Talk:Flag of Thailand

black instead of blue?
"The three colours red-white-blue stand for nation-religion-king". So, after the white/grey topic for Italy and Poland, will we discuss about the flag of Thailand? The current pic is red-white-BLACK, and it's wrong... Connacht 15:29, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

1916-17 flag
The table contradicts with the text. In the text it says that in 1916 the flag was changed to be like the present flag, only the middle bar was red as well - i.e. Image:Flag of Thailand (1916).svg. The table however shows a variation of the elephant flag for this period. I don't have it at hand right now, but IIRC the book listed in the references also has the red-and-white striped flag. What is the source for this different flag? andy (talk) 12:51, 22 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Cross-referencing from the Thai Wikipedia, the flag in question was defined as the civil ensign in, which came into effect on 1 January 1917. Both should probably be worked into the text and table. --Paul_012 (talk) 15:00, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Neighboring countries
Neighboring Flag of Cambodia and Flag of Laos bear a family resemblance to that of Thailand; should that be mentioned? Those countries are right next door, while Costa Rica is on the other side of the world. --Pawyilee (talk) 13:21, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Similar flags
The flag of Cambodia readopted in 1993, and the flag of Laos adopted in 1975 (and previously used by the short-lived Lao Issara government of 1945-46 then by the Pathet Lao,) are of the same colours, general design and proportions.

The flag of Costa Rica, which was adopted 11 years prior to that of the Thai, is also of the same colours and general design, but has a different proportion of 3:5 with the blue and red colours inverted.

Costa Rica's flag is not only of of different proportions with colours inverted, the country is 180 degrees around the globe from Thailand, derived its design from the short-lived Central American Republic, and is not know to have had relations with Thailand that might have influenced her king.

Cambodia and Laos, on the other side of the world, sit cheek-by-jowl with Thailand, and their flags not only have the same colours un-reversed, but are also of identical proportions and general layout, and those countries have had relations with Thailand that span a millennium, not just the century when all three flags were adopted.

It has been said that there are dozens of flags that meet the same criteria, but since they are not right next door, I'd like to know, not only which ones they are, but also how they relate to Thailand. It HAS been noted the colours are the same as those of Britain and France, the connection being, not that they were neighbors &mdash; though at the time they were &mdash; but that Thailand adopted those colours immediately after becoming their allies in the Great War. Similar information on those dozens of other flags would add a lot more to this article than trivia relating to a far-away republic, or a fictional colony. --Pawyilee (talk) 12:27, 29 July 2011 (UTC) --Pawyilee (talk) 12:35, 29 July 2011 (UTC)
 * PS: See National flags similar to that of the United States as a suggested format.


 * I think leaving out the entire section should be just fine. Similarities are already noted in List of countries by style of national flags. --Paul_012 (talk) 06:13, 5 August 2011 (UTC)
 * The link you gave doesn't have a category for flags of nations sharing a common border, but I'll be content if the above flag gallery remains here. --Pawyilee (talk) 06:16, 6 August 2011 (UTC)
 * PPS Noting that the current Lao flag had previously been used by the short-lived Lao Issara government of 1945-46, it is also interesting to note these quotes:
 * In desperation, the government appealed to the Thai government for a press on which to print money
 * The Lao Issara government-in-exile set up its headquarters in Bangkok.

--Source: Custom Search at U.S. Library of Congress

--Pawyilee (talk) 12:31, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Standard colors
"The adopted specifications are Munsell value 5R4/12 for the red, and 7.5PB2/4 for the blue.[3]"

Does anyone know what these colors would be in Pantone values? I tried to find the answer but failed. There are Pantone values given at sites such as Vexilla Mundi, but those aren't necessarily the correct, official ones. So seeing as this flag has the rare luxury of having official standards for its color shades, I'd be glad to know what those are in Pantone values. Cheers. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.108.9.69 (talk • contribs) 09:58, 8 November 2013‎ (UTC)
 * Those numbers are from a draft which so far hasn't appeared as an official standard. (Not sure what's happened there. Perhaps bureaucratic processes got in the way?) The colour codes have previously been discussed at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Heraldry and vexillology/Archive 2011, but since there appear to be so many conflicting sources of information, I'd say the official specifics are as yet unknown. --Paul_012 (talk) 11:40, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

"Historical" colours
Illegitimate Barrister, I really don't think there's reason to regard the standard colours as "modern colours" taking effect only after 2017. Before the standard was announced, there was simply no standard and any shade of red could of course be used. From what I've read, the standard colour values were picked by comparing samples with actual historical cloth flags, so in all likelihood the new standard should actually be a better match for the historical flags. #ED1C24 was surely only a randomly chosen RGB value that didn't correspond to the actual dyes available centuries ago. It would be wholly inaccurate to claim that File:Flag of Thailand (1917–2017).svg represents the flag from 1917–2017. The earliest date it can really be assigned would be 12 November 2011, when that version of the digital file was created, and that doesn't really need to be shown. --Paul_012 (talk) 13:48, 15 May 2018 (UTC)
 * If you've got better colors, you're free to suggest them and I can change the 1917-2017 SVG to use those colors. The 1946-2003 Italian flag is in a similar predicament as the colors weren't specified before 2003 (then modified again in 2006). – Illegitimate Barrister (talk • contribs), 21:17, 15 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Why shouldn't we just use the 2017 standard colours, period? As mentioned above (and shown in this video), the working commission actually went through old flags from the 1910s–1920s in order to arrive at those values, so they should be most reflective of actual historical colours. And since this would result in the "1917–2017" flag being identical to the "current" one, we could just go back to having a single file represent the current flag since 1917. --Paul_012 (talk) 21:29, 15 May 2018 (UTC)

Illegitimate Barrister, I've changed the colours in File:Flag of Thailand (1917–2017).svg to match the main version, per my above reasoning. It could still be kept as a separate file, so that we will have separate versions in case the standard is later changed, as in the Italian example. But for now they should be identical. Sodacan, I am considering changing the historical flags back so that they match the red of the 2017 standard, since the standard was chosen to match the historical colours, as mentioned above. The red currently used would have been impossible to produce on cloth flags from centuries ago. --Paul_012 (talk) 11:37, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
 * I've nominated File:Flag of Thailand (1917–2017).svg for deletion on Commons, seeing as it's quite impossible to identify a set of "correct" colours for that file, and as there's no real reason for maintaining a separate file version. Please see the discussion at Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Flag of Thailand (2011–2017).svg. --Paul_012 (talk) 02:47, 28 July 2018 (UTC)

Flag Act violations
Flag act violations should be in the Flag Act (Thailand), and not here. At best it is trivia. Not every news piece should be included in an encyclopaedia. This article is already woeful and does not need a list of occurrence where Thai people are outrage/Prayut pronunciamentos about the national flag. --Sodacan (talk) 07:56, 17 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Paragraph moved to Flag_desecration. --Sodacan (talk) 08:51, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

Thank you, Soda, for opening a discussion of this. First, are you volunteering to create "Flag Act (Thailand)"? That may be a good idea, as I would like to know what's in it, but wouldn't it be better as a section of "Flag of Thailand"? I think I understand why you think this is too trivial to include in WP: you appear to be focused on its social media origin. If it had remained a social media issue I would agree with you wholeheartedly. But the Prime Minister of Thailand got involved and set the wheels of government in motion. That makes it non-trivial.

Social media is increasingly driving politics: witness Trump. Also, did you see—it's front page news in Thai newspapers this week, same week as the shoe thing broke—that the prime minister opened three personal social media accounts? Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. He must regard social media as non-trivial. To what extent does he take his direction from social media? As I mentioned to you earlier, I think this brouhaha is more than trivial as it: Raises the question of what is in violation of the Flag Act, if anything? What statutes cover misuse of the flag? Do the flag colours belong to Thailand? Is the arrangement of the colours important? Are red-white-blue shirts exempt? If so, why shoes? Would a Paris model wearing these shoes in BKK be charged with a violation the Flag Act? Will the Foreign Ministry lodge a complaint with the French government? The UN? If the PM and the Foreign Ministry think this a serious issue worthy of their time and energy I don't see why WP should not. Thanks, Seligne (talk) 11:27, 17 October 2018 (UTC)


 * Thailand has several flag acts, many of which include penalties and rules on the usage and treatment of the national flag, as an object and as a national symbol. I have nothing against writing the article, if I have the time. Description of the legislation would allow readers context on why the flag is protected and why the prime minister is involved in the enforcing of such a law. Social media is not a good judge of public opinion, or more importantly on what is trivial and what is serious. This is suppose to be an encyclopaedia, not a collection of new items. I have nothing against social media driving the agenda, but this is not the place to record every twitter controversy or Facebook shade, even if it does involve the prime minister. No action has been taken, the prime minister and ministry of foreign affairs made a comment, that is their job when the public requests it. No one have been arrested, no one have been moved to an inactive post. If you want to spend your time on this kind of thing then fine. But wouldn’t you rather help me expand a section on what the law actually says? You know encyclopaedic stuff. Stuff that will advance mankind’s knowledge, or whatever. Sodacan (talk) 11:48, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

The CMYK values are definitely incorrect
- — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:908:DF52:3740:2C53:B99:4FCF:C452 (talk) 12:02, 24 March 2021 (UTC)


 * Added by a throwaway account, removed. --Paul_012 (talk) 15:20, 24 March 2021 (UTC)