Showing 1 - 10 of 10
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss
News, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 25/02/2016
» I wonder if People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) protesters must, in one way or another, take responsibility for where we are now as a country, nearly two years under the military regime. This is if you care to look at the situation, out of curiosity and an attempt at straightforward reasoning, rather than vengefulness.
Seeing the world through another's eyes
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 13/11/2015
» As much as Facebook is a virtual space of borderless interaction, it has, for many, undeniably become our most immediate and primary news source. It's a personalised pool of information, which though we have chosen consciously, can transform who we are and the way we think without our even realising it. And I have often wondered what it would be like to live, maybe for a day, in the social media world of other people's Facebook accounts.
Drink up 'cos the generals won't go away
News, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 28/07/2016
» So this is it then; come next Sunday we're off to the polling stations for the referendum vote. That familiar locale, a school, a temple or a mosque temporarily converted into a theatre of democracy; where we performed our duty as active citizens in the Feb 2, 2014 election which was later made null and void.
Premier must fulfil promises of his ballads
News, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 28/01/2016
» A video clip which has gone viral recently features Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha as he pays a visit to Ratharat-anusorn School in Nakhon Sawan province last week. It shows students lining up to welcome him by singing Because You Are Thailand, a song penned by the prime minister himself as a New Year gift last year.
A road map to nowhere
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 15/09/2015
» Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha recently admitted that when he wrote the line "We are asking for a little more time" in the song Returning Happiness To The People, he didn't think it through. Obviously, he didn't.
Sooner or later, it's game over
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 20/02/2015
» Last week I was invited to join a panel on the topic "Why Criticism?", at Speedy Grandma, a small gallery in Charoen Krung. Along with a university literature lecturer and a film critic, I was invited as an arts and theatre critic. Before agreeing to participate, I insisted to the organisers that I'm not a critic, and it's unlikely that I will consider myself one anytime soon.
Hong Kong protest provokes Thai navel-gazing
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 01/10/2014
» As I write this, the latest Facebook status of Sombat Boonngamanong, leader of Thai pro-democracy group Red Sunday, reads: "Hong Kongers are not happy".
Tongue-tied about Thai politics
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 21/05/2014
» Now is definitely not the best time for us Thais to be travelling abroad, especially if we have to engage in conversations with foreigners about the political situation here. Last weekend, I was on a media trip with a group of reporters from Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines and we had to meet up with quite a few people from Europe.
Splitting seems not all that shocking
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 22/04/2014
» When a banner bearing the message “This country has no justice. I want to split the country” was set up earlier this year across a pedestrian flyover in Phayao province in the North, I was shocked.
A new song is being written for Suthep
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 31/01/2014
» A few days of cool breezesare usually welcomed by residents of this perennially sultry city of ours, but it's a bit much that the cold spell has dragged on for so many weeks. Flicking on the air-con makes the house too cold and leaving the windows open is a sure recipe for freezing to death under your own roof. And while taking a shower in the mornings is torture, things get tougher if the air-con at your office blasts out air at a temperature even lower than that outside on the street.