Showing 1 - 10 of 16
Public must own anti-corruption drive
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 27/06/2014
» As Thailand’s fate is being determined by a military intervention in politics that will either be a necessary detour or a dangerous descent from democratic rule, the performance and track record of the self-empowered military authorities are critical for any semblance of political legitimacy.
Thai authoritarianism: past and present
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 22/08/2014
» Thailand’s political pendulum has swung wildly. It has now completed a dramatic reversal, pitting the electoral authoritarianism of Thaksin Shinawatra from the early 2000s against the thinly veiled dictatorship of General Prayuth Chan-ocha in the mid-2010s.
Thai luck runs out with attack on shrine
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 04/09/2015
» For a country that has done so well for so long in navigating the treacherous waters of international life, Thailand's luck may have run out with the bomb attack on the Erawan shrine in central Bangkok on Aug 17.
Thailand's law of graft and government longevity
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 23/09/2016
» After a surprisingly successful referendum on its preferred draft constitution, the military government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha appears on course for relatively smooth sailing for the next 15 months or so in the run-up to the next poll. The only two potential show stoppers on the government's path are the royal transition and self-inflicted abuse of power. The former is a process that is difficult for Thais to fathom after a 70-year reign that has turned Thailand from a backwater village to a modern nation. The latter, however, is all too familiar.
Thailand's murky, muddled road ahead
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 31/03/2017
» In a new era of transformative technologies and tectonic geopolitical shifts, standing still is tantamount to falling behind. This is what Thailand is doing. Its recent news flow indicates the country is mired in a regressive holding pattern.
Migrant workers policy yet another flop
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 07/07/2017
» Assessed from just about any angle, it is difficult not to see Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's recent policy announcements on migrant workers as a series of self-inflicted flops. While damage control is the government's immediate concern, Thailand's longer-term priorities require an overhaul of its manpower strategies and a broader change in the Thai mindset on migrant workers from neighbouring countries.
'My country's got' these socio-political ills
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 02/11/2018
» The explosive Rap Against Dictatorship music video that has taken Thailand by storm has raised myriad socio-political questions and issues. Known in Thai as <i>Prathet Ku Mee</i>, the sensational music video has been viewed on YouTube more than 25 million times in just 10 days in a country of 69 million people, a feat in its own right and a record for its artistic kind in Thailand. How this five-minute rap song in the Thai language has done so much says a lot about where Thailand has been and where it is going.
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.
The anatomy of a very tricky election
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 29/03/2019
» Thailand's first election in nearly eight years was supposed to bring some closure to a self-appointed military government and clarity to the country's democratic future. Instead, it has generated much controversy and probable continuity for the incumbent military regime with murky political directions ahead. Central to the questions and outcomes surrounding the poll on Sunday is the Election Commission (EC). Its actions and interpretations of events will have much to say about what happens next.
HK protests in a regional perspective
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 11/10/2019
» When Hong Kong's protest movement against the Extradition Law Amendment Bill began on March 30, few could have anticipated that it would become a full-blown popular revolt. The protesters initially opposed the bill because it would allow the Hong Kong government to detain and extradite fugitives to mainland China. Despite the suspension and subsequent withdrawal of the bill by Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam, the protest movement has taken on a life of its own. As its end goals of universal suffrage, an independent inquiry into police conduct and Ms Lam's resignation harden, its endgame appears fraught with risks of intensifying confrontation and violence.