Showing 251 - 260 of 288
Real 'big picture' really isn't pretty
Veera Prateepchaikul, Published on 19/10/2012
» The big picture! So said Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra as she asked all the critics of the government’s rice pledging scheme to look at it. And the "big picture" is the benefit the scheme supposedly brings to the country’s three million rice farming households.
Philippines peace agreement a lesson for Thailand
Veera Prateepchaikul, Published on 16/10/2012
» The signing of a framework peace agreement on Monday between the Philippines government and the country’s largest rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), to end their 40-year insurgency war is indeed welcome news for the people of the Philippines.
Patience can lead to virtue and rotten rice
News, Veera Prateepchaikul, Published on 15/10/2012
» Taxpayers should not be surprised if they are occasionally confused by the conflicting statements made by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her ministers, Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom in particular, pertaining to anything related to the rice pledging scheme _ because the government is treating everything as a trade secret which must be kept confidential and disclosed to the public only at the end of next year.
Lotus leaves will not cover up rice problem
News, Veera Prateepchaikul, Published on 08/10/2012
» "You cannot cover up a dead elephant with lotus leaves." So goes this popular Thai saying, which means that a scandal or something evil which is widely known can never be concealed or covered up because the truth about it will, sooner or later, be exposed.
A simpler way to help farmers?
Veera Prateepchaikul, Published on 03/10/2012
» I cannot help joining my farming compatriots in an early celebration on hearing the "good news", that they will be out of debt in two years – thanks to the government’s generous rice pledging scheme and, in particular, commerce permanent secretary Watcharee Wimuktayon.
Sanity must prevail over rice pledging
News, Veera Prateepchaikul, Published on 01/10/2012
» Three cheers of chai-yo to Dr Adis Israngkura na Ayudhaya, dean of the Economic Development Faculty of the National Institute Development Administration (Nida), and 145 academics and students who co-signed a petition to the Constitution Court challenging the effectiveness of the government's rice-pledging scheme and the sanity of continuing this badly-flawed and corruption-riddled populist policy.
No shame about lying
News, Veera Prateepchaikul, Published on 24/09/2012
» When parliament president Somsak Kiatsuranont said on Thursday that he might visit China to attend a provincial trade exposition instead of taking a "study" tour of western Europe which was heavily criticised by the press, I was foolishly misled into thinking that he really felt guilty about spending seven million baht of taxpayers' money on a junket which includes watching an English Premier League soccer match.
Role models for youth
News, Veera Prateepchaikul, Published on 10/09/2012
» Each generation hails its youth as the hope of the country. But are they? I do not have the answer. But given the latest Abac opinion poll about corruption perception of the people in general, and Thai youth in particular, the findings are very disturbing.
Without govt funding Thai athletes will never shine out
Veera Prateepchaikul, Published on 14/08/2012
» By Asean standards Thai atheletes did not perform badly at the London 2012 Olympic Games. They won two silvers and one bronze, while Indonesia and Malaysia each won only a silver and a bronze.
Facing up to rice error
News, Veera Prateepchaikul, Published on 13/08/2012
» Ammar Siamwalla, the honorary economist at the Thailand Development Research Institute, warned aboutb it back in September last year during his talk at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand.