Showing 1 - 10 of 12
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.
Thaksin chapter closes, another opens
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 19/09/2025
» In yet another dramatic twist in Thai politics, erstwhile anti-establishment political juggernaut and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra accepted a one-year jail sentence and began serving his time behind bars on Sept 9. After his return from a 15-year self-imposed exile in August 2023 and a concomitant royal pardon that reduced his eight-year imprisonment on corruption convictions to just one year, Thaksin cited his gravely ill health and spent the time comfortably at the Police General Hospital before being released on parole. The Supreme Court's ruling that his get-out-of-jail health card was invalid means Thaksin's renewed imprisonment and its aftermath are likely to reshape and realign Thailand's political landscape ahead of the next election, due by mid-2027.
New govt may last longer than pledged
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 12/09/2025
» Thailand's latest round of political tumult reached a culmination when the Constitutional Court removed Paetongtarn Shinawatra of the hitherto ruling Pheu Thai (PT) Party from office on Aug 29, paving the way for Bhumjaithai Party (BJT) leader Anutin Charnvirakul to succeed her as prime minister with the Lower House's majority support a week later.
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 politics back at the brink (again)
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 04/07/2025
» The Constitutional Court's suspension of Paetongtarn Shinawatra from the premiership is déjà vu, exposing a pattern of systematic manipulation and concoction of political outcomes. After so many dissolutions of leading political parties and repeated bans of elected representatives over two decades, it is time to call a spade a spade. Thailand is a faux democracy. Its core foundations constitute an autocratic regime that does not really care about the country's future and the collective will of its people.
PM's crisis and Thai political directions
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 27/06/2025
» What began just a month ago as a minor border dispute with Cambodia has spiralled into an existential political crisis in Thailand. In what she understood to be a private phone conversation with Cambodia's former prime minister and Senate President, Hun Sen, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra compromised her premiership and undermined Thai national interests. While she tries to ride out the storm, her tenure appears wobbly and unworkable. What comes next will likely proceed in one of three directions revolving around the Thai parliamentary processes, each with its own scenarios and considerations.
Thai political crisis from border dispute
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 20/06/2025
» The Thai-Cambodian border dispute has turned into a full-blown political crisis in Thailand. Cambodia's former prime minister and Senate President Hun Sen dropped a bombshell in Thai politics by revealing a taped private conversation that is irrevocably compromising to Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and her Pheu Thai party-led coalition government and deeply damaging to Thailand's national interest.
Thailand lags in the global trade war
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 11/04/2025
» Thailand is fast isolating itself from the international community and falling behind in the emerging geoeconomic warfare to the detriment of its economy and people. The elected government of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra is ironically coming up with outcomes that resemble those of the military administration a decade ago. Thailand must now move quickly to contain policy damage and restore its international standing to navigate and come out of the intensifying geoeconomic war in as decent a shape as possible.
Thai sovereignty is not for abuse
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 28/10/2022
» Thailand's dramatic and damaging shift in position towards Russia's aggression in Ukraine raises myriad questions with few answers -- none holding any water.
Thai charter changes without reform
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 25/06/2021
» In view of the ongoing parliamentary debate about constitutional revisions, it has become the consensus that the 2017 charter is flawed and in need of change. At issue is the nature and extent of charter amendments. What is being proposed can be categorised into three positions -- those favouring amendments without fundamental reforms and others who want reforms with all necessary amendments, with some advocating measures in between. Owing to the powers of incumbency, status quo proponents aligned with the coalition government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha are likely to carry the day, thereby stoking political tensions to manifest on the horizon.