Showing 1 - 10 of 11
PM needs to send the right message
News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 28/09/2015
» The recent discovery of two guardian deity sculptures at the Bangkok City Pillar Shrine is of significance for Thailand, and due credit must be given to the War Veterans Organisation and the Fine Arts Department. I have a penchant for historical and cultural artefacts that tell us more about who we are and where we came from as a nation. We are blessed with such an abundantly beautiful and rich cultural heritage, something which we unfortunately take for granted.
Prayut's stance at UN must stand the test of logic
News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 21/09/2015
» As a Thai citizen I would like to wish Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and his delegation good luck on his imminent visit to the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York.
We need a British governance model, not North Korean
News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 09/09/2015
» Last week I was honoured to have been invited to speak at The Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT), along with distinguished panelists like Khun Burin Kantabutra and ML Nattakorn Devakula. It was an evening of insightful discussion on the uncertain future Thailand faces, especially in light of the new constitution, which was evidently stillborn on Sunday.
Let's face it, the chickens are coming home to roost
News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 25/06/2015
» No single Thai administration is capable of solving the country's most chronic and deeply embedded problems. Any administration that says it can is talking absolute tosh and insulting the nation's cumulative intelligence.
Time to redefine Thainess for 21st-century success
News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 16/05/2015
» When the government seeks to promote Thainess, what exactly do they mean? I guess every nation has their particular traits, but what are our national traits? And are they traits which we would want to advertise or encourage?
Our children deserve education, not indoctrination
News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 07/04/2015
» All three of my children attend Bangkok Patana International School. So I would like to declare my bias upfront.
We can learn from Selma marches
News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 12/03/2015
» This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches which were led by Rev Martin Luther King Jr and many other civil rights activists. These three marches by ordinary American men and women, mostly of African descent, still stand as historical landmarks of the triumph of the human spirit over grave injustice and the dark forces of segregation.
Thailand should steadfastly reject 'the China model'
News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 25/02/2015
» Thailand is now becoming increasingly isolated by the West. We have effectively been subjected to a "democracy downgrade", which has pushed us ever closer into the sinister embrace of Asia's only superpower, China. Thailand continues to do what we do best, play one side off against the other. But recent overtures to China by the junta and the unrestrained lauding of what is termed "the China model" as a suitable system of government for Thailand, have made me sick to my stomach.
Thailand after six months behind the iron curtain
News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 28/11/2014
» We have marked six months since Thailand ventured into dangerous − but historically familiar − political waters. Slowly, but surely, an iron curtain has descended upon this country, snuffing out many forms of civil liberties we once took for granted.
The seven business groups' plan provides some hope
News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 07/01/2014
» The ultimate deadlock is upon us. This political chess match pitching the Pheu Thai Party against the Democrat Party and its first cousin the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) is slowly drawing to a potentially gruesome close, involving the shutdown of Bangkok and more lives being sacrificed upon the altar of our deliriously dysfunctional political system.