It is incredible that the entire imagination of Sukhothai and all of
its loaded meanings have relied heavily only on a single source, the RI.
After decades of studies, Sukhothai history remains bounded by the
RI and in the frame set by the narrative of Sukhothai as constructed
in the 1900s to 1920s. The Thai ideal society and Golden Age stands,
we may say, on one and the only leg it has. Once the authenticity of
the RI is under question, as it has been since 1987, the entire history
of Sukhothai is shaken.30 The ramification is huge, since Sukhothai has
meant so much more than a small kingdom in the thirteenth century.
The beginning of Thai history might be a fake, the ideal state of
Thainess fabricated. A pillar of modern Thai historiography and of the
royal-nationalist historical ideology is shaken. This is the reason why the
recent challenge to the authenticity of the RI and other doubts about
the prosperity and significance of Sukhothai by critical historians have
become a matter of national security