-themed activities such as garland-making. The culture minister declared that Mr Prayuth and his wife were the “best dressed” at the event.

Mr Prayuth’s efforts to harness Thai culture to his own political ends are sometimes more blatant. Earlier this year, the junta launched a campaign called Thai Niyom or “Sustainable Thainess”—a project sounding like one that aims to appeal to people’s cultural pride but in reality is aimed at their pockets. It involves sending out 7,800 teams to help “local development”. This week, the junta approved a Sustainable Thainess project that involves doling out 200,000 baht ($6,240) to each of 82,371 villages across the country by July to “improve the quality of life”. It is unlikely to be a coincidence that national elections are planned for next February.

The junta may well have little to do with the show’s success, but it has decided to ride the wave. Mr Prayuth has appeared in selfies with the cast in traditional wear (see picture). Authorities have deemed the show so culturally enriching that it is now screened in Thai prisons. In March the interior ministry announced that people could have their national ID cards replaced with ones showing them in traditional wear.

Those with an interest in history may find all this disturbing. Chris Baker, the author of “A History of Ayutthaya”, writes that in the city’s heyday “paternal kingship” gave way to “royal absolutism” and freedoms were “buried by slavery and monopoly”. Those who cannot remember the past may be at risk of repeating it.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "A trip down fantasy lane"

General Prayuth Chan-ocha appears at ease among the lavish trappings of politics. Thailand’s Prime Minister is never far from doting courtiers in Bangkok’s 1920s Government House, a neo-Gothic building stippled with classical nudes and one particularly plump jade Buddha.

The opulence is a far cry from what Prayuth experienced in his four decades as a soldier, when he was trained to brave enemy fire from jungle-swathed foxholes. Still, he expresses dissatisfaction with this coda to his career away from the barracks. He sits in a position of power, he says, only out of a sense of duty. “When people are in trouble, we, the soldiers, are there for them,” he tells TIME.

The question for Thailand is how long they will be there. Four years have passed since Prayuth, 64, seized power in a coup d’état. It was the 12th successful coup since the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in 1932, and Prayuth promised to quickly shepherd the Southeast Asian nation of 69 million back to democracy.

But the Thai people are still waiting to vote on their futures. Many here and in the region fear that under Prayuth’s watch, America’s oldest ally in Asia is undergoing a permanent authoritarian regression. It’s a pattern that has been replicated elsewhere in the region as China’s influence swells and President Trump pursues his “America first” doctrine.

Right now, the U.S. seems less committed than ever to smaller regional allies like Thailand in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. Although Trump welcomed Prayuth to the White House in October, the Thai leader says Washington now seems “somewhat busy with its own issues. There seems to be some distance between the U.S. and ASEAN.”

In terms of regional rivalry, there’s no competition. “The friendship between Thailand and China has existed over thousands of years, and with the U.S. for around 200 years,” Prayuth says. “China is the No. 1 partner of Thailand.”

Born in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, Prayuth began his career at Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy, which is considered to be Thailand’s West Point. As a young officer, he won the Ramathipodi medal, the country’s top honor for gallantry in the field. “When I was young, patriotism was all about joining the army, fighting in the front line for your country,” he says. “I told myself that I had to dedicate my life for my homeland and the monarchy.”

The royal family is treated with almost divine reverence in Thailand. Prayuth strengthened ties with the royal household and earned himself the nickname Little Sarit, after Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat, who seized power through a putsch in 1957 and helped raise the monarchy to its paramount role in Thai society. Today every Thai household displays a portrait of the monarch as the highest picture in the room. And the country boasts some of the world’s strictest royal defamation laws, which are increasingly being used to crush dissent.

Many believe Prayuth’s coup was meant to ensure that Thailand’s elites remained in control during a sensitive time of royal succession. Thailand’s new King, Maha Vajiralongkorn, leads an unconventional lifestyle and does not command the same respect that his father did. Prayuth says simply that he took control to restore order. “I could not allow any further damage to be done to my country,” he says, with a dash of histrionics. “It was at the brink of destruction.”

Prayuth was only four months from mandatory retirement when he seized power on May 22, 2014, after six months of street protests against the elected government of former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. The demonstrations claimed at least 28 lives and left more than 700 injured. For more than a decade, Thailand has been wracked with color-coded street protests between the typically rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother Thaksin–who served as Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006–and their mainly urban opponents, backed by the powerful royal palace, military and judiciary. The pro-Yingluck faction wear red. Their opponents wear yellow.

Since 2014, Prayuth has returned Thailand to relative strength. Under the junta’s watch, GDP growth has risen to 4%, exports are at a seven-year high and a record 35 million tourists thronged Thailand’s beaches and temples in 2017. Infrastructure projects, like the $45 billion Eastern Economic Corridor of ports, railways and factories southeast of Bangkok, have been greenlighted. “These were not four years of empowerment, but it was the time to solve problems, overcome obstacles and build stability, security to move forward to the future,” says Prayuth.

Exactly what that future will bring remains opaque. Peaceful protesters are routinely detained. At least 1,800 civilians face prosecution in military courts, amid what Human Rights Watch describes as “an ever-deeper abyss of human-rights abuses.” Prayuth has a prickly relationship with the media. He once threw a banana skin at a reporter and threatened to “execute” those he considered unfair. In January, he brought a life-size cardboard cutout of himself to a press conference and placed it in front of reporters, telling them to “ask this guy.”

And he comes across as tone-deaf to the peoples’ woes. He hosts a weekly television show on which he bemoans the country’s ills and offers baffling remedies. To tackle poverty, he advised “working harder.” To avoid debt, he proposed “not going shopping.” He has complained of “black magic” and “curses” from opponents. On one rural outreach mission, he was photographed talking to a frog.

Prayuth also pens songs and poems to express himself, and released two commercial pop singles that received mixed reviews. “My songs may not be beautiful, but it’s a way to help me express my thoughts and communicate with the people,” he says. “Thai people love poetry.”

His attempt to install a new political system to ostensibly bring democracy back to Thailand still means the armed forces will act as a power broker. Although there will be elections, the military will appoint a third of the legislature and effectively retain a final say on key policy decisions. Prayuth says this will dilute the “winner takes all” system of majoritarian rule. “We cannot only care for the majority and neglect the minority like Thai democracy before,” he says.

Yet many activists feel they are further away from democratic elections than ever. The latest proffered date is February 2019, although figures from across Thailand’s political spectrum harbor doubts. “Mr. Prayuth is making every effort to stay in power,” says former Deputy Prime Minister Chaturon Chaisang.

Those who oppose him can suffer dire consequences. Nuttaa Mahattana, 39, is one of the five leaders of the “We Want to Vote” movement, who were detained at a peaceful protest on the fourth anniversary of Prayuth’s coup. She faces various draconian charges, including sedition, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years’ imprisonment. “A junta doesn’t belong in a democratic system,” Nuttaa tells TIME from behind the bars of her squalid cell in central Bangkok. “Most people want to see democracy. They just don’t want to see their family members getting arrested.”

Prayuth is unmoved when pressed about the fate of demonstrators. “We have been rather lenient,” he says. “If we allowed them to demonstrate freely, it might become too difficult to move forward to democracy.”

This shift toward a loose authoritarianism revolving around a single figure is becoming a pattern across ASEAN. The Philippines–which, like Thailand, is a U.S. treaty ally–has moved firmly into China’s orbit under populist President Rodrigo Duterte, who has been criticized by the West for his brutal drug war. In Myanmar, international censure regarding the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya minority rings hollow as Chinese investment floods into the military-dominated country. And the Beijing-backed government of Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen has cracked down on opposition politicians and critics in recent months.

Historically, Thailand was something of an exception to the rule when it came to U.S. relations. The much-beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died in 2016, was born in Cambridge, Mass. In the 1950s and ’60s, the country was a bulwark against the communist fervor sweeping Southeast Asia, and during the Vietnam War, Bangkok was a vital staging post for U.S. troops. In 1969, President Nixon paid tribute to the U.S.’s “deep spiritual and ideological ties” with Thailand.

The U.S. has since lost top trading-partner status to China. After Prayuth’s coup, Washington suspended all nonessential official visits and one-third of U.S. aid to Thailand, condemning the intervention as having “no justification.” China stayed silent.

Since then, military cooperation between Beijing and Bangkok has ramped up. Thailand has purchased 49 Chinese tanks and 34 armored vehicles worth over $320 million, plus three submarines at more than $1 billion. There are plans for a joint Sino-Thai commercial arms factory in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen. Beijing’s $1 trillion Belt and Road Initiative–a trade and infrastructure network tracing the ancient Silk Road–stands to further boost its regional clout.

As a result, liberal democracy is increasingly no longer seen as the fastest route to prosperity. In Beijing, President Xi Jinping has ramped up censorship, purged opponents and removed presidential term limits, effectively letting him rule for life. That model looks appealing, especially when set against the chaos gripping Washington. “People see successes in authoritarian countries and so grow impatient with the messy democratic process,” says former Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

The sharp end of Prayuth’s rule is felt most dramatically in the populous north and northeast, where Yingluck remains popular. Soldiers tear down pro-Yingluck posters and scold her supporters. “They even complained that I had dyed my hair red,” says Yingluck supporter Paanoi Udomsri, 68, at the market stall where she sells peanut brittle.

Meanwhile, rising unemployment and the rolling back of assistance programs have hurt northerners like Suwanna Khanadham, who owns a canteen in Chiang Mai selling khao soi, or curry noodle soup. The price of palm oil has almost doubled and that of a single lime has soared from 15¢ to 40¢. “The soldiers don’t have any vision for how to improve the country,” complains Suwanna. “They only know how to control.”

Prayuth’s plan of a quasi-democracy guided by military generals relies on people like Suwanna not returning to the streets. “If we don’t have elections in February, I think it will be the final straw,” says Thida Thavornseth, leader of the Pro-Yingluck Red Shirt protest faction.

There are other signs that tensions may soon reach a critical point. Corruption allegations against junta brass hats have stoked public fury. Rubber farmers from Thailand’s south, who supported the coup, feel betrayed that the junta has failed to prop up falling rubber prices. Others are enraged by crackdowns on land-rights protests. “When Prayuth comes on television, we just turn it off,” says primary-school teacher Juraiporn Tapin, 61, sneering. “We all want rid of the military as soon as possible.”

John Winyu, who hosts the satirical online show Shallow News in Depth, says that on social media young Thais are switching from fawning over K-pop stars to political griping, wielding the hashtag #WeWanttoVote. “People are starting to catch on that the soldiers will be here forever unless we do something,” he says.

Prayuth, meanwhile, insists that his dictatorship is reluctant and temporary. “I never imagined becoming Prime Minister in this way,” he says. “It was the hardest decision of my life.” So he definitely won’t stay in power past February? “That depends on the situation and the people,” he says with a shrug. “I have no control over this.” Millions of Thais feel the same way.

–With reporting by FELIZ SOLOMON/BANGKOK

This appears in the July 02, 2018 issue of TIME.