Showing 1 - 6 of 6
Coronavirus blues and clues in Thailand
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 17/04/2020
» It is unanimous that the novel coronavirus, also known as Covid-19, is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. A common refrain everywhere in the world is "I have never seen anything like it". Its immediate consequences and longer-term transformational repercussions will be felt for years to come. Covid-19 challenges individuals, societies and state institutions to their very core. For Thailand, re-emerging from this devastating pandemic will be tough and tricky, with trade-offs and hard choices.
Thailand needs firmer Covid-19 action
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 20/03/2020
» While being on the right track, the government's latest response to the new coronavirus (Covid-19) by closing schools and entertainment venues, as well as putting off the Songkran break, is likely to prove too little, too late, once again. As other countries have shown, the sooner firm and hard measures are put in place, the better and likelier efforts to contain and remedy Covid-19 will be successful. An early global lesson from the fast-spreading virus is to be pre-emptive and pro-active, "front-loading" the pain of social adjustments and economic damages rather than playing catch-up and ultimately paying a higher price.
Context is decisive in Thai high politics
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 28/02/2020
» In Thailand's high politics where governments survive or succumb, context is everything. After two decades of a political merry-go-round, marked by a series of elections, street protests, military coups, and judicial interventions only to end up with a problematic post-election rule under military domination, no deep expertise is needed to understand what has been happening in this land.
Anti-regime? Join the opposition ranks
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 17/05/2019
» Five years after it seized power in May 2014, Thailand's military junta, known as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), has achieved what it envisaged.
Eastern Economic Corridor must continue
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 07/12/2018
» As the election looms, the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will likely leave behind a very mixed legacy. Far from being a clean-up crew against graft and a technocratic team for effective policy performance when it seized power more than four years ago, this outgoing government has had its fair share of unaccountable corruption allegations and policy directions that merely served its own vested interests of staying in power after the polls.
Dire airport, culture hub belie 'Thailand 4.0'
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 17/02/2017
» Thailand is prone to policy faddism. Several years ago, the AEC (Asean Economic Community) was all the rage until it officially came into being with a whimper at the end of 2015. Back then, hardly a day went by without some kind of a workshop or conference in Thailand about the AEC. But it all did not add up to much, as Asean today is hardly more economically integrated than it was more than a decade ago when the AEC was conceived. In fact, Asean is more internally divided and beset with more geopolitical tensions and troubles than we have seen in many years. Yet Thailand went head over heels for it until a new fad arrived.