• OPINION

  NACC sparks death debate

  News, Editorial, Published on 15/07/2015

  » The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has done the country a disservice by secretly changing the law and instituting the death penalty as the maximum punishment for graft. The commission claims it discussed the law at length and agreed the death penalty is appropriate for such a severe offence as corruption. The NACC has acted in a disappointing and a high-handed matter. The legislature and government should act to rescind the NACC's secret decree and start over again. A new corruption law is needed, but it must undergo public debate, including the decision to extend the use of capital punishment.

• OPINION

  Failing grade for tattoo ban

  News, Editorial, Published on 08/08/2015

  » The decision by an umbrella organisation for privately-run vocational colleges not to accept youngsters with tattoos or stretched pierced ears for studies appears to be rather a skin-deep solution to problems the colleges are facing.

• OPINION

  Crisis panel is undemocratic

  News, Editorial, Published on 14/08/2015

  » The Charter Drafting Committee (CDC) should drop its plan to set up an all-powerful body with special constitutional authority to override electoral democracy and parliamentary politics in a political crisis. 

• OPINION

  Embrace the digital age

  News, Editorial, Published on 26/08/2015

  » The new economic team under Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak has taken over in a most low-key manner. However, expectations of Mr Somkid and his deputies are high.

• OPINION

  Global refugee crisis cries out for action

  News, Editorial, Published on 06/09/2015

  » Now, it’s personal. Until last week the world’s migrant crisis was abstract, a procession of humanity as statistics. The 59.5 million people forcibly displaced by the end of last year, two-thirds of them uprooted from home within their own country. The 1.9 million Syrians living in Turkey, mainly in camps, having fled a country torn between the atrocities of Bashar al-Assad and the Islamic State. The 140,000 men, women and children who have entered Hungary from the border with Serbia this year alone, hoping for asylum in richer western European countries. The hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who have entrusted their lives to traffickers, their very exodus abetted by the regime they seek to escape. The Uighur who have turned to criminal networks to escape persecution in China. The Iraqis, Afghans and Sudanese who made perilous journeys to Australian waters only to have the navy pay their traffickers to turn away.

• OPINION

  Policing the UN's men

  News, Editorial, Published on 29/09/2015

  » The annual United Nations General Assembly opening is predictable and mostly unremarkable. For the public it is a series of speeches by leaders or appointees from the member nations.

• OPINION

  Sexual harassment is not the new norm

  News, Editorial, Published on 11/10/2015

  » Once again, the State Railway of Thailand is attracting attention for all the wrong reasons after another case of sexual assault against a young passenger. A 15-year-old girl alleged a ticket officer harassed her and assaulted her, although she managed to raise the alarm before her attacker grabbed her phone.

• OPINION

  Worawi should put game's dignity first

  News, Editorial, Published on 18/10/2015

  » After 18 years at the pinnacle of football in Thailand, the greatest legacy Worawi Makudi can now leave the beautiful game is a dignified departure. During his controversial tenure as head of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) and as a former executive member of the world governing body Fifa, enough mud has been flung at Mr Worawi for him to require an ice-pick to clean his boots.

• OPINION

  Stop road slaughter

  News, Editorial, Published on 24/10/2015

  » Now it’s official. Thailand’s roads have become the second-deadliest in the world, and that is a record we can hardly be proud of.

• OPINION

  Public backs NACC reform

  News, Editorial, Published on 24/11/2015

  » Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam is right that the anti-corruption agencies still need reform to be truly effective. The public remains unconvinced by both the process and people involved. Yet if reformers can convince the whole country that anti-corruption efforts are fair and fearless, a true campaign can begin.

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