Showing 1 - 10 of 10
How women pay the costs of development
Spectrum, Paritta Wangkiat, Published on 11/03/2018
» Heading down a dirt road, Khampan Suprom zigzags her motorcycle through the grove, passing a small reservoir and plantation on the way. She comes to park under some trees. Dressed in her gardening apron and rain boots, she dismounts and drifts towards her vegetable garden.
Health care on life support
Spectrum, Paritta Wangkiat, Published on 26/11/2017
» Thailand's universal healthcare coverage (UHC) scheme is confronting its most critical time since its introduction in 2002. For over a decade, the scheme has been praised all over the world for its achievement in providing healthcare access to over 48 million out of 66 million people, filling the gap left by the social security scheme and civil service welfare.
Stars get struck for speaking out
Spectrum, Paritta Wangkiat, Published on 13/08/2017
» The social media world has been swept in patriotic sentiment since singer Suthita "Image" Chanachaisuwan, 19, posted a complaint about Thailand's poor public transport last week. After waiting two hours to catch a bus home in Bangkok, she was driven to tweet her frustration: "What's a lousy country. It's not going to improve in 50 or even 1,000 years from now … Now shoot me."
A patient prescription for chronic addicts' recovery
Spectrum, Paritta Wangkiat, Published on 30/07/2017
» 'A dictatorship wouldn't work in a place like this," Sathit tells visitors at the House of Compassion, the drug rehabilitation centre where he works in the Chom Thong district of Chiang Mai.
A kerbside view of Thai politics
Spectrum, Paritta Wangkiat, Published on 16/07/2017
» On the day the doors of Phitsanulok Mansion were opened for Chalerm Changthongmadan, he felt his existence was recognised for the first time in his life.
All the world's a stage
Spectrum, Paritta Wangkiat, Published on 04/12/2016
» In rehearsal, I'm given the role of a leading character in the play – a 30-something, Europe-educated lecturer caught up in the corruption of Thailand's higher education system. The rehearsal, run by the Makhampom Theatre Group, is less a practice to prepare for a performance than an experimental workshop -- a unique exercise in empathy and community.
Through a screen darkly
Spectrum, Paritta Wangkiat, Published on 13/11/2016
» In recent years, if you are Thai, you may have encountered an argument about which social class you belong to or how you define others -- probably as a nationalist, liberal, conservative, pro-military, royalist, red or yellow.
Damned if you do,damned if you don't
Spectrum, Paritta Wangkiat, Published on 08/05/2016
» In the late 1980s, Chatichai Choonhavan's government promised an ambitious water diversion project to provide a constant supply of water to the dry Northeast.
Stifling people’s voices
Spectrum, Paritta Wangkiat, Published on 03/05/2015
» It takes effort to tell strangers what people’s unique homes look like, and it’s a lot more difficult when they are seen as an enemy of economic growth. So villagers from Satun, the southern coastal province on the Andaman Sea, drove 14 hours to Bangkok last week to tell people about the value of their distinctive homes through seminars and a three-day photographic exhibition at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre.
The power struggle at Salween River
Spectrum, Paritta Wangkiat, Published on 30/11/2014
» The Salween River meanders through pristine mountain forests before reaching a camp for internally displaced people at Ei Htu Hta, near the Thai-Myanmar border. Temporary bamboo shelters dot the hills around the camp, with small solar panels attached to the thatched roofs providing power for a few hours a day.