Showing 1 - 10 of 26
Implications of conservative triumph
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 13/02/2026
» The incumbent and conservative Bhumjaithai (BJT) Party has surprisingly swept Thailand's Feb 8 election with a commanding win. With the previously poll-leading and progressive People's Party (PP) coming in a distant second, Thailand appears headed for a conservative coalition government revolving around BJT and like-minded junior partners. Known for its conservative stance and being pro-status quo, it would not be surprising if the BJT-led coalition government, led by Prime Minister-elect Anutin Charnvirakul, were not challenged by the Constitutional Court, the Election Commission, and other supervisory agencies, which have derailed and dissolved reform-minded winning parties in the past.
Will poll be breakout or more of same?
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 06/02/2026
» As Thais go to the polls this Sunday, the most consequential question is whether Thailand will finally break out of its debilitating cycle of political instability and economic underperformance that has marked the past two decades. The signs and signals suggest otherwise -- at least not yet.
Anutin's new cabinet is a mixed bag
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 26/09/2025
» The composition and size of Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul's 36-member cabinet suggest that he intends to stay in office for as long as possible, clinging to the terms of the government-enabling Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) and calling an early election only if circumstances make it unavoidable.
Thailand's costly political shenanigans
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 22/08/2025
» In a country of 70 million where a handful of men can remove an elected government time and again, there can be no stability and progress, only tension and regression. This is how Thailand can be characterised over the past two decades. It is now going through yet another cycle of heightened political instability with the potential collapse of the government under suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra in the footsteps of previous leaders who were similarly ousted by the Constitutional Court.
Thai-Cambodian feud is Asean's worst
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 15/08/2025
» The border dispute and consequent military conflict between Cambodia and Thailand in recent weeks have become Asean's worst crisis in its 58 years of existence. Ironically, it was an intra-regional war between Indonesia and Malaysia that gave rise to Asean in 1967, but now an intra-Asean military clash is undermining the Southeast Asian organisation's core reason for being and its main claim to credibility and prominence. Unless Asean, under Malaysia as its rotational chair this year, moves fast to contain the bilateral dispute and reinforce a delicate ceasefire agreement, Southeast Asia will be looked upon increasingly as a region and less as an organisation of member states.
Trump tariffs sow divisions in Asean
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 02/05/2025
» President Donald Trump's unilateral imposition of tariffs across the United States' economic chessboard poses a critical test for Asean. As the regional organisation of Southeast Asia, Asean has weathered many geopolitical and geoeconomic storms in its 58-year existence, but no adversity like the Trump tariffs. Unless Asean reorganises and regroups, the ten-member body risks further divisions and increasing irrelevance.
Thai foreign policy needs new rudder
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 27/09/2024
» Thailand's foreign policy posture and projection under Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa and the new government of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra is off to a good start under severe structural constraints. Given the widespread consensus both at home and abroad that Thailand has fallen behind its peers over the past two decades, the imperative of regaining its international standing is undisputed. But doing so under what the foreign minister has outlined as a "neutral stance" under "non-alignment" among the great powers is moot and misguided. What Thai foreign policy needs is multi-alignments and omni-directionality under a new rudder.
Thai politics has turned upside down
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 23/08/2024
» The rise of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and the return -- and re-entry, of her father, Thaksin Shinawatra, have turned Thai politics upside down. On the surface, Mr Thaksin still dominates Thai politics nearly 20 years after he was deposed by a military coup and exiled for most of that period. This time, his political power and influence are being exercised through his daughter Ms Paetongtarn. As the Shinawatra clan has been coopted by its former establishment adversaries, the past two decades of periodic elections, street protests, two military coups, two constitutions, and multiple judicial bans on political parties and elected politicians have entered a new chapter.
Global, regional, local trends for 2023
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 23/12/2022
» Although economic predictions are usually reserved for the foolhardy, as the future is always difficult to ascertain, there are certain trend lines and probabilities that can be discerned at the global and regional level as well as the local level here in Thailand. As a year-end exercise, we can tease out a few contours with a reasonably high degree of probability.
Myanmar, Thai militaries in cahoots
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 08/07/2022
» The recent incursion by a Myanmar MiG-29 fighter jet into Thai airspace is par for the course in the intimate ties between the militaries of both countries. Myanmar's military, also known as the Tatmadaw, in fact wants to be more like its Thai counterpart. The Royal Thai Armed Forces, on the other hand, may end up later having to be more like the Tatmadaw to maintain its role and rule in politics. These two militaries together pose a litmus test for states and societies everywhere. If the popular will and public interest can be systematically stolen and subverted in this corner of the globe, it can happen anywhere.