Showing 1 - 10 of 18
When students rise
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 28/10/2025
» Back in the mid-19th century, female education increased literacy and access to jobs and they began to fight for participation in public life. The public sphere promised them a new horizon. From the 1890s onwards, print media began to allow women to express their voice and authors vaunted personal talent and equality, including gender relations. Following the Siamese Revolution in 1932, women were enfranchised for the first time.
Written in blood
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 21/07/2025
» In 2015, Joe Freeman and Aung Naing Soe noticed the prominent status of poetry in Myanmar politics. At the time, both journalists heard that Maung Saungkha, a 23-year-old poet, posted a poem about having a tattoo of an unnamed president on his penis on Facebook. Saungkha, however, was charged for defaming former president Thein Sein under telecommunication law, serving a six-month jail term.
A sustainable retreat
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 21/09/2023
» In the southwest of Phnom Penh lies the region's largest surviving rainforest. After landing, I met other travel companions to spend three nights together at a riverside camp. We were split into two vans and headed for Sihanoukville. Downtown shophouses and heavy traffic gave way to lush scenery. No sooner had the hustle faded into the distance than rice paddies, palm trees and mountains came into sight. Here, Cambodia's nature remains undisturbed. In more or less two hours, we arrived at the camp depot.
A forgotten heritage
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 03/08/2023
» To the layman, Paniat is unheard of. It is an ancient town that lies in the eastern province of Chanthaburi. It sits at the foot of Khao Sa Bap, a square settlement that was once guarded by walls but levelled out, buried and forgotten to make way for an orchard village. However, the site retains remnants of Khmer culture that highlight the dynamic interaction between Siam and its neighbours.
Nationalism is not the answer to land woes
Oped, Thana Boonlert, Published on 04/11/2022
» Resistance to the controversial foreign land ownership bill is giving rise to the term khai chat -- used to denounce traitors who sell the motherland -- being used in political discourse. Whether a person is a government critic or supporter, he or she believes their ancestors fought very hard to protect our land and it should not be given away to foreigners.
Give mental health a chance
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 18/10/2022
» A string of mass shootings by officers in recent years may involve many factors, but they highlight the need for an improvement in mental health services, experts say, following the nursery massacre in Nong Bua Lam Phu's Na Klang district that left 36 people dead, mostly young children, and others injured.
A hundred baht and a dream
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 14/06/2022
» Before a lucky draw this week, a middle-aged woman stared intently at a stall in front of Bangkok's shopping mall. She prayed and plucked three lottery tickets, 100 baht each, out of endless possibilities. "I hope you will win the prize," Sudta Tamnudee, a vendor, told her first customer.
Complicated history and a comeback
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 02/06/2022
» On the partition of a quiet seaside wood house is more than an old photo from circa 1881. It is hard evidence that King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) and his entourage, including his half-brother Prince Damrong Rajanuphap, visited the island in the easternmost province of Trat before it was subject to French rule. Despite the withdrawal of troops, colonial legacies remained for years.
In pursuit of academic freedom
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 07/02/2022
» A temple is more than a place of worship. Located on a bank of the Chao Phraya River, Wat Thong Noppakhun is offering food for democratic thought. Surrounded by leafy trees, its library is now home to a large number of non-official history books, some of which are controversial in what remains a conservative society.
Patriotism's problem
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 01/11/2021
» 'When will you come home?" a mother asks her on the phone. A teenage daughter, now a university student, is busy completing her assignment. She is about to go on a field trip to historic places ranging from temples to museums to collect information for her report.