• OPINION

  Into the political fray

  News, Alan Dawson, Published on 30/09/2018

  » Last June 30, the sometimes-accurate online Wikipedia updated the opening line of its entry on the general prime minister. For the first time, the introduction read, "Prayut Chan-o-cha is a Thai politician..." Before that, according to Wikipedia, Gen (Ret) Prayut was just a retired army general and head of the military junta -- which is what he claimed to be.

• THAILAND

  The war bringer

  News, Alan Dawson, Published on 12/03/2017

  » The southern rebellion against the government begins its 58th year tomorrow. It will be the first time the anniversary is marked without any of the original 1960 instigators but in particular it will go on without its primary leader, better called the godfather of the southern conflict.

• OPINION

  Safety last

  News, Alan Dawson, Published on 15/07/2018

  » The government can't prevent boys from being naughty any more than it can prevent squalls in an open sea. However, the government could have prevented two of the most deadly events to have captivated local and global attention recently.

• THAILAND

  The victim card

  News, Alan Dawson, Published on 28/01/2018

  » If you are a patriot working tirelessly and selflessly to try to save your country from the lower classes but some people think you are responsible for the actions of your friends and mentors, you may be a victim.

• THAILAND

  Double tap confounded

  News, Alan Dawson, Published on 14/05/2017

  » The images haunt. A mother, with a wounded face, clutches her daughter and hunkers down beside the detergent shelves. A blackened battery and two wheels, all that is left of the stolen pickup crammed with cooking gas cans. Social media simply taking over the corporate Facebook pages of Big C to post thousands of photos, videos and messages.

• OPINION

  The big issue: Fighting war, talking peace

  News, Alan Dawson, Published on 04/09/2016

  » Separatists in the deep South tried to have it both ways last week, thankfully failing (mostly) on one score but arguably pushing ahead on the second, long-range part of the strategy.

• OPINION

  The big issue: An interesting life

  Alan Dawson, Published on 15/05/2016

  » People say you should never speak ill of the dead, so let’s say of the recently late Masae Useng of Narathiwat that he was an interesting man. “Interesting” in the sense that security forces were interested in him, police and the army were interested in him, and the prosecutors and court system found him interesting.

• OPINION

  The big issue: We must 'do something'

  Alan Dawson, Published on 10/01/2016

  » A police constable summed up the situation perfectly after tough enforcement failed to stem the New Year’s holiday road slaughter. “People are absolutely not getting the message,” the constable told reporters from a TV news station. In Toronto.

• OPINION

  The big issue: Looking away

  Alan Dawson, Published on 17/01/2016

  » At 1.30am on Oct 11, more than 100 masked soldiers, police and militia raided a house in Kolo Tanyong village near Pattani province’s northern coast.

• OPINION

  The Big Issue: Ghost of the South

  Alan Dawson, Published on 08/11/2015

  » When yet another wave of bombs exploded in Yala 10 days ago and knocked out most of the electricity in the province, military authorities announced quickly that they know who was behind the terrorism.

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