Showing 91 - 100 of 209
Prayut govt stuck in self-made trap
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 02/07/2021
» Thailand's multi-layered crises from persistent virus infections and vaccine shortages to economic damage are building up into a potential political upheaval. The ravaging Covid-19 crisis is worse than the infamous Tom Yum Kung economic crisis in 1997-98. This time, the military-predominant government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is stuck in multiple traps of its own making. Getting out of this predicament means the pandemic situation is likely to get a lot worse before any hope of recovery and way forward can be found.
Thai charter changes without reform
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 25/06/2021
» In view of the ongoing parliamentary debate about constitutional revisions, it has become the consensus that the 2017 charter is flawed and in need of change. At issue is the nature and extent of charter amendments. What is being proposed can be categorised into three positions -- those favouring amendments without fundamental reforms and others who want reforms with all necessary amendments, with some advocating measures in between. Owing to the powers of incumbency, status quo proponents aligned with the coalition government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha are likely to carry the day, thereby stoking political tensions to manifest on the horizon.
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.
PM shows he has political resilience
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 04/06/2021
» Half-way through his four-year term, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has time and again shown his staying power in the face of popular discontent. Despite a subpar economic performance and persistent controversies from his cabinet's incomplete oath of office and a cabinet minister's past drug conviction and imprisonment in Australia to his own house on army premises after retirement, the former army chief, who led the military coup in May 2014 to take over as prime minister, has proved politically resilient.
No duopoly in Thai jab procurement
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 28/05/2021
» Just as Thailand's murky vaccine plan has gone from bad to worse, the plot keeps thickening. The latest development centres on the May 25 publication in the Royal Gazette of the Chulabhorn Royal Academy's authority to procure Covid-19 vaccines within the country and from abroad as needed for public health benefits. As has been promptly noted elsewhere, this vaccine bombshell could be perceived as a snub to the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, particularly Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Thailand's effectively dual-track vaccine strategy is now likely to engender major repercussions.
Prayut government seems bullet-proof
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 21/05/2021
» The passage of time shows the government's growing lack of accountability. In fact, the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha appears the most unaccountable on record because it has been the most incompetent. Myriad charges from policy mismanagement and blatant irregularities to outright constitutional violations have been levied against the government but none have stuck. Although some attribute this phenomenon to Gen Prayut's "Teflon" qualities, a more accurate understanding may well be that his cabinet is somehow bullet-proof. Charges can stick but they cannot penetrate.
Regional vaccine approach is imperative
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 14/05/2021
» As vaccine diplomacy thrives and vaccine nationalism rears its head, it has become clear that the ideal global solution to the collective action problem of the coronavirus pandemic is for all countries to put their eggs in the same basket. If all countries are forced to rely on the global vaccine alliances' and the World Health Organization's Covid-19 Global Vaccines Access (Covax) plan, whereby any vaccine for one means an available antidote for all, the post-pandemic recovery would arrive faster and smoother with more promising prospects. But short of the ideal solution, the global health system is largely based on self-help, each country mapping its own plan for recovery with a mix of procurement strategies.
Myanmar: From diplomacy to force
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 30/04/2021
» At its recent "special" summit in Jakarta on Myanmar's crisis, Asean reached its diplomatic maximum by coming up with a "five-point consensus" that will likely prove too little and too slow. Constrained by consensus and its non-interference principle where any of its 10 members has a virtual veto, Asean's overdue response to Myanmar's fast-escalating violence on the ground is likely to prove ineffective. As Asean's diplomacy faces limitations, more of Myanmar's outcomes are likely to be decided by the use of force in an intensifying civil war.
Govt ducks Asean Myanmar challenge
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 23/04/2021
» Asean's highly anticipated "special" summit tomorrow in Jakarta on Myanmar's crisis can be declared moot on arrival. What goes into it is likely more telling that what will come out of it. Nearly three months and more than 730 civilian deaths after Myanmar's military coup on Feb 1, Asean is still unable to address its rogue member state's atrocities against its own people. The summit attendance foretells trends and dynamics of what might come next in Myanmar's fast-moving and deadly events on the ground and how they will shape regional responses and global concerns.
The anatomy of waning youth protests
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 19/03/2021
» By all accounts, Thailand's youth protest movement over the past year has lost steam. Its key leaders have been charged on anti-monarchy grounds and jailed without bail, while the rank-and-file are demoralised, still on the move but in thin numbers. On the other side, the incumbent centres of power have reasserted control and put down what at its peak was the most vociferous and vigorous anti-establishment movement Thailand had seen in decades.