COLUMNIST: FRANK G. ANDERSON
Thai Traditions
Frank G. Anderson is the Thailand representative of American Citizens Abroad. He was a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer to Thailand from 1965-67, working in community development. A freelance writer and founder of northeast Thailand's first local English language newspaper, the Korat Post -- www.thekoratpost.com -- he has spent over eight years in Thailand "embedded" with the local media. He has an MBA in information management and an associate degree in construction technology.
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March 16, 2010Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s second call-in in two days to his Red Shirt loyalists, gathered by the tens of thousands in Bangkok to overthrow the government, was broadcast Monday night. Despite his best efforts, he seems unable to engineer a counterrevolution and restore his former glory.
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March 15, 2010Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — On March 19, in response to a Royal Thai Police summons, I am to appear at the Phahon Yothin Metropolitan Police station in Bangkok to respond to an accusation of criminal defamation, filed by the same police officer that has so threatened the BBC and other journalists.
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February 08, 2010Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Upheaval, real or imagined, is the word of the day in Thailand. Red Shirt activists, supported by ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, held protests at multiple locations last week to warn the Thai army not to stage a coup. What coup? The coup that Thaksin has slyly warned about?
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February 01, 2010Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Private citizens in Thailand’s northeastern province of Nakhonratchasima are up in arms over a US$2 billion motorway project being railroaded by a combination of vested-interest politicians and businessmen, who all stand to gain from land acquisition and pieces of the construction pie.
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January 25, 2010Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Anyone expecting a quiet year for Thai politics may be surprised; so far the year promises to be anything but settled. There are factions within the police and the military both supporting and opposing former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra – some out to cause and others to prevent trouble.
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January 19, 2010Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — The head of the Thai prime minister’s newly established Advisory Committee on National Security Cases Involving the Monarchy has a huge job ahead of him. Many hope he will arrange royal pardons for those imprisoned for years for such slights as posting mocking images of the Thai royals on the Internet.
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January 12, 2010Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Members of Thailand’s Red Shirts on Tuesday peacefully ended their three-day protest at the vacation home of former Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, whom they accuse of illegally acquiring government land. The thousands of protesters were urged on by video-link by ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
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January 04, 2010Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — If observers were waiting for profound speeches to mark the New Year from Thailand’s ruling class they could have saved their time. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva ho-hummed the masses by supporting the Thai king’s “sufficiency economy” concept. Simply put – Don’t spend more than you can afford.
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December 28, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Angkhana Neelaphaijit, the widow of kidnapped and certainly murdered Somchai Neelaphaijit, has written to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to urge the Thai government to do something it has failed to do for at least a year – make progress on her husband’s criminal disappearance in 2004.
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December 21, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Pressure against Thailand's ruling Democrat Party is maintaining a steady course. Accused of bribery, malfeasance, incompetence and foot-dragging, among other things, the Democrats and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva are weathering one storm after another. But it is unlikely that Parliament will be dissolved.
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December 04, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Despite denials on the Red Shirt television channel, conjecture abounds that former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has made a huge investment mistake in Dubai and has now lost a sizeable portion of his finances in the Gulf debacle. Can he juggle his financial strains and political ambitions?
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November 27, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Being a witness for the prosecution may not sound like a dangerous position, but in Thailand it can literally be a call to extermination. That is why too often witnesses develop bad recollections of what really happened – particularly when it comes to prominent and influential persons or police officers.
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November 20, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — “Thaksin’s the obstacle. He’s uprooting our relations with Cambodia,” Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vajjajiva said about the two kingdoms’ rocky diplomatic road. Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is rumored to have traded Thai sovereignty for oil concessions from Cambodia, but both sides deny this.
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November 13, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Thailand is currently doing battle with one of the world’s most dangerous killers – the tobacco industry. While Asia’s industry players gather in Bangkok for the region’s biggest tobacco exhibition, networking and strategy sessions, anti-smoking advocates are protesting outside.
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October 30, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Last April, when a Thai newspaper reported that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s private jet had entered Cambodia, that country denied any contact with the fugitive. Now Cambodia’s prime minister says he wants to hire Thaksin as his economic adviser, to the dismay of the Thai government.
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October 02, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — A recent article by Jakraphob Penkhai, a fugitive from Thai justice, alludes to an old social and political nemesis in Siam – the “deep state” comprised of powerful people bent on preserving their power and privileges, presumably led by the military. Many events suggest the existence of such a shadowy entity.
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September 25, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Thailand has announced what is being heralded as a major advance against the HIV/AIDS virus – a vaccine that has been shown to be 31 percent effective in preventing HIV infections. But more information must be published to ascertain it was truly the vaccine that made the difference.
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September 18, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Thailand’s Red Shirts and other supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Saturday will commemorate the third anniversary of the military coup that deposed him, with a huge protest rally in Bangkok. The prime minister says they aim to overthrow the government and set up “a new state.”
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August 28, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Neither friend nor foe can argue with the need to protect national security. When a domestic danger or foreign threat raises its head, even the most distrusted of public servants has the heart of the people when alluding to the protection of national security. This can easily be used to his own advantage.
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August 21, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — The U.S. Trade Representative has kept Thailand and 11 other countries on its Priority Watch List for possible violations of intellectual property rights. As long as software makers charge exorbitant prices for products that pirates can make for pennies, this situation will not change.
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August 14, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — In Thailand, an orchestrated “anti-different” syndrome among the masses, and the concept that foreigners are guests and must not say or do anything “colonial,” both serve to inhibit free speech among both locals and foreigners. Even more so does the broad campaign against insults to the monarchy.
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August 07, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has asked the Thai government where real democracy is hiding in the kingdom – and through no less eminent a medium than Twitter! His question arises from counter-moves against those who have signed up 6 million Thai citizens petitioning the king to pardon Thaksin.
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July 31, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — “From abroad they surround Thailand, from the countryside they surround the cities.” This was the remark of angry media baron Sondhi Limthongkul on ASTV recently, describing what he perceives as efforts by enemies of the monarchy to gang up against the royal family and destroy its image.
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July 24, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — On Monday, a U.S. federal judge in Washington, D.C. unsealed documents related to invasion of privacy committed by the CIA, overriding government-claimed national security interests. In Thailand a completely different approach is taken, with serious consequences to anyone who would challenge state authority.
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July 17, 2009Bangkok, Thailand — There are multiple viewpoints as to what constitutes Thailand’s current crisis. Nearly three years ago elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted. Since then confusion has reigned under four successive governments.
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July 10, 2009Bangkok, Thailand — In defense of its drift from credible democracy to less-than-benevolent patronage, as long as elitist status quo is not seriously threatened, Thailand has repeatedly attempted to teach others its monarchy image-centered state ethic. Progenitors of the nationalist mantra call it Thai style democracy.
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July 03, 2009Bangkok, Thailand — Bangkok’s Lumpini Park is well known for its spacious decorated gardens, wonderful running tracks and exercise stations, which the public uses on a daily basis. Lumpini is also developing as a favorite place to drop by and file lèse majesté charges against foreigners.
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June 26, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Thailand’s Red Shirts – supporters of ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra – are again planning a demonstration Saturday in Bangkok. The rally will undoubtedly witness statements the Thai government will consider insulting to the royal family and possibly dangerous to national security.
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June 09, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — On Monday evening masked gunmen burst from thick brush and entered a mosque in Thailand, spraying automatic gunfire into a crowd of people gathered for evening prayers. The attack left 12 Muslim villagers dead and 11 seriously wounded. Unfortunately, an attack like this was hardly unexpected.
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May 29, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — This week in Thailand, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva became the first of 50,000 “volunteers” to spy on fellow citizens and turn them in to the police or army for defaming the monarchy. And the activist alliance People’s Alliance for Democracy decided to officially set up a political party.
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May 22, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva last week assured journalists in the country that his government respected freedom of the press and would facilitate their work. However, authorities have also issued strict guidelines as to how the media should cooperate with the government to ensure national security.
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May 08, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Finally someone has begun a detailed compilation of lèse majesté – insulting the monarchy – cases in Thailand. The importance of this work cannot be overstated. The protection of the Thai monarchy and political reform lie at the heart of the nation’s concerns and will prescribe the future.
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May 01, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — This week a milestone deadline went by, closing the door on any credible appointments to Thailand’s Human Rights Commission. The national silence about de facto and illegitimate new members of the commission is hardly a surprise in a nation that prefers to look the other way when human rights abuses occur.
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April 24, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — If one were to attempt an eagle’s perch overview of political developments in Thailand, an apparently complex yet ironically simple scene would unfold. And in the unfolding, more unrest, more corruption and more repetition of the same mistakes made in the past would become alarmingly clear – and saddening.
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April 17, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Thai media baron Sondhi Limthongkul, leader of the anti-Thaksin Shinawatra People’s Alliance for Democracy, was on the way to his daily talk show at his private AS TV station Friday morning when his van was attacked, shot between 50 to 100 times with M-16 and AK-47 rifles, police said.
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April 14, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Two Red Shirt leaders announced Tuesday morning they were dispersing their followers, who had been protesting in Bangkok and elsewhere in Thailand for days, and would surrender to police. The two pro-Thaksin Shinawatra leaders were taken into police custody for questioning.
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April 10, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — D-Day came and went for Thailand’s Red Shirts, who had determined to drive out top government and Privy Council leaders through protests on Wednesday. The day passed and things remained relatively unchanged, with protesters still determined to bring back exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
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April 08, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — With a sea of red shirts waving across TV screens in Thailand and the hypnotic rhythm of reed music swaying the thousands of scarlet enthusiasts gathered outside Bangkok’s Government House, how much will the crescendo of protest build before pressure becomes too much and the Thai army again steps in?
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April 03, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Breaking news this week in Thailand is a statement by media magnate and former Thaksin Shinawatra buddy-turned-nemesis Sondhi Limthongkul. “They staged the coup to take power (and put it) into the hands of the junta and then Surayud,” he said of the 2006 military coup. The question is, who are “they?”
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March 30, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — A recent article on “Thai Culture and Democracy” explained Siamese overzealousness to denounce so-called Western democracy in favor of inscrutable Oriental culture. Just because certain Western nations emphasize democracy, freedom of speech and human rights, it does not make these things “anti-Thai.”
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March 20, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Is Thailand spiraling downward toward civil war? This is an issue that exiled Thai professor Giles Ungpakorn – now ensconced in his U.K. home surrounded by free-thinking academia – has previously addressed. He has been joined in his concern by those on both sides of the yes-no fence.
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March 13, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — “Thankfulness to authorities for expediting the case” is, in Thailand, a euphemism for frustration that little or no progress has been made to date in an investigation. Frustration is the reality for Angkhana Neelapaichit, wife of a lawyer kidnapped and killed five years ago, apparently by Thai police.
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March 06, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Buddhist monks at Suan Methatham in Chiang Mai, Thailand, reported hearing shots before fire broke out in a protected forest near the temple last week. Villagers suspect that a powerful person is warning environmental activists not to interfere with his business; earlier, an activist monk ended up murdered.
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February 27, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — In the Thai kingdom, where the Old Buddy Network extends from cradle to grave, meaningful reform on behalf of innocent consumers is not likely anytime soon. A recent scandal over spoiled and diluted milk provided for schoolchildren illustrates the extent of corruption.
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February 20, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — If anyone in Thailand can be blamed for dragging the monarchy into politics and using it in efforts to draw a Bush-like “You are either with us or against us!” line in the sand, it is Sondhi Limthongkul of the Manager Group.
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February 13, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Last weekend a well-known Bangkok-based professor and social activist fled Thailand, possibly for the rest of his life. Giles Jai Ungpakorn had the temerity to suggest that Thailand’s law of lèse majesté be repealed, for which he faced jail. In running away, did he lack the courage of his convictions?
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February 06, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — In the midst of an undeclared all-out anti-media war in the name of protecting the country’s monarchy, Thailand is facing more and more uncertainty. Stability remains elusive despite – and probably because of – censorship on an unparalleled scale designed to undermine freedom of the press.
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January 30, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — The Thai government is revisiting the unsolved murders of three Saudi Arabian diplomats in Bangkok and another Saudi national in 1989 and 1990, as it claims the cases affect national security and the Thai image abroad. If the past is any measure, proceedings will be slow and largely unproductive.
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January 23, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Australian Harry Nicolaides was arrested last August, kept in jail for months without charges, and finally this month sentenced to three years in prison for insulting the Thai royal family. His great crime seems to be that he included a reference to the crown prince in a novel that sold all of seven copies.
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January 16, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Giles Ji Ungpakorn, a Thai social activist and academic, has called for an end to Thailand’s lèse majesté law after he was intimidated for writing a book about the 2006 coup, with references to the royal family. He is the latest victim of a crackdown on people and publications critical of the monarchy.
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January 09, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — In what can be called a copycat method of civil disobedience, Thailand’s United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship has been very busy interrupting government plans. While players pay lip service to national unity, opposition members make plans to govern the nation or ensure that no party is able to.
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January 05, 2009Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Thailand's constitution names its king the head of state. Yet, article 3, which gives sovereign power to the people and the king both, complicates arguments on the role of the king in government and whether the military takeover of civilian government is justified if in agreement with the king’s wishes.
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December 26, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thailand’s new prime minister, was caught off guard recently by tough questions in the local media. He was asked whether Cabinet portfolios were sold for US$2.5 million each, his views on the economy and divisions in his Cabinet over not awarding portfolios to deserving candidates.
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December 19, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Democrat Abhisit Vejjajiva finds himself as Thailand’s 27th prime minister. The 44-year-old Abhisit has a good education and a personal proclivity toward good manners and sincerity. The youngest prime minister since 1944, Abhisit has been widely hailed as a Thai Obama.
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December 05, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Some called it a gift to Thailand’s king, who celebrated his 81st birthday on Friday. But it was a strange gift – the dissolution of the government – made possible by a huge political protest coupled with a Constitutional Court decision to dissolve the country’s main political party.
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November 21, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Chusak Sirinil, secretary-general to the Thai prime minister, has been named as a target of an opposition move to impeach the ruling People Power Party. His association with former Prime Minister Thanksin Shinawatra is a liability; but political winds in Thailand quickly change direction.
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November 14, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Thailand’s highest Buddhist organization, the Supreme Sangha, is one of the three jewels described in Buddhism, which practicing Buddhists found their faith upon. That is, they used to.Today, as Buddha warned over 2,000 years ago, “enemies” of Buddhism are creeping in from the inside.
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November 07, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Barack Obama beat the odds this week to become the first black U.S. president. On Jan. 20, the 47-year-old Illinois senator will become the most powerful chief executive in the world. The consequences for the world of decisions the Obama administration will make are both promising and frightening.
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October 31, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Thailand’s authorities are ambivalent about the country’s reputation and image. On one hand, the government cultivates a positive, upbeat, friendly image that sells thousands of tour packages. On the other hand, Thailand undermines its image by ignoring human rights and acting as it pleases internally.
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October 24, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Thailand’s well-known Assumption University has come out with a new poll that indicates Thais are overly willing to accept corruption in government. All they want in return is, according to the ABAC poll, a “good life.”
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October 17, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Once again, Thailand finds itself in an embarrassing spat with a “friendly neighboring country.” This time it is Cambodia, regarding a 1,000-year-old temple ruin located on the Thai-Khmer border. Soldiers fired across the border on Wednesday, leaving two Cambodians dead and 10 Thais captured.
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October 10, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, Thai veteran politician and close friend of Burmese military generals, had hardly left his position as deputy prime minister Tuesday before he was reported recommending a military coup to resolve Thailand’s current anti-government political turmoil.
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October 03, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — How far should foreigners in Thailand go to let locals know they do not like being double or triple charged for things like food or beer? Fifty-one-year-old American tourist Dennis Leo Greenwood found out what can happen in the beach resort city – and tourist trap – of Pattaya.
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September 26, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Thai political parties are run by those who don’t have an interest in the nation but see an opportunity to make themselves wealthy. They exercise special type of administration that uses raw power to silence dissent, thwart democratic institutions and physically eliminate those who protest too much.
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September 19, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Thailand's 76-year-old political dealmaker and former prime minister, Banharn Silpa-Archa, was photographed recently being thanked by the kingdom’s newest prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat. Banharn helped make Somchai prime minister, bringing back a member of the Shinawatra family into national leadership.
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September 12, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Sondhi Limthongkul, a Thai media mogul and leader of the People’s Alliance for Democracy, operates two TV stations that broadcast alternative viewpoints not available through state media organs. He is currently facing arrest for what Thai police are citing as treason. The PAD can make a difference only if Thais begin to think differently.
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September 05, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Thirty years ago Hollywood saw an orangutan with a proverbial “mean left hook” join TV’s former Rawhide Rowdy Yates in a film called “Every Which Way But Loose.” The title describes Thailand’s political landscape as the People’s Alliance for Democracy and the government play for position and influence.
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September 01, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — There are purists, existentialists and semanticists who argue over the legitimacy of a country’s democracy. Some maintain that because elections have been held, such as in Thailand, the government that comes to power is a democracy. This is not necessarily true.
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August 29, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Bangkok’s Criminal Court Tuesday approved a police request for arrest warrants against the leading members of Thailand’s People’s Alliance for Democracy, which has been leading anti-government protests for months. The warrants were issued after PAD stalwarts raided the state-owned NBT television station.
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August 25, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej granted a royal audience to Bank of Thailand executives last week amid concern for the country’s coffers, which many experts have described as depleted to the point of bankruptcy. The same week, the Thai king was called the world’s richest royal by Forbes magazine.
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August 15, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — When former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra stepped into the limelight with an astounding election victory on Feb. 9, 2001, he was already at odds with Thailand’s judiciary system, something he thought – wrongly as proven in 2006-2008 – he could control.
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August 08, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — U.S. President George W. Bush’s visit to Thailand this week was less a renewal of close ties between two allies than a statement that the status quo will continue. Burma will remain immune from Thai and most ASEAN pressure to reform, and U.S. military sales to Thailand will continue uninterrupted.
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August 01, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — If globalization is seen as a problem these days, an even more serious one is political leadership disintegration. It seems our collective leaders are helping themselves more than helping us. Thailand’s latest case is the wife of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, sentenced to prison for tax evasion.
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July 25, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — The first fatality in Thailand’s internal war occurred Thursday in the northeast province of Udorn. Incited by the We Love Udorn Group, hundreds of opponents to the People’s Alliance for Democracy attacked its supporters with knives, sticks, hatchets and clubs, killing one person and injuring many others.
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July 14, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Thailand’s 2008 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act forbids the abduction, exploitation, deception and abuse of anyone, with a special mention for children. But with a rich resource of defenseless women, children and young boys from Burma, China, Laos and Thailand, human traffickers have operated for decades.
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July 01, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — The ancient kingdoms of Cambodia and Thailand are squaring off over some ancient Khmer ruins that have only barely withstood the test of time. Both countries lay claim to the temple of Phra Viharn, as the Thais call it, or Preah Vihear in Cambodian, that lies on their common border.
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June 18, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Throughout the world and throughout history, church-state marriages were made and broken – even in the United States, so proud of their clear-cut separation. Today, we may ask whether Thailand’s clergy, the Buddhist Sangha, has been crossing the line by endorsing political candidates and parties.
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June 09, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — A BBC reporter, Jonathan Head, has been accused by a Thai police colonel – who denies any political motivation – of lese majeste, or insulting the king. The topic is central to the persistent People’s Alliance for Democracy anti-government gatherings that continue in Bangkok and other cities in Thailand.
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June 02, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej Saturday threatened forceful measures to disperse pro-democracy, anti-government protestors in Bangkok – until protesters in Phuket and elsewhere threatened to close down the airports and stop tourist arrivals. The protesters are determined to bring down the government.
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May 30, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — One would have thought -- given the huge number of lawyers, legislators, academics and citizens who reviewed the junta-drafted charter prior to its enactment on Aug. 24, 2007 -- that Thailand’s Constitution would have been unassailable. But the new government is already moving to amend it.
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May 23, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Thailand’s social, academic and political leadership seems to agree that the country has political woes, but they are only a symptom. The causes are related to corruption, a lack of public responsibility, and the belief that Thais must remain monolithic, non-divisive and committed to the monarchy.
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May 16, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Both Burma and Thailand have a habit of addressing reality with illusory disdain, as if reality does not matter. When events such as Cyclone Nargis occur, and there is a great deal of suffering, those ruling the country do not view the suffering in humanitarian terms the way the West does.
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May 09, 2008NAKHONRATCHASIMA, Thailand — Recently the owner of a 2000 Mercedes Benz C240 pulled into a local repair center in Thailand complaining of a non-working gas gauge. The mechanic asked, "Have you filled the tank with ethanol-based gasoline? That can damage the sensors." Lesson: don't use ethanol.
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May 05, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi warned the country's media on Friday that they need to cooperate, be responsible and ethical. The Thai prime minister has given similar advice to his country's media. It's a shame that they and other Asian leaders don't adhere to the same guidelines.
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April 28, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Thailand's most powerful political and social "hammer" may be the kingdom's lese majeste law, which states, "Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished (with) imprisonment of three to fifteen years."
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April 21, 2008NAKHONRATCHASIMA , Thailand — Thailand celebrated its New Year last week, with revelers lining streets and highways to cordon off and capture anyone not already totally drenched and splash them with water as a symbol of good luck. Being cordoned off, in fact, is a way of life in Thailand.
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April 15, 2008Nakhonratchasima , Thailand — Many have argued legitimately that the Thai police are extremely corrupt. Even Thais themselves will accept this postulation, yet like others fail to note that the police force in Thailand is not a separate entity from the rest of society, and that people make up police staff.
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April 11, 2008Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — With the government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej in the driver's seat -- albeit on a very bumpy road to date -- questions are being raised frequently about the legitimacy of the ruling People Power Party, which won elections as a proxy for the banned Thai Rak Thai party of Thaksin Shinawatra.
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April 04, 2008Bangkok, Thailand — The global information society is threatened by extensive state censorship of information, including on the Internet, by ruling elites in non-democratic countries. Thailand has had decades of difficulties with information management and the public's lack of access to facts.
