Showing 1 - 10 of 35
Pheu Thai must pivot
Oped, Editorial, Published on 16/09/2025
» The Pheu Thai Party, once a titan in Thai politics, has no time to waste in regathering its bearings. As its ministers and administrative staff collect their belongings at Government House, the party must reflect on its short-lived, arguably ineffective tenure and urgently transform itself into a viable choice for voters.
New govt may last longer than pledged
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 12/09/2025
» Thailand's latest round of political tumult reached a culmination when the Constitutional Court removed Paetongtarn Shinawatra of the hitherto ruling Pheu Thai (PT) Party from office on Aug 29, paving the way for Bhumjaithai Party (BJT) leader Anutin Charnvirakul to succeed her as prime minister with the Lower House's majority support a week later.
Present from Putin
Oped, Postbag, Published on 22/03/2025
» Re: "Putin call 'a test' of deal-making skill", (World, March 19).
Foreign policy needs to be democratic
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 11/10/2024
» To the extent that foreign policy starts at home, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra's latest diplomatic forays should be supported because Thailand has become a regional laggard with its international standing at an all-time low. Elected civilian leaders by the people, as opposed to unelected appointees from military-conservative elites, are the way ahead to regain Thailand's international profile and forward movements. Ms Paetongtarn is evidently not the first-best elected outcome, but she is all Thailand has to work with for now.
You can look, but please don't touch
Roger Crutchley, Published on 01/09/2024
» When we were kids, most of us heard the words "don't touch that!" from our parents if we were in the presence of something breakable and possibly valuable. That's probably what a father wishes he had said when he took his four-year-old son to a museum in the Israeli city of Haifa last week.
Srettha Thavisin fell to hidden forces
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 30/08/2024
» Hindsight is likely to place Srettha Thavisin in Thai political annals as a prime minister who tried his best but ultimately succumbed to forces way beyond his control. While his nearly 12-month tenure in office came up short on policy deliverables, it nevertheless reset Thailand's foreign policy projection on Myanmar amid more omnidirectional relations with the major powers.
Learn from Sri Lanka
Postbag, Published on 08/02/2024
» Re: "Imran Khan: from cricket star to jailbird", (Opinion, Feb 7).
Time to put brakes on immigration
News, Max Hastings, Published on 04/01/2024
» No politician can be expected to tell us all of the truth. If they did so, they would lose an election even for town dogcatcher. Nonetheless it doesn't seem too much to suggest, in this season of hope, that 2024 might go significantly better than 2023 if more of our leaders around the world acknowledged realities about some of the troubles that beset us.
Anwar Ibrahim's quiet triumph in Malaysia
Oped, Kishore Mahbubani, Published on 07/11/2023
» The path from political prisoner to political power is by no means well-trodden, but those who have made the arduous journey in recent decades include luminaries such as Nelson Mandela, Jawaharlal Nehru, Aung San Suu Kyi, Michelle Bachelet, and Vaclav Havel. To this august group must be added Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who, after nine years in prison, is now showing the same zeal as Mandela did for institutional and economic reform rooted in democratic values.
MFP's 'straightforward' image in doubt
Oped, Veera Prateepchaikul, Published on 04/10/2023
» 'You can't have your cake and eat it." So goes the popular English proverb that warns that one cannot have two incompatible things at the same time.