Showing 1 - 8 of 8
Getting soft power right
Life, Prof Apinan Poshyananda, Published on 08/01/2024
» After three months in office, the Srettha Thavisin government has raved on about populist policies in the guise of digital wallets and soft power projects that will create income to boost our declining economy. With optimism, we learned that Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Pheu Thai party leader and head of the National Soft Power Strategy Committee (NSPSC), has drafted a budget of 5.1 billion baht to boost festivals and creative industries. It is welcoming news to hear this government is priortising art, music, literature, design, fashion, film, food, games, sports and festivals as essential sources for the creative economy. Where this enormous chunk of budget will come from, like digital wallets, remains to be seen.
Very soft Thai power in the making
Life, Apinan Poshyananda, Published on 20/09/2023
» Since the recent return of Thaksin Shinawatra after 15 years of self-exile to Bangkok and the parliamentary selection of Srettha Thavisin as Thailand's 30th prime minister on the same day, politics and culture have unfolded with drama and excitement.
The tough road to democratisation
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 03/10/2022
» Taiwan has been hailed as a textbook example of a successful transition to democracy. At the end of the civil war in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Kuomintang (KMT), lost to Mao Zedong's communist forces and fled to the island. After almost four decades of martial law until 1987, Taiwan eventually held its first presidential election in 1996.
How real is reel?
Life, Aditya Pareek, Published on 17/07/2020
» Veteran journalist and professor of journalism Narendra Kaushik has tried to tackle a very niche subject in his book Mahatma Gandhi In Cinema. The book primarily deals with the portrayal of Gandhi in Hindi cinema and how in sync the filmmakers' version of Gandhi is to the real life all too human, flesh and blood Mahatma as he is recorded in the pages of history.
Never forget
Life, Yvonne Bohwongprasert, Published on 27/01/2020
» Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a solemn moment when we reflect on one of the darkest periods in human history: the Nazi genocide of 6 million Jews along with 5 million Slavs, gypsies, blacks, homosexuals, political enemies and members of other persecuted groups.
Empty promises, shallow projects
Life, Karnjana Karnjanatawe, Published on 17/12/2018
» Since tourism is the rising economic star of the country, it is no surprise to see the Community Development Department of the Interior Ministry jump on the tourism bandwagon. It officially launched the Otop Nawatwithi project nationwide in June to promote tourism in 3,273 Otop communities or villages that have products certified as One Tambon One Product (Otop) by the department.
A date with Travis Bickle
Life, Story: & Kong Rithdee, Published on 12/07/2018
» 'He hates New York with a Biblical fury; it gives off the stench of Hell, and its filth and smut obsess him."
Swashbuckling Shostakovich
Life, Roger Tonge, Published on 13/03/2018
» In its signature hall at Mahidol University, the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra (TPO) earlier this month gave us a most enjoyable Rhapsody In Blue by Gershwin, with the piano brightly and playfully played by Bennett Lerner, then keyed us in for darker drama from Shostakovich's Symphony No.5 -- an epic piece from a composer whose music often caused him serious problems with Stalin's USSR government (Gershwin was probably banned there for being too American and decadent, so a good programming link to Shostakovich).