Showing 1 - 10 of 24
Clone wars: FFP boss is not Thaksin 2.0
News, Surasak Glahan, Published on 23/05/2019
» The ongoing media shareholding case against Future Forward Party (FFP) leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit may not have come this far if he wasn't ultra rich and moderately successful. But his high net-worth and popularity makes him a clone of ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra in the eyes of the anti-Thaksin elite and conservative media, who seem to be on a crusade to stop Mr Thanathorn's rise.
Political cases may bode ill for democracy
Oped, Surasak Glahan, Published on 28/02/2019
» The uniquely Thai way of sabotaging popular political parties and their leaders with surprising ease yielded further progress yesterday, as the fate of the executives at the helm of the Future Forward Party (FFP) and Thai Raksa Chart Party (TRC) were left hanging in the balance.
Justice system still shackled by politics
News, Surasak Glahan, Published on 07/02/2019
» Has Thailand been caught between a rock and a hard place over the extradition case of detained Bahraini footballer Hakeem al-Araibi, who holds refugee status in Australia but is wanted by Bahrain for alleged vandalism?
Why Thailand will stay in Third World
News, Surasak Glahan, Published on 16/01/2019
» Cambodia had a "fake" national ballot in June. Bangladesh held a "farcical poll" blighted by intimidation late last month. Thailand is worse. It can't event hold a general election as planned.
PM putting poll on the fast track to failure
News, Surasak Glahan, Published on 17/10/2018
» 'Maybe". That was the most up-to-date hint Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha gave to the press corps yesterday when asked whether he will enter the political fray.
The faux democracy that Prayut may build
News, Surasak Glahan, Published on 19/09/2018
» When building a house, hiring a contractor whose credentials are more about demolishing structures than building new ones could turn into a nightmare. You could hardly blame such an inexperienced contractor if your house collapsed.
How will post-poll Thailand look?
News, Surasak Glahan, Published on 20/08/2018
» Now the Election Commission and the National Council for Peace and Order have promised to hold the general election on Feb 24 next year, should we remain hopeful that the move will eventually lead Thailand to transition into a more democratic state? The answer largely depends on our expectations of the outcome, as well as the form of democracy that we want -- and we can look southeasterly to Cambodia, or westerly to Myanmar to get a rough idea of what Thailand's new beginning may be like.
World Cup is fun, mystery killings are not
News, Surasak Glahan, Published on 18/06/2018
» Similar to the World Cup in Russia, the justice system in Thailand has never run short of spectators holding their breath hoping for a just and fair play. Like a football match, they pick their team.
Rights claims fall flat amid cadet scandal
News, Surasak Glahan, Published on 27/11/2017
» Actions did speak much louder than words last week. The government on Tuesday announced its new national human rights agenda for government agencies. It didn't generate any news buzz. Over the following days, the government's top brass publicly endorsed the military's culture of corporal punishment, which allegedly involves rights violations, in the wake of the death of a military cadet. Their endorsement generated national news.
Shall we bend the law to keep politicians honest?
News, Surasak Glahan, Published on 25/10/2017
» In the Land of Smiles where the judiciary has increasingly been a channel widely sought to settle political conflicts and end political cases, one minority judge's ruling on the case against ousted premier Yingluck Shinawatra reminds us how far we can go when it comes to criminal prosecution, or to put it in laymen's terms, putting someone in prison.