• OPINION

  Defending the indefensible

  News, Editorial, Published on 19/09/2018

  » The conversion of Aung San Suu Kyi from human rights champion to defender of military violence has been painful to watch. The Myanmar leader capped her change last week. At a UN-sponsored conference in Hanoi, she sloughed off questions about the brutal expulsion of 700,000 Rohingya, who now are refugees. Shockingly, she defended the imprisonment of two Myanmar reporters by praising a law written by colonialists to intimidate and punish her own country's citizens.

• OPINION

  Army reform inevitable

  News, Editorial, Published on 18/02/2020

  » The shooting rampage in Korat on Feb 8, which saw the loss of so many innocent lives, has exposed the rot in the army and showed the public how reforms are inevitable. Among the problems is army housing which are illegitimately, if not illegally, occupied by retired generals who are supposed to vacate these properties to make way for their successors.

• OPINION

  Drop the forest plan

  Oped, Editorial, Published on 14/07/2022

  » The Royal Thai Army (RTA) probably expected to receive kudos from environmentalists and the public in general for its reforestation mission. It did not.

• OPINION

  ICC's leap in the dark

  Oped, Editorial, Published on 10/09/2018

  » The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has issued a clear and compelling case against Myanmar -- both its armed forces and its leaders. A UN-ordered investigation of the Rohingya tragedy is described unequivocally and credibly as genocidal. The UNHRC says government and army then tried to cover up crimes by multiple fabrications. It specifically names Sen Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the commander of the armed forces (tatmadaw) and the national leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

• OPINION

  Myanmar tragedy

  News, Editorial, Published on 23/01/2018

  » A pair of highly respected envoys are to arrive in Myanmar today, and it is hoped the government and army are ready to listen. Top priority for ex-foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai and the former US ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, is the fate of two Reuters reporters who face trial on absurd national security charges. Myanmar has already asked the Thai and American experts for help with their self-made crisis over the Rohingya of Rakhine state.

• OPINION

  Five-star salaries too fat

  News, Editorial, Published on 17/11/2018

  » In a move that has perplexed many, the junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly (NLA) yesterday approved in principle a bill that aims to "legalise" the fat pay cheques of generals, admirals and air chief marshals who have been awarded the "special" five-star rank in the military.

• OPINION

  Police stifle free speech

  News, Editorial, Published on 13/09/2018

  » It has happened again. the Thai police have forced the cancellation of a public forum by citing concerns over security, which is a broad and dubious term.

• OPINION

  Surakiart has a tough task

  News, Editorial, Published on 05/02/2018

  » The Myanmar government continues to dig itself into deeper trouble over the crisis it created with the Rohingya. Worse, it is rapidly creating an atmosphere of belligerence. There seems plenty of means available to discuss and solve the situation via talks with neighbours and the international community. Instead, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the nation's military have only become more isolated.

• OPINION

  Resettlement plan a sham

  News, Editorial, Published on 13/12/2017

  » Myanmar's government has unveiled a plan to repatriate Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh. In essence, the government of Aung San Suu Kyi, in what is known as a "phased return", will allow some returnees, beginning early next year, but not to their original villages, homes and land. It will build camps to "resettle" the Rohingya indefinitely. As the United Nations' refugee organisation and key international groups have said, the plan is unacceptable.

• OPINION

  Religious abuse perils

  News, Editorial, Published on 15/08/2018

  » Friday is the third anniversary of the worst single terrorist attack in modern Thailand. The poorly investigated, badly prosecuted bombing of the Erawan shrine killed 20 people and injured more than 100. The hurried police work concluded it was the act of foreigners angry at the government's success against human trafficking. The "foreigners" turned out to be Chinese Uighurs, two of whom were arrested and are still undergoing trial. The only known Thai suspect is on bail and her trial is officially pending, unofficially unlikely.

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