Queen celebrates 81st birthday

COME August 12, the nation celebrates the 81st birthday of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit. The day is also observed as Mother's Day in Thailand. From the time she was Queen of Thailand 63 years ago, she had travelled the length and breadth of the Kingdom in an effort to meet the people, learn of their needs and find out how best to help them by initiating several projects such as the Foundation for the Promotion of Supplementary Occupation and Related Techniques (SUPPORT), which was established on 21 July 1976.

Two main multi-craft training centres, in the compound of Chitralada Palace in Bangkok and in Bangsai, Ayutthaya, had been set up. She has taken a role in promoting these crafts both through her trips abroad and by using them personally. In the medical field, the Queen also travels with a mobile team of volunteer doctors to provide free medical check-ups, to advise people on health issues, to treat the sick and to dispense much needed medications to those who can ill afford them.

Her Majesty's concern for educational opportunities of children in remote areas had prompted her to set up the Foundation for Supporting Non-affordable Students in 1963 with the money from her own privy purse and donations from the public. This had enabled them to finish compulsory education or higher.

Queen Sirikit's humanitarian work is widely known and internationally recognised today, as is manifested by the award of the prestigious Ceres Medal by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations in 1979, and an Honorary Fellowship in Great Britain's Royal College of Physicians in 1988. The honour was conferred in recognition of her work and "deep concern for the health and welfare of the people of Thailand."

Her Majesty is also concerned about the promotion and improvement of environmental conditions and had initiated several projects such as the Forest Preserving Water Project, and Little Houses in the Big Forest Project.

In view of the exemplary role of Her Majesty as a mother, the government decided in 1976 to designate Queen Sirikit's birthday on August 12 as National Mothers' Day of Thailand.

It is indeed a most befitting tribute to the most beloved mother of the land. On the occasion of Her Majesty's 81st birthday, we wish Her Majesty Happy Birthday and Long Live the Queen.