My new article in the Bangkok Post: Sontirat Sontijirawong, secretary of the Palang Pracharath party, recently complained about the media labeling different parties “pro-democracy” and “pro-dictatorship”. PPRP, Sontirat argued, had run in an election and won 7.9 million votes. It has engaged with the democratic process and as such Palang Pracharath is just as pro-democracy […]
Category Archives: Thai Politics
The Future Thailand’s Junta Fears The Most
My new article in the Asia Times: As Thailand edges closer to March 24 elections, the first to be held in the kingdom in nearly eight years, the upstart anti-military Future Forward Party is increasingly under siege.Among the parties competing for seats at the upcoming polls, the progressive party has arguably been the most outspoken […]
Fight the Election Fairly
In an election that continues to be complicated by increasing twists and turns, the Future Forward leader Thanathorn Jueangroongrueangkit has been threatened with prosecution and a possible five-year jail term, which would disqualify him from standing in the election. The grave crime that he committed, it appears, is criticizing the junta and the disputed claim […]
Younger Thais on Thai Politics
In Thailand’s election next month, there will be 5.6 million first-time voters. We’ve heard a lot of conjecture in the news about what these “new voters” are thinking or supporting, with articles tending to opine that new voters are gravitating mainly towards the Future Forward party. I remained skeptical, however, about this generalization. Many of […]
The Case Against Prayut
“Oust me if you dare!”, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yelled at reporters in an angry outburst during a policy report. “Oust me if you can! I’m not challenging you, but I’m not quitting”. It was quite a change in tone from a few years ago, when the prime minister, casting himself in the mould of […]
Thailand’s 2019 Election, Explained
Thailand is (almost certainly) having a general election this year. With new political parties, new leaders to watch, a new constitution and a reconfigured political landscape, this election can feel complicated and quite different from polls in the past. To try to make Thai politics more accessible and the election itself easier to analyze, this […]
Spraying Water and Sweet Words
The most consistently disappointing part about Thailand country is its governance. And this week, as Bangkok becomes enveloped in ever-thickening smog and the air quality index climbed up, we all have our faces in our palms asking: what is the government doing? Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha took to Twitter to assure the nation that “the […]
No More Uniform Thinking
The Oxford Dictionary defines ‘uniform’ as remaining the same in all cases and at all times; unchanging in form or character. Thailand’s thinking on school uniforms has remained, if you may excuse the pun, horrendously uniform over the past couple of decades. Bangkok Christian College, a prestigious private school, launched an experiment to allow students […]
What’s Next for the Democrat Party?
My new article in the Bangkok Post on the future of Thailand’s Democratic Party: Former Thailand prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva recently won re-election as Democrat Party leader on Saturday, seeing off two challengers. While the election result concluded the question of who would lead the Democrats into the next general election tentatively scheduled for February […]
Thai Politicians: A Social Media Analysis
Thailand ranks in the top ten of social media use worldwide, ranking eighth in the world in terms of Facebook usage. This isn’t a surprise; just consider the number of Thai netizens who are permanently glued to their smartphones on the skytrain and subway. It follows logically, then, that social media would be fertile ground […]
