Showing 1 - 4 of 4
Another wasted year in Thai politics
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 26/12/2025
» As Thailand winds down 2025 with an early election looming on Feb 8, the most consequential issue to watch in the coming year will be whether recent topsy-turvy political patterns of polls, protests, and military and judicial interventions give way to a compromise between the old guard clinging on to vested interests and the new generation clamouring for reform and change.
Thailand's spreading rot of irregularity
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 19/07/2024
» The rot in Thailand's institutional makeup has become so deep, dense and widespread that it can be found nearly everywhere there is controversy. Newly elected Senator Keskamol Pleansamai is the latest case in point. Just about everything that comes with her meteoric rise to the Senate spurs accusations of irregularity and impropriety.
The local politics of Thai soft power
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 29/04/2022
» It was yet another passing storm in Thailand's overflowing teacup. The overnight sensation of 19-year-old rapper Danupha "Milli" Khanatheerakul at the recent Coachella Music Festival in the United States has shaken Thailand to its core foundations and revealed much that is still right and all that is wrong with this country. At issue are the ramifications from her global showcase of Thailand's sticky rice and ripe mango on the Coachella stage in view of her talent and political standing against the local conservative establishment.
Corruption without a moral backstop
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 15/01/2021
» For Thailand, Covid-19 has become an unwitting spotlight that has exposed shadowy closets and drawers where corruption and graft have long festered. In the past, Thailand's dirty deeds and illegal wrongdoings operated within certain parameters set by a semblance of moral authority at the top echelons of Thai society. But in recent years, moral turpitude has set in while the sense of moral backstop has faded. As this trend intensifies, Thailand risks suffering political decay, social decadence and economic stagnation, while impunity and immorality reign without boundaries.