7.In order to legitimise his moves to accumulate power in his hands and to gain support against these vested interests the king stressed the importance of initiating the same reforms that had made the West strong. He emphasised the need for efficiency and economic development, the importance of social justice and the monarch's role as representative of the nation and the people. 8. Similar arguments had been advanced in the West by monarchs creating royal absolutist systems in order to harness bourgeois and popular support against feudal interests. In Siam's case, bourgeois support was not important in this early period, but the need to adapt to the western challenge and to make Siam more prosperous made a powerful argument. Moreover, a modernising argument gave the royal faction influential support from western nations.