• OPINION

  Thailand's semi-democracy faces risks

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 15/12/2023

  » The government of Prime Minister and Finance Minister Srettha Thavisin has settled into an uneasy balance between the civilian-led majority forces that represent the Thai electorate and the royalist-conservative minority guardians of the established centres anchored around the monarchy, military, judiciary, and bureaucracy.

• OPINION

  Japan's dilemmas need bold answers

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 03/11/2023

  » Among the big countries vying for power and influence in the fluid and contentious geostrategic arena, Japan faces the most daunting challenges. Most of the recognised major powers in Asia, from China and India to Indonesia and South Korea, are rising and aspiring for bigger roles and grander objectives, while Japan's place in the global pecking order has been in decline. The last time Japan had to confront such an existential threat to its place in the world may have been in the 1860s when the Western powers shook up and threatened to take over the isolated and inward-looking martial society.

• OPINION

  Post-Covid headwinds hit the region

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 14/10/2022

  » As the five economies in mainland Southeast Asia re-emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, their prospects for recovery and return to growth and development appear challenged, characterised by deteriorating balance of payments, fiscal weaknesses, currency depreciations, and rising inflation amidst global monetary tightening and recession risks.

• OPINION

  Reopening a good bet with high costs

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 12/11/2021

  » Nearly two weeks into Thailand's official reopening during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is time to evaluate the country's vaccine management plan, economic costs and prospects of recovery. While the reopening is worth the attendant risks, Thailand is paying a disproportionately high price for earlier mistakes and the government's mismanagement. As the reopening phase builds up, the Thai economy is likely to see a weak and tentative recovery trajectory with medium-term challenges and question marks.

• OPINION

  54 years on, Asean needs new modality

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 13/08/2021

  » After 54 years of being together, Asean is at the end of its tether. It has never been more divided than now, split within member states and across all 10 of them, dominated once again by divisive superpower rivalry and competition. In practice, this means Asean will appear increasingly ineffectual and inert. There will be much bureaucratic motion but few substantive organisational and policy outcomes amid unresolved challenges from within and from outside the region. Asean's best way forward may require unprecedented radical thinking towards a multi-track organisation to ensure relevance and momentum where it can be generated.

• OPINION

  Correcting the pandemic policy tack

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 30/07/2021

  » That Thailand's coronavirus pandemic has been grossly mismanaged is self-evident. Infection rates have soared to new highs this month while vaccine availability and access remain shoddy and abysmal. The overstretched healthcare system is creaking under growing demand, while several scenes so far of Covid-afflicted people being left to die on the streets have shaken the country's collective morale and elicited soul-searching questions about how Thailand has managed to reach this dire juncture.

• OPINION

  Covid success coming at a heavy price

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 17/07/2020

  » It was a matter of time before the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha became a victim of its own misguided success in handling the coronavirus pandemic. By presiding over a public mindset of "zero" local virus infections, the government raised unrealistic expectations at a high price. The fiasco that transpired in Rayong last week, when an infected Egyptian air force official was allowed to roam in a shopping mall and thereby fuelled fears of "second wave" infections, should serve as a wake-up call for an overdue change in virus-fighting strategy.

• OPINION

  Thai Airways a microcosm of Thailand

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 29/05/2020

  » Not so long ago, when air travel was not so commonplace, Thai nationals studying and working abroad could feel like they were half-way home when they saw Thai Airways (THAI) planes on tarmacs around the world. It was a symbolic comfort to know that getting on one of the national flag carrier's aircraft would eventually end up getting them home. As THAI has entered a massive and unprecedented reorganisation plan, the national airline is a microcosm of Thailand itself.

• OPINION

  Coronavirus blues and clues in Thailand

  Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 17/04/2020

  » It is unanimous that the novel coronavirus, also known as Covid-19, is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. A common refrain everywhere in the world is "I have never seen anything like it". Its immediate consequences and longer-term transformational repercussions will be felt for years to come. Covid-19 challenges individuals, societies and state institutions to their very core. For Thailand, re-emerging from this devastating pandemic will be tough and tricky, with trade-offs and hard choices.

• OPINION

  The global politics of the coronavirus

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 07/02/2020

  » It is not surprising that the deadly coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan in China's Hubei province has become a contentious issue in international politics. While the number of fatalities has reached 565 and more than 28,000 have been infected in China to date, the issue has become politicised and polarised because it emerged in an Asian superpower that is aggressive in its pursuit of global supremacy.

1 2 3 Next Last