Showing 101 - 110 of 171
Set election date at once
News, Editorial, Published on 14/08/2018
» The three years of excuses for delaying a free and fair election have run out. It is no longer credible that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha can claim technical or parliamentary procedures remain in the way. While his all-powerful National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) harshly enforces a ban on political activity, the prime minister himself is seen to be openly canvassing support for his own campaign. The public needs and deserves an election date and an end to restrictions on freedom of speech and public gatherings.
CCTV claim sows mistrust
News, Editorial, Published on 11/08/2018
» The army's explanation this week about the absence of CCTV camera footage at a crime scene where 17-year-old Lahu activist Chaiyaphum Pasae was shot dead by a soldier last year has not only come too late but has also deepened the public mistrust of the military's claim that the extrajudicial killing was made in "self-defence".
NACC breaks another vow
News, Editorial, Published on 07/08/2018
» The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has reached a crucial fork in the road. Soon, it will have to provide the public with the facts it has uncovered in the probe of the undocumented luxury watches worn by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon. Alternatively, it will continue to stonewall. This choice will inform the public that the NACC is a weak organisation, completely unwilling to speak truth to power and lacking the fortitude even to bring about the promise that brought Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha to the premiership.
Laos dam disaster a warning for Thailand
News, Editorial, Published on 05/08/2018
» The breach of Xe Pian Xe Namnoy dam in southern Laos that killed dozens of villagers, with several still missing, should be a wake-up call for Thai authorities who this week issued disaster warnings while rolling up their sleeves for possible incidents.
Conscripts aren't servants
News, Editorial, Published on 19/07/2018
» The army's tradition of allowing officers to use conscripts as personal houseboys was hit with more bad press this week as one of the newly enlisted men exposed his degrading and inhumane working and living conditions while serving at the residence of a military officer.
Clock ticks on cave rescue
News, Editorial, Published on 29/06/2018
» As the search-and-rescue efforts within Chiang Rai's Tham Luang Cave enter their sixth day Friday, the task of finding the 12 boys and their football coach continues to be hampered by the extreme conditions of the cave environment -- rising water levels and flooding in deeper areas.
Failure of Alpha probe
News, Editorial, Published on 29/05/2018
» One of the worst and most costly fraud cases in recent memory was wrongly declared over last week. The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) brought its investigation of the purchase of Alpha-6 fake narcotics detectors to a close. Astoundingly, this relatively simple case took the self-styled graft busters 10 years to conclude. The announcement that formally closed the books on the case echoed the supreme failure to tackle the case forthrightly, investigate honestly, act transparently and, finally, identify and bring accountability and the law to bear on those responsible.
Time to come clean on secret CIA prison
News, Editorial, Published on 27/05/2018
» Now Gina Haspel has been sworn in as the CIA's first female director, it is time the government speak out on a matter in which it has kept silent for over a decade.
P-Move close in on dream
News, Editorial, Published on 16/05/2018
» The government did the right thing to reverse Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's remarks and speak in good faith with P-Move representatives. Gen Prayut was wrong and unnecessarily abusive when he accused them of protesting in order to demand handouts. The People's Movement for a Just Society, to use P-Move's full name, is once again trying to right old wrongs. Now, thanks to clearer thinking, it may be possible.
Censorship must go
News, Editorial, Published on 14/05/2018
» In a move criticised across all political and legal lines, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has once again banned all broadcasts by Peace TV. The station is openly run and just as openly favours the red shirts and their political face, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, or UDD. Every Thai media, print and broadcast, blasted the blatant and poorly thought out act of censorship.