Showing 1 - 6 of 6
Getting soft power right
Life, Published on 08/01/2024
» After three months in office, the Srettha Thavisin government has raved on about populist policies in the guise of digital wallets and soft power projects that will create income to boost our declining economy. With optimism, we learned that Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Pheu Thai party leader and head of the National Soft Power Strategy Committee (NSPSC), has drafted a budget of 5.1 billion baht to boost festivals and creative industries. It is welcoming news to hear this government is priortising art, music, literature, design, fashion, film, food, games, sports and festivals as essential sources for the creative economy. Where this enormous chunk of budget will come from, like digital wallets, remains to be seen.
In tune with the times
B Magazine, Apipar Norapoompipat, Published on 08/07/2018
» For over 30 years, Pongsit Kampee has been telling stories about people, their struggles, grievances, and of love lost. To say that he is Thailand's Bob Dylan may be a bit of an overstatement, but he's one of the few we have who may merit that comparison.
Pages of GLT history
Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 21/03/2016
» One by one, vintage magazines that were kept inside ziplock bags were slowly pulled out from within a steel cupboard. The yellowed pages of the publication and the outdated fashion apparel of the half-naked cover boy spoke for the period it was published.
From clam to crab governments
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 14/12/2015
» From the Tanin Kraivixien government following the massacre of Oct 6, 1976, the premiership of Gen Prem Tinsulanonda in the 80s, the post-economic crisis time of Chuan Leekpai up to the politically turbulent times of Thaksin Shinawatra, Abhisit Vejjajiva and Yingluck Shinawatra -- few have witnessed the history of Thai contemporary politics as closely as Somlak Songsamphant.
An amazing guidebook
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 30/03/2015
» Go to any bookshop here and you will find a shelf full of guides to Thailand, many penned by farangs, several with lovely scenic photos. They cover much the same ground. The Thai people are nice in every respect, yet they have quaint practices you are expected to heed. But what can you expect? It's a foreign land, a third-world country, that needs catching up. Give it another century or so.
Smiling in plain view
Life, Achara Ashayagachat, Published on 08/10/2014
» It's very rare for him not to smile. He smiles when he speaks. In fact, he even smiled when he was hauled into a police truck on the night the military announced Thailand's 19th coup. He also smiled — as some photographs showed — when he was subsequently brought back twice to a military camp.