New Mandala

In a bid to find ways to solve the ongoing political chaos, Samak government agreed on Thursday to conduct “public referendum,” Culture Minister Somsak Kietsuranond said Thursday.  He quoted Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej as saying that the referendum is the best solution to the problem. … Earlier People Power Party’s MP Suthin Klangsaeng said earlier [...]

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Over at The Interpreter, the must-read blog of the Lowy Institute, veteran Southeast Asia-watcher Milton Osborne makes some very interesting points about yesterday’s resignation of Thai Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag. Based on a lifetime spent observing politics across the region, Osborne’s analysis is, to my eye, worth a very close look.
He concludes that Tej’s “departure has all [...]

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…there is no reporting of what is going on in Thailand.�
I had been wondering about this very issue and in my admittedly brief surveys of media produced inside Burma I had come to the same conclusion as The Irrawaddy’s much more detailed analysis.
While all eyes understandably remain on the unfolding saga in Bangkok, spare a [...]

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In one of many such engagements this week, New Mandala co-founder Andrew Walker gave a 5-minute interview to Radio Australia’s Tom Fayle earlier today.  The audio of their conversation is available here.

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With mounting speculation that Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej will resign the Australian Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, has cautioned against anti-democratic intervention.  In an interview with Sky News he said:
…we hope that the Thai political system will work its way through…we certainly hope that it will resolve itself politically through the parliamentary and democratic institutions and the [...]

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