Showing 41 - 50 of 205
Ruling is inconsistent
News, Postbag, Published on 27/02/2020
» I agree with the spirit of the Constitutional Court's verdict on the FFP's loan saga: loans should be considered as contributions. But have the Thai Election Commission or courts previously ruled that loans are, legally speaking, contributions? The Bangkok Post's Feb 21 editorial said: "The EC never ... informed political parties that there are regulations barring them from taking out loans. That's because there are no such rules." Also, if we had such specific and clear rules and laws, our EC and CC would have explicitly based their decisions on them, quoting the section -- but that's not the case.
Prayut courts PR disaster as floods devastate Ubon
News, Atiya Achakulwisut, Published on 24/09/2019
» Does Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha have communications strategists? If so, they should be fired after a week of non-stop miscommunications.
Political rivals must push to reconcile
News, Chairith Yonpiam, Published on 17/08/2019
» The Criminal Court's verdict that acquitted 24 leaders of the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) of terrorism may baffle some political observers.
The cabinet's composition and direction
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 19/07/2019
» With Thailand's new post-election cabinet members poised to to start work after being sworn in, it is instructive to look at how they have been assembled based on patron-client ties and vested interests. Because it contains unsavoury individuals with shady pasts, this cabinet is unlikely to last long but the political longevity of its leader, former junta chairman and still Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, may endure longer than many would expect from such a fragile, fractious coalition government.
New cabinet puts power grab on display
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 12/07/2019
» As if to remind the Thai public of what the past five years of military-authoritarian rule has been all about, the first post-election cabinet under Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha now represents the full manifestation of what was no less than a power grab.
Mohamed Morsi: A death foretold
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 21/06/2019
» Egypt's first and last democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, died on Monday, lying on the floor of the courtroom where they were trying him on yet more charges. (He was already serving several life sentences.) It was probably a heart attack, but according to witnesses they left him lying there for 20 minutes before medical help arrived.
5 years backwards under military rule
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 24/05/2019
» Now that five years have elapsed since Thailand's last military coup, it is an opportune juncture to take stock of where the country is heading. When it seized power in May 2014, the military junta, known as the National Council for Peace and Order, initially had legitimacy from royal ascent and broad approval from its restoration of stability and order after more than half a year of street protests in Bangkok by the People's Democratic Reform Committee that was intent on overthrowing the Pheu Thai government.
Abandoned houses a bad sign in Dawei
News, Paritta Wangkiat, Published on 06/05/2019
» During my trip last week to the Bawah relocation area where nearly 500 houses have been newly built to accommodate over 1,000 people affected by the development of the Dawei Special Economic Zone (DSEZ) in Myanmar, it caught me by surprise that most of the houses are unoccupied.
TRC dissolution turns up political heat
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 08/03/2019
» It is deja vu all over again in Thai politics. Another political party aligned to Thaksin Shinawatra, an ousted, self-exiled and convicted former prime minister, found its way to the Constitutional Court where it was dissolved in short order for "opposing the democratic system with the King as head of state".
PAD protests went too far
News, Editorial, Published on 14/02/2019
» From what began as peaceful street protests against the powerful Thaksin Shinawatra government in 2006, the now-defunct yellow-shirt People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) movement got out of control in the following years. It leaders then resorted to extremism and violence, sexed up by hate speech.