Showing 1 - 10 of 126
Three main parties and two directions
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 16/01/2026
» Although Thailand's election campaign is reaching fever pitch ahead of voting day on Feb 8, the dynamics and contours of its final outcome can be gleaned from past polls over the last 25 years. Only once in January 2001, as was indicated in this space last week, were voter results fully honoured and carried out. Other elections were either upended by military coups or manipulated by judicial interventions.
Artists resist repression in Thailand, US
Oped, Sally Tyler, Published on 08/12/2025
» In late August, two seemingly unrelated events occurred in Thailand and the US. The Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) altered a major exhibit it had recently opened and, a few weeks later, the comedian Jimmy Kimmel was temporarily taken off the air by the ABC television network. These events are linked as forms of artistic repression and perhaps more concerning, as examples of the growing use of intermediary censorship by authoritarian regimes.
Trump's doubling of tariffs is hitting India hard
Oped, Shashi Tharoor, Published on 05/12/2025
» US President Donald Trump's doubling of tariffs on a wide range of Indian goods, from a steep 25% to a catastrophic 50%, is reshaping India's export economy. Half of what India sells to the United States -- its largest trading partner -- is now prohibitively expensive, and ordinary Indians are suffering as a result.
Resetting Thailand-Cambodia relations
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 21/10/2025
» After three months of catastrophic relations, Thailand and Cambodia are starting to turn confrontation into cooperation, but such efforts will be obstructed by on-the-ground realities and invisible barriers.
The time I really put my foot in it
Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 19/10/2025
» A half-hearted spring-cleaning session at home during the week came to a welcome halt when I unearthed a couple of my father's wartime RAF books under a pile of disintegrating paperbacks. The Air Ministry books, published more than 80 years ago, always serve as a reminder of when as a kid I made a faux pas of embarrassing proportions.
Cambodia's bluster fails at UN event
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 30/09/2025
» At the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Thailand and Cambodia verbally clashed again over their border dispute. What stood out was not just the usual complaints, but the gap between quiet promises made behind closed doors and loud posturing in public.
Act now as Suu Kyi is gravely ill
Oped, Alan Clements, Published on 10/09/2025
» Just days ago, Kim Aris, the youngest son of 80-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi, told The Independent that his mother -- Myanmar's imprisoned democracy leader and Nobel Peace Laureate -- is gravely ill with worsening heart disease.
Here's to all the useful ghosts of our history
Oped, Kong Rithdee, Published on 28/08/2025
» Ghosts are useful because they remind us of the unresolved, the unsettled, the unfinished -- in life, love, politics, or history. The film of the moment hitches onto that idea and takes it far, as far as the Cannes Film Festival, and now it has been picked as Thailand's representative for the Oscars.
Lessons for all
Oped, Postbag, Published on 19/08/2025
» Re: "Diplomacy via education", (Editorial, Aug 16).
Corrupt monks have lost their way
Oped, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 14/07/2025
» Just as Thailand was about to celebrate Asalha Bucha Day and the start of Buddhist Lent, the nation was gripped by the biggest sex scandal ever to rock its clergy. How irony.