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  • News & article

    The Thaksin factor in Thai politics

    Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 15/03/2024

    » Thai politics in the near term will likely be dominated by the fate of the two largest vote winners from the general election in May 2023, the Move Forward (MFP) and Pheu Thai parties. While the MFP is at risk of another dissolution, the same as its predecessor Future Forward Party suffered in 2020, Pheu Thai's political future appears to hinge on Thaksin Shinawatra and his return from exile in what is believed to be a deal that follows the assumption of the premiership under Srettha Thavisin, and for Thaksin, a royal pardon and early release on parole.

  • News & article

    Thailand's semi-democracy returns

    Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 01/12/2023

    » The appointment of Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha as privy councillor has neatly bookended Thai politics over the past decade. It coincides with the 10-year anniversary of the street demonstrations that were led by the People's Democratic Reform Committee, paving the way for Gen Prayut to stage a military coup in May 2014. While the interim was a period of hard and soft military-authoritarian rule in 2014-19 and 2019-23, the new moving balance in Thai politics is a semi-democracy of sorts under the Pheu Thai Party-led coalition government.

  • News & article

    Srettha confronts myriad of challenges

    News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 22/09/2023

    » As the coalition government of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin gets going, it faces multiple daunting challenges, from public expectations and policy deliverables to the maintenance of political stability.

  • News & article

    The truth about Thai money politics

    Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 13/01/2023

    » As the election looms in Thailand, money politics returns with a vengeance.

  • News & article

    Cambodia and Laos in the regional mix

    Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 30/09/2022

    » As geopolitical tensions from Russian aggression in Ukraine and the ongoing United States-China rivalry intensify, Southeast Asia will be hard-pressed to maintain peace and security. Despite their relatively small size, Cambodia and Laos are two countries whose political trajectories will shape regional outcomes. While Cambodia has consolidated domestic political power with dynamic economic expansion, Laos is looking like a regional laggard facing a deep debt crisis. As Cambodia moves forward, Laos is at risk of being left behind.

  • News & article

    The politics of the term-limit wrangle

    Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 19/08/2022

    » Time is not on the side of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha as various groups of people want to see the back of him. Now that he has survived the last of four no-confidence votes in parliament since the March 2019 election, many are pinning their hopes that the eight-year prime ministerial term limit will upend Gen Prayut's rule.

  • News & article

    Keeping democratic institutions weak

    Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 22/07/2022

    » The worst thing one can do in Thai politics is to run for office and win by a landslide. When this happens, the knives will come out and the massive election winner will be overthrown before long -- one way or another -- because the real source of power in Thailand is unelected. Such was the fate of Thaksin Shinawatra when he spearheaded the Thai Rak Thai Party to win two landslide poll victories in January 2001 and February 2005, first a near majority and later a thumping 75% of the lower house of parliament.

  • News & article

    Thailand's bankrupt Myanmar policy

    Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 17/06/2022

    » Few signboards foretell the global issues of our time better than what is addressed at the annual meetings of the Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) in Singapore. After a pandemic-induced two-year hiatus, the most recent SLD covered the gamut on the main stage, from the United States-China geostrategic competition and military modernisation to security cooperation and climate change. The only anomalous single- and small-country focus in a special session was Myanmar.

  • 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

    Thailand's holding pattern till next poll

    Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 10/09/2021

    » Thailand's recent no-confidence debate in parliament started with a bang and ended with a whimper. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and five other cabinet members who were grilled by opposition MPs for pandemic mishandling, budget irregularities and overall mismanagement and incompetence sailed through the parliamentary vote based on the coalition government's strength in MP numbers rather than the merits of its governance.

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