Showing 31 - 40 of 54
Critical thinking takes back seat with NCPO’s core values
News, Achara Ashayagachat, Published on 11/11/2014
» It is becoming a harsh reality that my children will grow up in an authoritarian society like I did in the 1970s.
New crackdown on criticism has ominous overtones
News, Achara Ashayagachat, Published on 09/09/2014
» Ton Kla (not his real name) shed tears when he saw his drama mentor and older friend, Golf, behind bars at the Central Women's Correctional Institution three weeks ago.
Confidence is low in renewed South peace talks
News, Achara Ashayagachat, Published on 31/08/2014
» As Thai authorities prepare to revive peace talks with separatists in the far South, signals are already emerging from both sides which indicate the morass of impractical expectations and false hopes will continue.
Asean turns deaf ear to concerns on rights in Thailand
News, Achara Ashayagachat, Published on 17/08/2014
» The junta may feel a bit smug that there was no mention of the May 22 coup at the 47th Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting in Myanmar last week.
Military regime can't turn back the clock of progress
News, Achara Ashayagachat, Published on 12/08/2014
» My memory of one of this country's democratic milestones — the student uprising of Oct 14, 1973 — was my grandmother sobbing while watching His Majesty the King's announcement on TV about a new government replacing the military dictatorship that students had tried to topple.
One month on, signs of repression linger
News, Achara Ashayagachat, Published on 22/06/2014
» The quote above was one of the recent comments posted on Facebook by Sukunya Prueksakasemsuk, wife of red-shirt magazine editor Somyot Prueksakasemsuk who was sentenced to 11 years in jail for lese majeste in January last year. Somyot has been behind bars since his arrest on April 30, 2011, his bail requests denied by the court 15 times.
Army resorts to populism as it wields its iron fist
News, Achara Ashayagachat, Published on 10/06/2014
» Twenty days under military rule and we have witnessed earnest attempts to quieten dissenting anti-coup views. And, although corruption was not cited as the reason for the putsch this time around, people still expect the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to take steps to eliminate this deep-rooted, cancerous problem.
Losing our sanity in the political abyss
News, Achara Ashayagachat, Published on 13/05/2014
» The political chaos made me rush to check my Oxford Learners’ Dictionary for the meaning of "sanity" (the state of having a normal healthy mind; and the state of being sensible and reasonable). It is something that is currently hard to find in our society as warring parties try to justify their own unbending aims. Those holding the middle ground will be automatically dubbed “un-Thai”, disloyal, or hired/paid by the other side.
For change, speak out and be counted
News, Achara Ashayagachat, Published on 08/04/2014
» Tired of political stagnation? Don’t be, please. Your detachment from politics will only do harm to your own future. We cannot allow anyone, any single group to chart the future path of this society, in particular a group of people who brand themselves “representatives of the great mass of people”, as well as those regular faces who always make their way to parliament.
State of emergency marks another blunder by Pheu Thai
News, Achara Ashayagachat, Published on 23/01/2014
» Yingluck Shinawatra's invocation of the emergency decree on Tuesday evening _ a serious misstep of the ruling Pheu Thai Party _ will only draw more support for the anti-government groups that have been attempting to overthrow her government for the past three months.