Showing 91 - 100 of 160
Fire battle a team effort
News, Editorial, Published on 18/04/2019
» A massive fire engulfing vast areas of a Chiang Rai forest has intensified the smog problem in this northernmost province, adding to the country's pollution woes.
Has drug reform gone to pot?
News, Editorial, Published on 07/04/2019
» Legal action against a prominent rice expert and biodiversity advocate for possessing marijuana plants and extracts raises questions as to whether the country is serious about drug reform. Or is it just hypocrisy?
Beijing saves Mekong islets
News, Editorial, Published on 12/03/2019
» The revelation that China is backing away from its plans to blow up islands and outcroppings in the Mekong River is welcome news. Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said he had raised the issue last month during a visit by Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. It is a wise move by Beijing. It comes more than two years after all riverside communities and civil society in four countries had registered strong opposition.
Horror of the disappeared
News, Editorial, Published on 11/02/2019
» Cases of the sudden disappearance of political dissidents continue to mount. The latest such case occurred in daytime, inside a well-known Bangkok mall. Truong Duy Nhat, a well-known journalist and blogger in Vietnam, was seized and dragged out of Future Park shopping centre. He had just registered his personal details and applied for asylum through the UN refugee office. His disappearance on Jan 26 has received the usual silence from governments involved.
Dam study must be transparent
News, Editorial, Published on 03/02/2019
» After a short confrontation with conservationists and local southerners late last month over the controversial Wang Heeb dam project in Nakhon Si Thammarat, the Prayut Chan-o-cha government has agreed to step back, albeit temporarily.
Time to cast nets wider
News, Editorial, Published on 26/01/2019
» Now that the Thai government has "cleaned up" the country's lucrative fishing industry and saved seafood exporters from potentially huge losses deriving from lost exports to European Union markets, the time is nigh for it to address a bigger problem: saving migrant workers from abuse and exploitation in other sectors.
Solve Mekong killings case
News, Editorial, Published on 25/01/2019
» The disappearance of 78-year-old political activist Surachai Danwattananusorn, also known as Surachai Saedan, and the killing of his two close aides, who had been living in exile in Laos, need not go down in history as unsolved and unexplained mysteries.
Abetting dictators
News, Editorial, Published on 12/12/2018
» The sudden government interest in apprehending political opponents of foreign governments is disappointing. It may be coincidence but in just a week, police have forcibly detained critics of the governments of Cambodia and Bahrain. The arrests and threats of deportation or extradition to these undemocratic countries go against normal human rights practices. They also violate decades of Thai policy that often welcomed and never threatened lives of foreigners pitted against their governments.
T-shirt saga a witch hunt
News, Editorial, Published on 15/09/2018
» In what seems to be nothing other than a witch hunt against a small group of people who hold a political ideology seen as unorthodox in Thailand, the military junta has set a bad precedent and made an unjust move in slapping severe criminal charges against four people, who are alleged to have promoted the political concept through the distribution of T-shirts.
Shared items with no sole 'owner'
News, Editorial, Published on 09/09/2018
» Over the past weeks, social media has buzzed with a number of Khmer netizens jittering over Thailand's registration of khon masked dance performance as intangible cultural heritage with Unesco.