New Mandala

New Mandala readers interested in the development of natural-gas fields off the coast of Burma will be interested in The Economist’s neat article which summarises the current state of politicking and negotiation.�
It notes (in part) that:
China has offered to build a pipeline from Myanmar’s A-1 and A-3 gasfields in the Bay of Bengal to the Chinese border, a [...]

[Read more →]

�
The Phnom Penh Post’s February expose on intermarriage and blood links among members of the CPP’s political elite finally confirms what many have long suspected – that political alliances and loyalties in Cambodia are built solidly on the well trodden grounds of nepotism and arranged marriage.
A commentary on the article notes that:
Significantly, the CPP’s family connection [...]

[Read more →]

Since our post of last week canvassing the issue of a boycott of the 10th International Conference of Thai Studies (ICTS) there has been considerable debate and discussion. Some of this has taken place publicly on New Mandala itself, but there have also been numerous off-line email contributions (we have been party to some of [...]

[Read more →]

A long article in the Daily News – “Sri Lanka’s National Newspaper since 1918″ – trumpets the Thai concept of “sufficiency economy” and highlights its Buddhist character.�
Kalinga Seneviratne writes:
In the last two decades, Buddhism’s appeal has grown in the West, drawing people seeking a calm not found in the fast-paced world of Internet-driven commerce and communications.
While Bhavana [...]

[Read more →]

This is Natenapa Prasongsansuk (who is not known as Nong Nat), a Miss Thailand Universe entrant who won the “Miss Popular Vote” on Wednesday night. In the current political climate this could be a career ending move! Surely “Miss Appointed by the Privy Council” would be a much more appropriate honour.

[Read more →]

[New Mandala has received this contribution from Stephen Dobbs of the University of Western Australia.]�
It is frankly very disturbing that Australia’s national university would bestow upon Lee Kuan Yew an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. It also seems rather odd that this important visitor and event are not mentioned on the ANU events calendar. Is there [...]

[Read more →]

The ANU seems to be keeping a very low profile on the conferring of an honorary degree on Lee Kuan Yew. A search of the ANU web-site uncovers nothing on the matter except my previous New Mandala post. On the ANU web’s billboard we are advised of such gems as the prohibition of right-turns from Dickson [...]

[Read more →]

The mechanics of lèse majesté in Thailand are an ongoing interest of many New Mandala readers.  It was - I probably need not remind you - only last week that Olivier Jufer’s trial for vandalising portraits of the King drew global media to the Chiang Mai provincial court.�
Today, there is news that Thai police have “recommended” former Prime Minister [...]

[Read more →]

Thailand may well be the international centre for honorary degrees (thanks to the prolific honours bestowed on the king) but others are keen to get in on the act. Last week I received the following invitation:
The Chancellor, Dr Allan Hawke, would like to invite the academic staff of the ANU College of Asia and the [...]

[Read more →]

In the early days of New Mandala I made a number of posts about life in Bangkok.  For interested readers, I have extracted the following passage from the archives (the full version is available here).  This descriptive piece, titled “Drop it like it’s hot…”, was originally posted on 22 June 2006.�
If any New Mandala readers can offer further insight [...]

[Read more →]