Showing 1 - 10 of 33
The Faustian promise in a blaming game
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 16/12/2017
» Through a tangled web of pride, vanity, moral superiority, Nietzschean negativity, Faustian promises and pseudo-Jedi cool, the junta keeps to its playbook by blaming everyone except themselves.
'Mad clown' a mascot for failed govt PR
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 02/12/2017
» In a rough week for the military government, the best response they could come up with was unveiling a nightmarish mascot right out of a horror movie. In a week that called for deft public relations manoeuvring, the government spokesman riled the Muslim South with disgraceful doublespeak. In a week that required a calm port in a storm, the prime minister's infamous blustering blew the top off every lid of decency.
'Double-tap' evil mustn't conquer hope
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 13/05/2017
» In Pattani, the checkpoints are frequent, more frequent than Islamic prayers. Every few turns, your van goes through one. Sometimes the driver is asked to lower the window, other times the armed soldiers just peer inside and wave the vehicle onward.
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.
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.
Army 'image' trumps the people's truth
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 30/07/2016
» Her uncle was beaten to death in an army camp and now she has been sued for revealing what happened. On Monday, Naritsarawan Kaewnopparat was arrested and charged for defamation and disseminating "false information" -- meaning the details of her uncle's harrowing death at the combat boots of his drill sergeants, who caned and kicked him from evening until past midnight back in 2011 at a Narathiwat barracks. Ms Naritsarawan, who has been fighting for a semblance of justice for six years, denied the charges and was released on bail.
IS a threat even if they aren't here
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 09/07/2016
» Ramadan has ended, and what a bloodied Ramadan it was as the godless terror of the so-called Islamic State (IS) -- though I prefer Daesh -- spilled innocent blood and soiled the spirit of the holy month.
Of military, monks and an unholy mess
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/02/2016
» It was a match made in heaven, if heaven had a wrestling match. A few hundred monks from the Sangha Buddhist Alliance faced off with 150 soldiers on Monday at Phutthamonthon park, saffron vs green, tonsured vs crew-cut, as a mini brawl broke out between the two sides over the contested supreme patriarch nomination. Choice photos show a monk head-lock a soldier, jujitsu-style, while soldiers were blocking the angry brethren from entering the park. It was an unholy mess. I thought we were watching news from Myanmar, only that Myanmar seems peaceful these days.
Violence in South doesn't discriminate
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 07/11/2015
» To give you an update on Buddhist nationalism, Phra Apichart Punnajanto has “temporarily” closed his Facebook page, after the Sangha Council sent him a warning letter in the aftermath of the monk’s call for a crusade against the Muslim South.