Showing 1 - 10 of 103
Thailand's judiciary faces challenges
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 24/05/2024
» Thailand appears to be a country of 70 million, ultimately ruled by an unelected few. This sobering reality was on display when two connected groups of top generals seized power from democratically elected governments in September 2006 and May 2014. Unlike these blatant military coups over the past two decades, at issue now is the power and role of the judiciary. While Thailand has another democratically elected civilian government under Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, the question that needs to be asked is whether the country is effectively under judicial rule.
Keeping democratic institutions weak
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 22/07/2022
» The worst thing one can do in Thai politics is to run for office and win by a landslide. When this happens, the knives will come out and the massive election winner will be overthrown before long -- one way or another -- because the real source of power in Thailand is unelected. Such was the fate of Thaksin Shinawatra when he spearheaded the Thai Rak Thai Party to win two landslide poll victories in January 2001 and February 2005, first a near majority and later a thumping 75% of the lower house of parliament.
Thai politics' murky tunnel to nowhere
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 07/01/2022
» Starting out a new year should engender a sense of hope and optimism that tomorrow can be better than yesterday. But the reality in Thailand suggests otherwise. A sense of prolonged malaise and discontent pervades the scene, where politics will likely prove murky with an economy persistently in the doldrums, underpinned by continuing societal divisions and broad-based unhappiness. Unless drastic changes and reforms take place very soon, this year is likely to further solidify the onset of a decade of decay and stagnation.
Thailand's holding pattern till next poll
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 10/09/2021
» Thailand's recent no-confidence debate in parliament started with a bang and ended with a whimper. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and five other cabinet members who were grilled by opposition MPs for pandemic mishandling, budget irregularities and overall mismanagement and incompetence sailed through the parliamentary vote based on the coalition government's strength in MP numbers rather than the merits of its governance.
PM shows he has political resilience
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 04/06/2021
» Half-way through his four-year term, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has time and again shown his staying power in the face of popular discontent. Despite a subpar economic performance and persistent controversies from his cabinet's incomplete oath of office and a cabinet minister's past drug conviction and imprisonment in Australia to his own house on army premises after retirement, the former army chief, who led the military coup in May 2014 to take over as prime minister, has proved politically resilient.
Prayut government seems bullet-proof
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 21/05/2021
» The passage of time shows the government's growing lack of accountability. In fact, the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha appears the most unaccountable on record because it has been the most incompetent. Myriad charges from policy mismanagement and blatant irregularities to outright constitutional violations have been levied against the government but none have stuck. Although some attribute this phenomenon to Gen Prayut's "Teflon" qualities, a more accurate understanding may well be that his cabinet is somehow bullet-proof. Charges can stick but they cannot penetrate.
A fraught year in politics
News, Aekarach Sattaburuth, Published on 30/12/2020
» It is often said that Thailand resolves around political events. Here are the five most dynamic and attention-grabbing stories — the youth-led, anti-government protests, the Future Forward Party’s spectacular fall, Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha surviving the Constitutional Court’s rulings that threatened to deliver the death warrant on his premiership, the Provincial Administrative Organisation (PAO) elections held for the first time in six years and the internal turbulence experienced by the main opposition Pheu Thai Party — which have left their mark this year.
Prayut survives legal challenges
News, Published on 30/12/2020
» Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha looks set to stay for the long haul after surviving three legal challenges which threatened to torpedo his premiership.
A verdict of controversy
Oped, Editorial, Published on 04/12/2020
» With Wednesday's ruling by the Constitutional Court, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is not only innocent of occupying an army welfare house inside the 1st Infantry Regiment, King's Guard, but he can also lawfully stay on where he and his family have lived since he served as army chief until he retired in 2014.
Paiboon files motion to sack anti-corruption panel chief
News, Post Reporters, Published on 08/02/2020
» A motion seeking to remove Pol Gen Sereepisuth Temeeyaves as head of the House committee on anti-corruption and misconduct has been accepted, according to a close aide to House Speaker Chuan Leekpai.