Showing 21 - 30 of 1,496
The hand that feeds them
News, Alan Dawson, Published on 03/03/2019
» When the columnists and panjandrums and degree-clutchers come to analyse the state of Thailand in mid- and late May, it's probably this past week that will fascinate them.
Army unwilling to yield to democracy
News, Erich Parpart, Published on 31/07/2019
» For the country like Thailand where the military staged two putsches within the past 13 years, a coup d'état should no longer be necessary.
Coronavirus and democracy in Southeast Asia
Oped, Published on 01/04/2020
» In Southeast Asia, as the health crisis escalates and countries go into different variations of a lockdown, it is affording regimes with authoritarian tendencies the opportunity to suppress political expression, enforce strict obedience and consolidate their rule. Unless this is called out and actions taken to address these measures, a post-Covid-19 Southeast Asia will put democracy on the backfoot in the region.
Time to lift rights bans
News, Editorial, Published on 17/09/2018
» The best thing that can be said about last week's action by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) is that the all-male group understands it has created a problem. It has returned to the public a tiny bit of the civil and human rights it removed 52 months ago. On Friday, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha used his extraordinary powers under Section 44 to give some small but important freedoms to political parties. While the order restores the right to organise party affairs, it falls lamentably short of restoring basic and constitutional rights to all Thais.
Keeping cops in check
Life, Yvonne Bohwongprasert, Published on 08/06/2020
» Type police brutality in Google and most likely you will find trending news headlines such as: "Why George Floyd Won't Be Last American Killed By Police''.
Scum of the Earth
News, Alan Dawson, Published on 24/02/2019
» At the Bangkok Post Forum on Feb 7, Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit said it would be splendid if Thailand had green shirts with four stars who favour democracy. He called for a review (English translation: cancellation) of the recent, 2.3 billion-baht purchase of 14 more Chinese main battle tanks. Oh, and Thailand should halt conscription.
Thailand's tale told via 'The Nation'
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 28/06/2019
» Nearly five decades ago, The Nation newspaper started out as a pro-democracy, anti-military news organisation. It was fiercely independent and invariably hard-hitting vis-à-vis the powers-that-be. An English-language newspaper owned by Thais from the outset, it prided itself for having neither fear nor favour. Its lamentable expiry as a print newspaper today -- an online version will continue -- provides multiple parallels for Thailand's contemporary political history, ongoing polarisation and the changing nature of the business of journalism worldwide.
Yingluck gone but populism sticks around
News, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 30/08/2017
» Ousted premier Yingluck Shinawatra has gone -- some might say -- with the wind. And the way she fled the country was so sly, like a Hollywood film noir where the femme fatale coolly sashays out of the scene having outwitted everyone.
'Flash mob' leaves FFP with work to do
News, Veera Prateepchaikul, Published on 16/12/2019
» There were as many bystanders as party supporters among the few thousand people who converged in front of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre and the Pathumwan skywalk on Saturday evening where the Future Forward Party (FFP) held its "flash mob" to test public response to its call for justice for the party after the Election Commission (EC) last week asked the Constitutional Court to dissolve the party over a 191-million-baht "loan" to the party by its leader, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit.
Don't back Uighur abuse
News, Editorial, Published on 23/11/2019
» Secret Chinese government documents leaked to The New York Times have provided chilling details about its "no mercy" approach to repression of Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. The revelation should serve as a reminder to Thai admirers of Chinese President Xi Jinping of the brutal and paranoid reality of his regime.