• News & article

  How will post-poll Thailand look?

  News, Surasak Glahan, Published on 20/08/2018

  » Now the Election Commission and the National Council for Peace and Order have promised to hold the general election on Feb 24 next year, should we remain hopeful that the move will eventually lead Thailand to transition into a more democratic state? The answer largely depends on our expectations of the outcome, as well as the form of democracy that we want -- and we can look southeasterly to Cambodia, or westerly to Myanmar to get a rough idea of what Thailand's new beginning may be like.

• News & article

  Virus crisis reveals skeletons in our closet

  Oped, Surasak Glahan, Published on 16/04/2020

  » It was a desperate call for help. About 100 people gathered at the Finance Ministry on Tuesday and demanded the minister tell them why they were denied the 5,000-baht cash handout the government has granted to informal workers.

• News & article

  Thai-style rule by law lands new blow

  Oped, Surasak Glahan, Published on 12/03/2020

  » With the Election Commission (EC)’s decision on Tuesday to pursue criminal charges against Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit over a much-disputed media share transfer case, many observers may have stopped questioning how Thailand’s law-enforcement system could have come this far, and started wondering whether the worst of things is yet to come.

• News & article

  Political nitpicking stymies our progress

  News, Surasak Glahan, Published on 06/02/2020

  » If the Constitutional Court rules on Friday that the 2020 budget bill is invalid, let's not blame the delay in budget disbursement on proxy voting by a tiny number of MPs. Who should take the blame then? The culprit is our parliamentary system, for its inability to resolve this tiny technical hiccup in the Lower House, which allowed it to get out of hand.

• News & article

  Hun Sen learns how to fake democracy

  News, Surasak Glahan, Published on 14/11/2019

  » Cambodia may avoid trade sanctions from the EU and US if its government has learnt the art of faking a return to democracy and rule of law from Thailand, which has done its neighbour a huge favour by barring entry to its exiled opposition leaders.

• News & article

  Political purge all in the name of law

  News, Surasak Glahan, Published on 09/06/2019

  » What's next for Thailand after things went according to (the military regime's) plan, with junta leader Prayut Chan-o-cha as our prime minister?

• News & article

  Clone wars: FFP boss is not Thaksin 2.0

  News, Surasak Glahan, Published on 23/05/2019

  » The ongoing media shareholding case against Future Forward Party (FFP) leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit may not have come this far if he wasn't ultra rich and moderately successful. But his high net-worth and popularity makes him a clone of ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra in the eyes of the anti-Thaksin elite and conservative media, who seem to be on a crusade to stop Mr Thanathorn's rise.

• News & article

  Another poll, another missed opportunity

  News, Surasak Glahan, Published on 28/03/2019

  » With over a decade of political turmoil and almost five years under a military dictatorship, it comes as no surprise that Thailand is no longer the front-running economic powerhouse in Southeast Asia. The country's economic growth has been much lower than that of Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.

• News & article

  Fanning flames of hate speech will end in tears

  News, Surasak Glahan, Published on 04/04/2019

  » In a press briefing that was staged to stress his intent to denounce hate speech, army chief Apirat Kongsompong on Tuesday actually fanned the flames of hatred against self-proclaimed "pro-democracy" political parties and their members.

• News & article

  PM lacking confidence despite loaded deck

  News, Surasak Glahan, Published on 17/12/2018

  » In the upcoming Feb 24 general election, one retired general does not need a big win if he wants to become prime minister. Under the current constitution, he just needs a small share of votes, 126 out of the 500 MP seats up for grabs. Yet, there have been an endless series of (presumably dirty) tricks and (shrewdly planted) traps to emerge over the past month which have been seen as efforts to help him gain this small win. Why?

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