• OPINION

  Misguided myopia of asking the rich

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 24/04/2020

  » Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's initiative to seek more cooperation and assistance from Thailand's 20 wealthiest billionaires is understandable. Thailand needs all the help it can get to handle and manage the social and economic ravages of the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis. But making an appeal in writing from the top to the country's richest is short-sighted and misguided on many levels. It displays a government at the end of its tether and a leader who is being forced to own up to mismanaging the country for the past six years.

• OPINION

  Thai Airways a microcosm of Thailand

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 29/05/2020

  » Not so long ago, when air travel was not so commonplace, Thai nationals studying and working abroad could feel like they were half-way home when they saw Thai Airways (THAI) planes on tarmacs around the world. It was a symbolic comfort to know that getting on one of the national flag carrier's aircraft would eventually end up getting them home. As THAI has entered a massive and unprecedented reorganisation plan, the national airline is a microcosm of Thailand itself.

• OPINION

  5 years backwards under military rule

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 24/05/2019

  » Now that five years have elapsed since Thailand's last military coup, it is an opportune juncture to take stock of where the country is heading. When it seized power in May 2014, the military junta, known as the National Council for Peace and Order, initially had legitimacy from royal ascent and broad approval from its restoration of stability and order after more than half a year of street protests in Bangkok by the People's Democratic Reform Committee that was intent on overthrowing the Pheu Thai government.

• OPINION

  Eastern Economic Corridor must continue

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 07/12/2018

  » As the election looms, the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will likely leave behind a very mixed legacy. Far from being a clean-up crew against graft and a technocratic team for effective policy performance when it seized power more than four years ago, this outgoing government has had its fair share of unaccountable corruption allegations and policy directions that merely served its own vested interests of staying in power after the polls.

• OPINION

  China's Belt & Road impact on Thailand

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 28/09/2018

  » As China's ambitious Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) and Maritime Silk Road (MSR) -- popularly known as the Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI -- continues to make ripples and waves in international affairs, its likely impact on mainland Southeast Asia warrants attention. Unlike many of the countries on the Eurasian landmass and along waterways from the South China Sea through the Indian Ocean to eastern Africa, Thailand and its immediate neighbours are not directly on the BRI path.

• OPINION

  Myanmar's Rohingya issue handled poorly

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 08/09/2017

  » Less than a year after its last major upsurge in communal violence underpinned by religious tensions between Buddhism and Islam, the northern section of Myanmar's western Rakhine state bordering Bangladesh is again beset with another bout of similar turmoil and bloodshed. The pattern of conflict and violence this time is similar to late last year but the scale and scope are much wider and more lethal. At its root, the ongoing violence in Rakhine is more mixed than the Manichean images of good versus evil being portrayed in the international media.

• OPINION

  Is the Thai-Chinese railway a raw deal?

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 23/06/2017

  » Despite repeated assurances to the contrary from the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, the planned Thai-Chinese high-speed rail continues to attract scepticism. The government's explanation does not add up. Instead, it exposes the weaknesses and ill-effects of using unchecked power under Section 44 of the coup-sanctioned interim constitution, which is somehow allowed under the 2017 charter. In the longer term, the Thai-Chinese railway may end up being a raw deal for Thailand, and many Thais may not look back favourably toward China for it.

• OPINION

  NE Asia summit shows SE Asia weaknesses

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 13/11/2015

  » Although it papered over differences, the recent resumption of a summit meeting among China, Japan and South Korea has cooled bilateral tensions in Northeast Asia with longer-term implications for Southeast Asia.

• OPINION

  Language is way forward in deep South

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 03/07/2015

  » In multi-ethnic and multi-cultural societies, language is about more than communication. It is about recognition and accommodation, power and power-sharing. When society fosters power-sharing and forges compromise and consensus to underpin societal cohesion and achieve relative peace at home, the role of official and national languages can be powerful and paramount.

• OPINION

  China has global leadership in its sights

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 21/11/2014

  » This geopolitical summit season has consolidated ongoing megatrends in international affairs. A still-rising China with global leadership aspirations and a resurgent Russia bent on imperial restoration in view of dysfunction in Western countries will dominate international politics for at least the next 20 years.

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