Showing 1 - 10 of 12
Don't play roulette with Thai society
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 01/07/2015
» Since the National Council for Peace and Order took the reins of government 13 months ago, Thailand was supposed to be on a path of reform — to make major changes for the better. The National Reform Assembly (NRA), with members chosen from various groups of presumably wise Thais, was set up to put together what needs to be changed.
Cabinet shuffle unlikely to kickstart growth
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 05/08/2015
» As the economy continues to stagnate, speculation is getting more intense as to when the prime minister will replace some - or perhaps all - ministers in charge of the economy. Changing personnel may pacify the critics, but it is unlikely to change anything for the better. Both external and internal factors are working against any possibility of achieving robust growth in the near future.
Four horsemen of Thai democracy ride on apathy
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 03/06/2015
» We are presumably more than half done with yet another constitution. Not counting the temporary ones issued after the many coup d'etats, this will be the 17th since absolute monarchy was abolished in 1932. Debates have been raging whether the new constitution will — finally — help Thailand reach its goal of being governed by democratic principles. I think not, for these reasons.
Is lower growth a 'sustainable' blessing in disguise?
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 04/02/2015
» Economic numbers and growth prospects seem to make few people happy these days. But unless we are among the desperately poor or unemployed with few prospects of changing our lot, perhaps we should not feel bad.
Sufficiency economy doesn't mean self-sufficiency
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 03/12/2014
» Since the head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) announced some six months ago that he would use the sufficiency economy (SE) as the guiding light for governing the country, I again have seen discussions equating SE with self-sufficiency. It's not.
Harnessing consumer power for the better
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 05/03/2014
» During the past few weeks, Thailand has seen a new phenomenon, beginning with a large number of depositors flocking to branches of the Government Savings Bank (GSB), to either close their accounts or withdraw large sums of money.
As Buddhists, we needn't reach for the sky
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 02/10/2013
» With cities racing to build ever taller buildings, the question arises as to how much of a skyscraper is actually usable space, and how much is designed to make it taller.
Face of change needs more than a mask
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 05/06/2013
» Wearing a Guy Fawkes mask as a way of holding one's nose against the government seems to have caught on.
For Thailand, 'midway' is the better way
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 06/03/2013
» Over the years, among the books that I have strongly recommended are two written by Professor Jared Diamond _ Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or to Succeed. Both have been translated into Thai. For those who cannot spare the time to read these rather hefty books, brief excerpts can be found in the book entitled Kalapiwat.
Our road to sustainability grows ever rockier
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 06/02/2013
» Last week, former US vice president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Al Gore published perhaps another bestseller entitled, The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change. From the pre-publication announcement, it was not clear what the six drivers might be. While waiting for my pre-publication order to be delivered, I saw his brief interview with the BBC.