As the date for the possible extension of Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest approaches, calls for her release have proliferated. Her detention is, according to reports, due to be reviewed on 27 May 2007. The big news today is that:
US First Lady Laura Bush has called on countries including Australia and China to pressure Burma’s [...]
Tags: Burma · Trans-Border Issues
Bangkok Pundit has a short overview of efforts to block blogspot.com and, in particular, some of its subdomains. Pundit sensibly advises:
…for future reference learn how to use a proxy because in the current environment who knows what websites we will be able to visit.
Tags: Surayud regime · Thailand
Regular readers will know that Andrew and I remain keenly interested in the various Thailand-related scholarly and activist meetings that are going on around the world. Tomorrow, the “Thailand after the coup” roadshow will hit London - New Mandala will be attending.
But, for today at least, I should report that another conference to be held in Thailand in [...]
Tags: Conferences · Thailand
The year 2007 has seen the release of another Thai historical epic, this time focussing on the Siamese ruler, Somdet Phra Naresuan Maharaja (King Naresuan), acclaimed as the liberator of Siam from Burmese domination in the 16th century. While the life of this “warrior king” remains somewhat mysterious (see The Nation), the choice of subject [...]
New Mandala readers whose interests in Southeast Asia stretch into southern China may enjoy a recent series of posts about Sipsongpanna written by Khun Chin. The posts include some interesting details on a trip to Tai Lue areas of southern Yunnan undertaken during Songkran 2007.
Tags: China · Laos · Shan State · Trans-Border Issues · Yunnan
A trailer for the new Rambo film is now available on YouTube. The film – which follows the ultimate action hero as he battles Burmese soldiers - was shot in Thailand. Previous New Mandala coverage of Rambo’s latest exploits is available from our archive.
Back in November Thai authorities insisted that in this 4th Rambo film “any violence has to be reasonable because we care about [...]
Tags: Burma · Thailand · Trans-Border Issues
New Mandala readers keen to read about an example of “sufficiency economy” in action will find much food for thought in this article on Chumphon’s Cabana Resort and Diving Centre. According to The Nation:
The resort’s sufficiency-economy model has become a case study for master’s-degree students of business administration at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Accountancy. The [...]
Tags: Sufficiency Economy · Thailand
Today’s The Times has a good article that pits Thant Myint-U against Mark Farmaner, the acting director of the Burma Campaign UK, on the question of tourism to Burma.
In the past, tourism to Burma has been a regular topic of discussion here on New Mandala. How would you adjudicate today’s installment of this long-running debate? Does Thant Myint-U [...]
Tags: Burma · Trans-Border Issues
Michael H. Nelson, a long-time analyst of Thai politics, has written an important new paper on the ousting of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. It is available in full from the website of the City University of Hong Kong’s Southeast Asia Research Centre.
New Mandala readers will find the extensive footnotes particularly helpful; as usual, Nelson draws on a [...]
Tags: Coup · Publications · Thailand · Thaksin
Earlier today I presented my paper on the “rural constitution” to a seminar in the Political Science Faculty at Chulalongkorn University (thanks to MAIDS for hosting the seminar). The reception was friendly. It was good to see Ji Ungpakorn there and I appreciated his comments about the complexity of political patronage in rural areas. Supporters [...]
Tags: Conferences · Rural Constitution · Thailand