Showing 81 - 90 of 147
Web warriors unite for an F5 rebellion
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 03/10/2015
» This past week ultra-royalists converged at the US Embassy while ultra-malcontents converged on the F5 button. How the world has changed, and how sad that some people are still stuck in a medieval fortress, trying to fend off invaders with hot oil and poisoned arrows?
Image, faith and the age of intolerance
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 17/10/2015
» At some point, religion breeds a culture of intolerance. It then becomes a form of absolutism, all the more toxic in the climate of nationalist fervour and dictatorial bombast. See the Holy Roman Empire in the Middle Ages, the Wahabism of present-day Saudi Arabia, or in some parts of Buddhist Myanmar. Now bravo, Thailand is flirting with that fundamentalist trap — we’re not quite there yet, thank heaven, though the door has swung open and the chanting has already begun.
Smoke gets in your eyes, and it's fine
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 31/10/2015
» Some countries in Southeast Asia have been covered in haze. For over a month, people in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia have found their visibility reduced by the thin veil of smog, the grey mist of infinitesimal particles that blankets their skies and streets. The cause is the illegal burning to clear farmland for palm oil plantations; the effect is a health hazard, an environmental threat and a political dent, especially for Joko Widodo.
Film fete case shows glacial pace of reform
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 08/08/2015
» It’s about time. The case has been cold but not closed, and justice delayed is more consoling than justice abandoned. After eight years, the Office of the Attorney General finally charged Juthamas Siriwan, ex-governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), for allegedly taking 60 million baht in kickbacks from an American firm in exchange for a contract to run the ill-fated Bangkok International Film Festival between 2003 and 2007. She has 15 days to show her face at the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, or face an arrest warrant.
Violence in South is no less tragic
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 22/08/2015
» Boston had “Boston Strong”. Paris had “Je Suis Charlie”. Now, as much as we wish we never had to have one, post-Aug 17 Bangkok has come up with “Stronger Together” and “Our Home, Our Country” as rallying cries against the ghastly terror at Ratchaprasong intersection on Monday.
Dancing to nationalism's outdated tune
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 11/07/2015
» Why should we let the Uighur migrants stay here and “breed litters of children”? says PM Prayut Chan-o-cha in his customary UNHCR-is-not-my-father tone. “Litters of children” — the unit term usually used to describe dogs and other animals, was employed without a blink here. In the original Thai, the PM used the word krok, a rougher, throatier and much more derogatory term than the English equivalent. Krok gives the image of animal lust. It signifies a large number of puppies crawling from the belly of a bitch. It’s not the term any mother would want to be heard describing their children.
When the O2 is impure, breathe CO2
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 06/06/2015
» Congratulations. Peace prevails. Silence is golden. Reform is at full throttle. Reconciliation will glue the cracked golden axe into one shiny piece. Politicians can grow mushrooms. Generals can play golf. Elections are overrated. Democracy is a dream. Only the road map is real. Love is in the air. Citizens can stop worrying and learn how to love the bomb. Everything will be all right. Why worry? Why complain? Why think?
Turning pop culture into propaganda
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/06/2015
» So the prime minister has watched Game of Thrones. The PM, speaking about the series in his interview with Al Jazeera, didn’t actually adopt Tyrion Lannister’s eloquence, though his enthusiasm for the kind of primeval justice practised in Westeros is clear. Also, he recently said that he liked Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, a respectable film about a respectable politician who moved his nation forward through strategy, wit and poise. He also knew that his weekly address on TV upset the masses who were addicted to the spectacle of foul-mouthed E-Yam in the soap Sud Kaen San Rak. I’m very happy to know that we have a leader who’s well-versed in the language of popular culture, apart from his initiative of "12 Values" short films (that no one saw).
The cheers for justice we haven’t heard
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 11/04/2015
» On Tuesday, the country watched Thai heartthrob Mario Maurer taking the greatest risk of his young life.
Going missing a fate darker than death
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 18/04/2015
» To disappear is worse than to die, because death is at least a form of closure, or at least an answer. To disappear is to be suspended in limbo, to enter the void, to become non-existent. With death, you could become a ghost. By disappearing, you become nothing.