Thai king cancels appearance for 87th birthday

BANGKOK, Dec 5 (AFP): Thailand's ailing King Bhumibol Adulyadej cancelled plans to hold a public annual audience marking his 87th birthday Friday on his doctors' advice, heightening anxiety in the deeply divided kingdom over the monarch's health.
The world's longest-serving sovereign has been seen by Thais as a unifying father figure throughout a turbulent six-decade rule, and his absence comes at a time of profound concern over the kingdom's future as his reign enters its twilight years.
The king, formally known as Rama IX, has spent most of the last few months in hospital after undergoing an operation to remove his gall bladder in October but had been expected to appear publicly for his birthday.
The last minute cancellation of celebrations came after doctors advised him against appearing, the Royal Household Bureau said in a statement early Friday.
A palace official told AFP plans for a grand audience and live broadcast were subsequently scrapped.
The king's no-show comes six months after the military toppled the elected government in a coup and amid a high profile investigation into police corruption which has led to the recent arrest of relatives of Princess Srirasmi, the wife of Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn.
May's coup was the latest chapter in Thailand's long-drawn political conflict, which broadly pits a Bangkok-based middle class and royalist elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against rural and working-class voters loyal to the family of deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Experts said the monarch's absence-while not entirely unexpected given his ill-health-was significant.
The king's birthday is a public holiday and is also known as "Father's Day", a reflection of the Thai view that their monarch is the father of the nation.