Category: Thai Politics

Today, government whips announced that he disagreed with the opposition’s calls for parliament to be recalled so that it could deliberate the economic relief bill. “I’m concerned that if parliament meets, we might create another cluster of infections like at the Lumpini boxing stadium, leading the nation to another crisis,” Chief Whip Wirat Ratanaset said.…

My new article for the Thai Enquirer: King Rama VI, a distinguished poet, once wrote the Sepha Samakee Sevok, exhorting the Thai people to unite as one under common leadership. A metaphor that he deployed was that of Siam as a ship. “The people are sailors in the sea, who must display a common unity”, the…

“The laws of physics”, Stephen Hawking once wrote, “conspire to prevent time travel on a macroscopic scale.” Time travel, both forward and backwards, were not possibilities to be ruled out, but the physicist made it clear that it was highly unlikely. He had, after all, once hosted a party for time travelers, the invite to…

My new piece for the Thai Enquirer: “It won’t take long for Thais to develop immunity from coronavirus”, the post read, “but if we don’t deal with the nation-hating virus, a crisis will ensue.”  Dr. Warong Dechgitvigrom is not a politician known for pulling his punches, and this Facebook post was true to form. ‘Lutti chung-chard’,…

The vice presidency of the United States, a particularly unhappy occupant of that office once said, is “not worth a bucket of warm piss.” Second in command is a prestigious title, but politicians throughout history have often approached it with a degree of caution. Playing second fiddle can imply great responsibility or none at all.…

Tianming, the citizens of ancient China called this concept; “heaven’s will”, or as translated to English, the “mandate of heaven.” It was the philosophical underpinning of the imperial regime. The Emperor, the Son of Heaven, ruled not merely because he had proved able to exercise an effective monopoly on the use of force. No; it…

My article in the newly-launched Thai Enquirer:  …Just because pro-democracy conservatism did not work the first time does not mean that it cannot work in the future, under inspired leadership and a more credible commitment to democratic ideals. With the ongoing implosion of the Democrat Party, is there room for such a party to emerge?…

A new decade seems like an opportunity to start afresh and begin anew, but observers of Thai politics, too numbed by false hope and signs of change, are unlikely to look at 2020 with anything more than cynicism. How else, of course, to approach the fact that the new decade has started, once again, with…

2019 was a year when so much happened, yet simultaneously nothing happened. Clichés are always risked when quoting Charles Dickens, but I found it difficult to avoid this one from A Christmas Carol when describing Thailand in 2019: “It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair”. There were moments of rays…