New Mandala

January 2 2007:
The pattern of explosions and situation suggested the bombs in Bangkok were not linked to on-going violence in the deep South, Sonthi said.  “The militants are in trouble, even in Yala. I don’t think they would come here as they could get lost in Bangkok,” Sonthi told reporters. (The Nation)
February 23 2007:
Defence Minister [...]

[Read more →]

A number of New Mandala contributors have noted the lack of rigorous evaluation of the various schemes that made up Thaksinomics. There has been some research on the 30 baht health scheme, but very little on the controversial economic stimulus schemes such as the one million baht Village Fund. Much of the commentary resorts to [...]

[Read more →]

Earlier in February a number of reports indicated that a Swiss man accused of defacing images of the King has been charged with lèse majesté.�
ITV, for example, reported (my emphasis added):�
A Swiss man is facing up to 75 years in a Thai jail for insulting the country’s king whilst on a drinking binge, officials have [...]

[Read more →]

Thailand’s puppet envoy on sufficiency economy Somkid Jatusripitak has cut his strings and resigned. But he still wants to serve his country. Perhaps he could join the ex-farmers in Roi Et who have discovered sufficiency economy by abandoning their paddy fields and taking up making sandwiches:
Every three days, a truck from a bakery in Nakhon Ratchasima [...]

[Read more →]

In the spirit of constitutional reform, several New Mandala readers have proposed alternative voting systems that would prevent the undue exercise of electoral power by the rural majority. The tyranny of the majority clearly has to be stopped, but some of the suggestions proposed (special treatment for those born on Saturday) clearly do not accord [...]

[Read more →]

Over recent weeks, the blogosphere, and media around the world, have carried reports on the persecution of Christians in Burma.  Sparked by Benedict Rogers‘ recent monograph, and the global speaking tour that he organised for Chin and Kachin Christian activists, the whole episode has drawn a great deal of useful attention to issues on Burma’s ethnic fringes.  Rogers writes and works under [...]

[Read more →]

Mahachon walked straight out of the cradle and into the past. The party’s first photo opportunity gave us Sanan with the Samut Prakan clique which has been found serially guilty of electoral fraud, and is widely suspected of various economic crimes and misdemeanours. As a taxi driver cackled at Chang Noi a few weeks before [...]

[Read more →]

Reading through my research notes I came across an account of a Mahachon party rally held in a rural district of Chiang Mai province prior to the 2005 election. The local Mahachon candidate was clearly concerned that those at the rally didn’t know much about the party leader Anek Laothamatas. So he proceeded to give [...]

[Read more →]

Further to Nich Farrelly’s previous post, Chang Noi has a fascinating article in todays Nation about political thinker (and failed politician) Anek Laothamatas’ current thinking on populism. Here are some extracts:
In his book, “Thaksina-prachaniyom” (Thaksin-style populism) Anek worries that Thaksin could be a signal of even worse to come. Thaksin gave people things they wanted, and [...]

[Read more →]

Here on New Mandala, wide-ranging debates about the impact of Thailand’s many Royal Projects have been common.  There has been much vigorous discussion of the merits of some royally initiated and sponsored activities.�
Today, the BBC and many others report that Tanzania has been granted the King’s permission to use his patented rain-making technique.  For more on the [...]

[Read more →]