• OPINION

  Thailand should emulate Japan's art of adaptation

  News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 03/11/2015

  » I recently embarked on a family holiday to Japan. It was only our fourth visit in 10 years. This time we paid a brief visit to Osaka and Kobe, but in my opinion, the highlight of the trip was my first ride on the Shinkansen, Japan's high-speed train.

• OPINION

  Regime cyber walls risk freezing Thailand's progress

  News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 06/10/2015

  » The single internet gateway fiasco has unmasked what the military regime envisages as the kind of society Thailand should be. A single path towards "happiness", a single roadmap to Thai-style democracy, a single mindset for "Thainess", governed by a single internet gateway to ensure only the "right" information is consumed by society.

• OPINION

  We need a British governance model, not North Korean

  News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 09/09/2015

  » Last week I was honoured to have been invited to speak at The Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT), along with distinguished panelists like Khun Burin Kantabutra and ML Nattakorn Devakula. It was an evening of insightful discussion on the uncertain future Thailand faces, especially in light of the new constitution, which was evidently stillborn on Sunday.

• OPINION

  Charter to deal us a crippling blow

  News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 01/09/2015

  » After scanning through what might be Thailand's 20th constitution in more than 80 years, I have to say, in my view it is a nasty piece of work. Imagine the most conniving characters in all of fiction, like Cruella de Vil, Fagin, Lex Luther and Hamlet, got together and decided to write a new constitution for Thailand. This draft would easily be something they could have come up with.

• OPINION

  Thailand needs a new constitution free from fear

  News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 18/08/2015

  » In the entire history of the world, human beings have come up with some pretty outrageous ideas, like the man who solved the problem of his low ceiling by chopping off his legs. In my view, the Constitution Drafting Committee's (CDC) so-called crisis committee, inserted in the draft constitution, is a far worse idea. The Borwornsak draft constitution has hit a new low, because the crisis committee will essentially attempt to institutionalise military coups. It will seek to legitimise the illegitimate and make lawful what is inherently unlawful, which is an abomination to the very concept and study of law. It is nothing less than constitutional heresy!

• OPINION

  The silence is deafening

  News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 07/07/2015

  » What kind of society is the junta creating when the peaceful "New Democracy Movement" protesters, all in their early twenties, are jailed without due process, to have their fate decided on by a military tribunal? Without any doubt the junta's behaviour in this matter is utterly deplorable. But what is soul-destroying is the comfortable silence from certain sections of our society. You can almost hear a pin drop. The leader of the Democrat Party? Not a sound. Venerable statesmen? Not a squeak. Or maybe the rector of Thammasat University would like to voice his objection? Not a single word. Ladies and gentlemen, right or wrong, the only people that have demonstrated any courage at all through this episode are the 14 kids in jail, while the adults hide.

• OPINION

  Let's face it, the chickens are coming home to roost

  News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 25/06/2015

  » No single Thai administration is capable of solving the country's most chronic and deeply embedded problems. Any administration that says it can is talking absolute tosh and insulting the nation's cumulative intelligence.

• OPINION

  Thailand needs an informed citizenry

  News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 11/06/2015

  » The concept of citizenship is fundamental to the principles of democratic governance. The two go hand in hand. The democratic state can basically be reduced down to the citizen, and citizens can only exist under the auspices of a democratic state. Without delving into political theory, it is this "social contract" which defines the relationship between a citizen and the state.

• OPINION

  Thailand's political landscape rivals that of 'Hamlet'

  News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 02/06/2015

  » I was recently invited by the British ambassador to attend a performance of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' organised by The British Council and the British embassy at Chulalongkorn University. I must admit to never having seen Hamlet but I'm glad I finally did because it rather reminded me in parts of what's happening here in Thailand.

• OPINION

  The constitutional merry-go-round revolves once again

  News, Songkran Grachangnetara, Published on 23/05/2015

  » So finally we’re going to have a referendum on this draft constitution. Hooray! This makes it 20 constitutions since 1932. That’s one constitution every four years on average if you do the maths. Therefore, it will come as no surprise to foreign observers that Thais have very little emotional investment in this document, because it’s more than likely we’ll be rewriting, redrafting, rewinding and reinventing another constitution in a few years time. Thailand has become a serial murderer of constitutions and the more constitutions we put to death, the less meaning each one has.

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