SEARCH

Did you mean: construction

Showing 1-9 of 9 results

  • News & article

    Thai politics' murky tunnel to nowhere

    Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 07/01/2022

    » Starting out a new year should engender a sense of hope and optimism that tomorrow can be better than yesterday. But the reality in Thailand suggests otherwise. A sense of prolonged malaise and discontent pervades the scene, where politics will likely prove murky with an economy persistently in the doldrums, underpinned by continuing societal divisions and broad-based unhappiness. Unless drastic changes and reforms take place very soon, this year is likely to further solidify the onset of a decade of decay and stagnation.

  • News & article

    Prayut government seems bullet-proof

    Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 21/05/2021

    » The passage of time shows the government's growing lack of accountability. In fact, the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha appears the most unaccountable on record because it has been the most incompetent. Myriad charges from policy mismanagement and blatant irregularities to outright constitutional violations have been levied against the government but none have stuck. Although some attribute this phenomenon to Gen Prayut's "Teflon" qualities, a more accurate understanding may well be that his cabinet is somehow bullet-proof. Charges can stick but they cannot penetrate.

  • News & article

    Army-backed regime pulls poll disguises

    News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 15/03/2019

    » At issue in the looming election is less about Thailand's return to democratic rule and more about the country's slide into long-term military-authoritarianism with democratic disguises. The most recent military seizure of power on May 22, 2014, appears increasingly like a coup to remake all coups. However the votes are decided, the army-backed junta under the National Council for Peace and Order, spearheaded by Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, intends to stay for the long haul.

  • News & article

    A way out after two trials in two decades

    News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 25/08/2017

    » Once again, Thailand is gripped by another high-profile court trial in yet another round of political brinkmanship. The much anticipated verdict today on Yingluck Shinawatra's handling of the rice-pledging scheme while in office is reminiscent of her eldest brother Thaksin Shinawatra's assets concealment case 16 years ago. In fact, Thailand's political landscape so far in the 21st century can now be book-ended by these two politicised cases that are likely to end up with different outcomes while going in the same direction. In turn, the Yingluck verdict can serve as another reminder of what Thailand needs to do to move on from its two-decade political malaise underpinned by half a dozen elections, violent street protests, and two military coups.

  • News & article

    A 'third-way' compromise is imperative

    News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 23/01/2015

    » As Thailand is gripped yet again by a political climax surrounding former prime minister Yingluck Shinwatra's impeachment trial for dereliction of duty over her ousted government's rice-pledging scheme, it is instructive to take a long view beyond the drama of the day.

  • News & article

    A saga and sideshow with much at stake

    News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 09/01/2015

    » The impeachment case against former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra this month for dereliction of duty while in office over the rice-pledging budgetary losses is both a saga and a sideshow.

  • News & article

    Time for new political social contract

    News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 09/12/2013

    » From Thailand to Turkey to the Ukraine, the relationship between ruling majorities and electoral minorities has become combustible _ and is threatening to erode the legitimacy of democracy itself.

  • News & article

    Thailand's stalemate and uneasy accommodation

    News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 15/02/2013

    » Thailand has regained relative calm and stability over the past year. After the worst floods in half a century subsided in early 2012, on the back of political crisis and turmoil that date back to 2005, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's government has some breathing space to roll out its consumption-driven "populist" policy agenda.

  • News & article

    Many more checks but far fewer balances

    News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 20/07/2012

    » The Constitution Court's verdict last Friday to dismiss petitions against the legislature for drafting a bill that would amend the charter has defused tensions and averted another round of street demonstrations in the near term.

Your recent history

  • Recently searched

    • Recently viewed links

      Did you find what you were looking for? Have you got some comments for us?