Showing 21 - 29 of 29
Thailand's divide running deep and wide
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 06/09/2013
» The latest gauge of Thailand's divisiveness transpired last Monday with a misnamed event titled "Uniting for the Future: Learning from Each Other's Experiences". Its outcome was almost predictably discouraging.
Government meddling harms unity efforts
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 14/08/2013
» The tendency of governments to shoot themselves in the foot never ceases to amaze. In Thailand's latest high-profile case of official self-affliction, the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra lost the plot when it tried to rope in key domestic power brokers to work on a "political reform council" and invited prominent international figures to promote reconciliation and unity. Conflating these two parallel tracks of reform and compromise has led to controversy and confusion. The best way for the Yingluck government to ensure the utility and effectiveness of these exercises is to get out of the way completely.
Thailand needs viable electoral alternatives
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 28/06/2013
» After some months of relative calm following turmoil and mayhem in recent years, Thai politics is heating up again.
Pitak Siam postmortem offers many lessons
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 30/11/2012
» That the anti-government Pitak Siam (Protecting Thailand) protest movement has subsided from a bang to a whimper in merely four weeks offers a host of reality checks and lessons for Thailand's political polarisation. At issue is whether the leading protagonists on all sides of the divide will take the away the right cues and come back with better responses that can move Thailand beyond its protracted conflict.
What next after judicial deja vu?
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 13/07/2012
» The sense of deja vu that pervades Thailand's political landscape in the lead-up to the Constitution Court's decision Friday on whether the lower house has violated the charter by trying to amend it harbours short- and longer-term implications.
The politics of the Nasa controversy
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 03/07/2012
» Thai quipsters have put it aptly _ it is now easier for the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) to go to the Moon than to come to Thailand, now that the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has opted for parliamentary debate instead of a cabinet resolution.
After Europe, Suu Kyi faces tough challenge
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 15/06/2012
» Less than two weeks after her spectacular visit to Bangkok and surrounding provinces under the aegis of the World Economic Forum, Aung San Suu Kyi has embarked on a long-awaited whirlwind tour of western Europe. From Geneva to Oslo and Bergen, and from Dublin to London and Paris, she is deservedly expected to be feted like a rock star of international politics by European leaders who have been her longtime supporters through thick and thin while she spent years in the political wilderness.
Uneasy truce and elusive reconciliation
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 30/03/2012
» After the post-coup years of conflict and turmoil, Thailand at last has reached uneasy terms of a truce, which will be necessary for long-term reconciliation and the way forward. To take the remaining steps towards the hitherto elusive reconciliation will require more concessions from the main parties involved. The danger going forward is that what appear like huge concessions now may well turn out later to be too little, too late.
The implications of Burma's progress
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 13/01/2012
» Watching Burma's ongoing progress towards democratic reforms and political dialogue from afar is like seeing sprinkling rain turning into a light downpour after a long drought over two decades. It is a spectacular and stunning sight thus far, partly because the long drought stirred pent-up demands and grievances for ways forward.