• News & article

  Release move just one step

  News, Editorial, Published on 21/07/2015

  » The military regime has ordered the release from prison of former terrorist leader, Sama-ae Thanam. Other releases may follow. Now 63, Sama-ae has vowed to help reconciliation efforts and establish peace across the deep South. Once the leader of the military wing of the so-called Patani United Liberation Front (Pulo), he was captured in Malaysia in 1988, extradited and later jailed on terrorism charges in 1997. Authorities not only believe he is no longer a threat but could help peace efforts in the restive southern provinces.

• News & article

  Government must back sea talks

  News, Editorial, Published on 27/02/2017

  » The threat of clashes has increased lately over China's claim it owns the South China Sea. A US navy task force led by the formidable aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is conducting "routine operations" in the area. Both Vietnam and Taiwan have copied China's construction of artificial islands with military facilities. Beijing has continued to fortify its new islands, with buildings believed capable of housing missiles. They would be the first land-based weapons in the Spratly Islands where international flashpoints and tensions increase almost by the day.

• News & article

  Too brutal for Asean

  News, Editorial, Published on 04/01/2016

  » The shocking photos and video of last week's whippings in Indonesia's Aceh province have refocused attention on a serious problem within Asean. On the eve of the Asean community becoming an economic union, a woman and five men were caned in public in Banda Aceh. Four were whipped for gambling and a couple were caned for "indecency". Such barbarity has no place in a modernising and progressive Asean Community (AC), which was formed to bring prosperity.

• News & article

  Change tack with junta

  Oped, Editorial, Published on 20/06/2023

  » Confidential Myanmar peace talks the Thai government held in Pattaya yesterday ended with unwanted consequences. Unlike previous clandestine meetings held by the Thai government, the latest effort courted negative press. Before the meeting started, meeting details were leaked to the foreign press. Some Asean members declined to attend in a clear indication of their disapproval, while others sent junior officials.

• News & article

  Senate must prove mettle

  Oped, Editorial, Published on 07/09/2022

  » Today will be a chance for the 250 appointed senators to prove their mettle. By late evening, the 250 members of the Upper House and 500 MPs in the Lower House are expected to have cast votes on a charter amendment seeking to strip the Senate of its power to take part in electing a prime minister.

• News & article

  Path to peace needs respect

  Oped, Editorial, Published on 05/05/2022

  » The relatively calm Ramadan in the restive deep South reminds us that peaceful dialogue, not arm-twisting or fighting battles, is the real recipe for ending conflicts.

• News & article

  End misery in Myanmar

  News, Editorial, Published on 22/06/2021

  » Thailand's decision to abstain from voting to adopt the United Nations' General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the situation in Myanmar on Friday was not surprising.

• News & article

  Time to settle mine dispute

  News, Editorial, Published on 07/09/2020

  » Now is a critical time for the government to fight tooth and nail in the Akara gold mine case saga that was brought to an international arbitrator. If defeated, the country will have to fork out 30 billion baht in compensation as demanded by the Sydney-based firm.

• News & article

  Momentum for peace

  News, Editorial, Published on 26/02/2019

  » The cast is assembling in Hanoi for a performance probably worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize. Trump-Kim Summit II isn't likely to produce anything resembling nuclear disarmament. But the personal diplomacy of the US president and North Korea's leader has indisputably removed the threat of the most terrible kind of warfare from Northeast Asia and the entire region.

• News & article

  A summit to prevent war

  News, Editorial, Published on 31/05/2018

  » It is taking feverish preparations to bring about the June 12 Singapore summit between the two most extroverted world political leaders. Presumably, US President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un are back on schedule for their meeting. It is necessary to say "presumably" because this summit has gone from impossibility to certainty, then from unlikely to cancelled, and now "back on schedule". Two weeks out, the summit offers some promise of being the most important such meeting of our age.

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