• OPINION

  Underpinnings of a Thai mass shooting

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 14/02/2020

  » Thailand's worst apolitical mass shooting on a Buddhist holiday last weekend left a trail of deaths and injuries with one lasting question that will be hard to answer. As the country reels from the shocking tragedy and loss, the Thai government needed to respond by pulling the country together in a healing process, coming to terms with the situation and drawing the right conclusions to prevent this sort of mindless killing from ever taking place again. Instead, the authorities from the prime minister to the army commander-in-chief focused too much on themselves and failed to show sufficient empathy with the people and provide a way forward for Thai society.

• OPINION

  Thailand's lessons from the Prem years

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 31/05/2019

  » In a galloping world of communications instantaneity, Gen Prem Tinsulanonda's passing earlier this week is likely to be framed by popular expectations and grievances so far in the 21st century rather than the conditions and circumstances of the 20th century where most of the late elder statesman's life was rooted.

• OPINION

  Woeful Senate will worsen political woes

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 10/05/2019

  » Since it first took office in 1947, Thailand's Senate has mostly comprised appointees as mandated by more than a dozen constitutions over the past seven decades. Only in the 1997 and 2007 charters was the Senate elected and half elected, respectively. The 2017 constitution has reverted to a wholly appointed upper chamber but this time the 250-member Senate has been given wider authority, particularly the selection of the prime minister.

• OPINION

  An ex-cop who has no fear of the generals

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 14/12/2018

  » Over the past four and a half years of military government, the Thai people have been physically cowed. Sure, there are many, possibly a silent majority, who may be waiting for the poll to have their say in opposition to the military junta that seized power in May 2014, led by then-army chief Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the incumbent prime minister. But few have been able and willing to stand up and stare down the ruling generals who routinely resort to intimidation and coercion, armed with guns and the law, which they sometimes interpret as they see fit. Just about everyone in Thailand is physically afraid of the junta in one way or another. Otherwise, there would have been more anti-junta demonstrations in public view.

• OPINION

  The annals of Thailand's military dictators

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 12/10/2018

  » As Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha eyes longer-term power beyond the next election, his eventual legacy will be compared to other military leaders who have come and gone as heads of past Thai governments. Had he left office or stepped down to run for it earlier, Gen Prayut might be in a better place. As things stand, his tenure and subsequent exit from the political scene does not appear promising for how he will be seen in hindsight.

• OPINION

  Thailand's new military and new politics

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 05/10/2018

  » Most likely not in accordance with his preference, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is finding out that the military high command he seized power with during the May 2014 coup will be fundamentally different when he leaves office.

• OPINION

  Elections, corruption and Thai democracy

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 16/02/2018

  » People at home and abroad are calling for elections in Thailand on the premise of returning democracy to a country that has been under nearly four years of military government. But elections cannot bring genuine democracy if blatant corruption rears its head in open daylight with utter impunity. No doubt elections will be needed to get rid of the current set of military rulers but democracy in Thailand requires the strengthening of its democratic institutions that are so shoddy and woeful.

• OPINION

  A year of living dangerously in Thailand

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 05/01/2018

  » They were supposed to be in power for the royal transition but they have stayed too long and now want to win an unavoidable election.

• OPINION

  Myanmar's Rohingya issue handled poorly

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 08/09/2017

  » Less than a year after its last major upsurge in communal violence underpinned by religious tensions between Buddhism and Islam, the northern section of Myanmar's western Rakhine state bordering Bangladesh is again beset with another bout of similar turmoil and bloodshed. The pattern of conflict and violence this time is similar to late last year but the scale and scope are much wider and more lethal. At its root, the ongoing violence in Rakhine is more mixed than the Manichean images of good versus evil being portrayed in the international media.

• OPINION

  Political fallout from the Dhammakaya case

  News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 17/03/2017

  » To the average bystander, the recent brouhaha over the Dhammakaya temple raises many questions with few answers and just about no clarity.

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