Showing 1-10 of 19 results
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Post-poll lull has a lot to answer for
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 26/05/2023
» After a clear election victory, Thailand should already have a new government in office by now with Pita Limjaroenrat as prime minister, as his Move Forward Party (MFP) together with opposition ally Pheu Thai Party won a clear mandate of more than 58% of 500 lower house seats. Yet their coalition government in waiting among eight parties with 313 elected representatives is facing several critical roadblocks, including the military-appointed senate and the Election Commission (EC). Public pressure is now needed to be piled on these powerful but biased bodies that were appointed during the coup-dominated era in 2014–2019 to comply with the people's wishes, as expressed at the polls on May 14.
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Populism triumphs as election looms
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 24/03/2023
» Although the campaign season for Thailand's much-anticipated election has only just begun, populism has already become the runaway winner. All of the contesting parties have come up with a plethora of populist pledges to woo voters. That populism has triumphed in Thai politics bears multiple longer-term implications.
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Myanmar, Thai militaries in cahoots
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 08/07/2022
» The recent incursion by a Myanmar MiG-29 fighter jet into Thai airspace is par for the course in the intimate ties between the militaries of both countries. Myanmar's military, also known as the Tatmadaw, in fact wants to be more like its Thai counterpart. The Royal Thai Armed Forces, on the other hand, may end up later having to be more like the Tatmadaw to maintain its role and rule in politics. These two militaries together pose a litmus test for states and societies everywhere. If the popular will and public interest can be systematically stolen and subverted in this corner of the globe, it can happen anywhere.
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The misguided US 'democracy summit'
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 10/12/2021
» The United States government under President Joe Biden is putting up the right fight in a counterproductive way in its online organisation of a "summit for democracy" this week. Much touted since he won the election in November last year, President Biden's summit of democracies has proved controversial, with both good intentions and unintended consequences. The real battleground, as clichés about the benefits and drawbacks of democracy go, is to make the case that popular rule where citizens should have rights and freedoms for their own collective self-determination is ultimately preferable and superior than all other forms of government.
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Thailand's irresponsible runaway debt
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 11/06/2021
» A major lasting damage Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will eventually leave behind is his government's co-optation and capture of autonomous agencies that used to safeguard and uphold Thailand's macroeconomic well-being and political level-playing field.
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History not on the side of Gen Prayut
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 23/10/2020
» In the face of sustained and broad-based student-led street protests demanding his resignation, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha remains defiant and determined to soldier on. He has even admonished his critics and detractors by flatly rejecting resignation and asking "What have I done wrong?" Such a provocative and self-righteous question deserves a frontal answer.
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Abe legacy is Japan as 'normal' nation
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 04/09/2020
» Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be missed throughout much of Asia, including China. His health-induced political departure attributable to a recurrence of ulcerative colitis brings to an end Japan's longest-serving prime minister in a consecutive tenure. While much will be recorded about his rich legacy, Mr Abe should be seen as a natural mover and shaker who reshaped Japan into a more "normal" country able to pursue its national interest like others by all available means.
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Geoeconomic implications of Covid-19
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 26/06/2020
» The longer the coronavirus pandemic wends its way around the world, the more it takes on permanent features. As case infections still persist virulently, especially in the US, Brazil, Russia and India, states, societies and individuals are being forced to make adjustments. There will be winners and losers in the geoeconomic competition for market shares and supply chains. Those with more effective public health systems will stand in good stead with opportunities to re-emerge less scathed and better positioned to carry on, whereas others with less adequate health infrastructure will face more risks and disadvantages. For the first time in generations, health security has become the main determinant in the fate of nations and peoples.
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Central bank autonomy must be upheld
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 16/08/2019
» When elected governments make noises about economic growth in countries where macroeconomic management is sound and prudent, central bankers tend to quietly bristle and brush off such interference and infringement of monetary space at their own risk. In so doing, central bankers tend to enjoy the support of domestic and international market participants who value central bank independence more than politicians' vested interests, even if it sometimes undercuts their bottom lines. Accordingly, when central bankers go along with the preferences of elected politicians, the conduct of monetary policy comes into question.
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Thailand's tale told via 'The Nation'
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 28/06/2019
» Nearly five decades ago, The Nation newspaper started out as a pro-democracy, anti-military news organisation. It was fiercely independent and invariably hard-hitting vis-à-vis the powers-that-be. An English-language newspaper owned by Thais from the outset, it prided itself for having neither fear nor favour. Its lamentable expiry as a print newspaper today -- an online version will continue -- provides multiple parallels for Thailand's contemporary political history, ongoing polarisation and the changing nature of the business of journalism worldwide.
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