Nearly two decades ago, a journalist asked the King how he wanted to be remembered. He replied that he cared very little about how history remembered him. He said, “If they want to write about me in a good way, they should write how I do things that are useful.”
In the eyes of His Majesty, doing things that were useful meant finding a way to solve the problems that affected real people – most importantly, the vulnerable and marginalized people. And, as the King saw it, the only way to know what was useful – and to understand the problems people were facing – was to get out into the field, into the places where people lived. So the King traveled constantly within his country, in particular to the poor and rural parts, where – over the course of his tenure – he would develop thousands of development projects.
But it wasn’t just that His Majesty went to these places – we see leaders do that a fair amount – it was also how he went. He made a point of meeting directly with locals – be they fishermen, rubber or rice farmers, or primary school students. When he met with officials, he would choose those working at the very grassroots – agronomists, schoolteachers, policemen.
And His Majesty was more than just a keen observer. Being useful meant helping fix the problems that he encountered, and