Showing 1 - 9 of 9
Asean films receive special showcase
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/07/2018
» The riches of Southeast Asian stories and images are celebrated at the 4th Bangkok Asean Film Festival, which opens tonight at SF CentralWorld and runs until Sunday. Hosted by the Thai Ministry of Culture, this year's edition marks the 51st anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the regional body whose primary mission is economics and which increasingly pays more heed to cultural promotion.
The sad saga of southern discomfort
Oped, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/03/2017
» We thought never again, but we’re always wrong. The godless attack and murder of four people, including an eight-year-old boy, in Narathiwat on Thursday was the latest reminder of the longstanding deep South anguish. The death toll is nearly 6,800 and counting. A beautiful region has been cursed for 13 years and counting. A land of many faiths is being threatened by faithless goons, and the urge among authorities to tighten their grip will fan the flames of violence.
Finding salvation for the South
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/02/2017
» When Muhammad Anwar bin Ismael Hajiteh was released on Jan 7 on a royal pardon, activists and civic groups in the deep South greeted the news with jubilation.
A backpack, bombs and a land of fear
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 10/09/2016
» The photo just broke your heart: A little yellow backpack with a cartoon pattern, crumpled on the road in Narathiwat after a bomb. We can imagine the rest. A few minutes before, it must have been slung on the back of a five-year-old girl before a deadly blast knocked it off. She was killed along with her father, Mayeng Wohbah, at 8.25am outside a school in Tak Bai, a place that has seen too many deaths, adults and children, over many years.
Serving up cruelty, a taste of 'Thainess'
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/08/2016
» The debate on the meaning of "Thainess" always fills me with patriotism and stomach ache. After last week's bombings, the army chief warned us to look out for people who wore hats, glasses and carried backpacks, because "Thais don't do that". The general meant well -- that we should watch out for suspicious agents of terror -- but the way he framed it was a crass, militaristic way of monopolising the definition of something that is shifting, malleable, even undefinable.
Asean on screen
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 28/08/2015
» When was the last time you saw a Malaysian film? An Indonesian? A Vietnamese? The odds are even lower for a Myanmar or a Bruneian. As the Asean banner is being splashed across the region, with the emphasis on the economic free-flow, the cultural exchange among Southeast Asians remains a glaring deficit. Cinema, perhaps the most accessible form of cultural expression, is no exception.
Art helps us see through the fog of war
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 16/08/2014
» Her mother is Christian. Her father is Muslim. What is she?
Keeping talking will stop the bullets in South
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/07/2013
» Like watching a child carrying an expensive crystal glass into a minefield, we watch the 40-day violence-free period in the deep South with bated breath.
Weep for the fallen, never stop caring
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/05/2013
» We weep for the South. We send prayers and we will remember, or try our best to remember, all the deaths and not consign them to the faceless realm of statistics. On Wednesday night, ruthless, lawless, godless insurgents killed six civilians, including two-year-old Jakarin Hiangma, in a sign of escalating violence that leaves Buddhists and Muslims alike in shame and shock.