New Mandala

Long-term readers will know that the New Mandala brief often ranges far and wide.  For some time now we have sporadically posted material on the “rat explosions” that occur in certain parts of northern and western Burma, and in northeastern India.
Today New Mandala reader Aiontay has pointed me towards a new PBS documentary that explains [...]

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Readers in the UK who have yet to see Giles Ji Ungpakorn talking about lèse majesté may want to get along to the next in his series of lectures.  The details are:
“Lèse majesté and the tragedy of Thai democracy”
Speaker: Giles Ji Ungpakorn, Associate Professor, Chulalongkorn University, at 5 pm Tuesday 3rd March, in the Senior [...]

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New Mandala readers who prefer to get their information in Thai may find the translation of our recent interview with Giles Ji Ungpakorn useful.  It is available here.

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On Monday 23 February 2009 Associate Professor Giles Ji Ungpakorn gave his speech on lese majeste at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.  I have received a quick note from a member of the audience that I thought worth sharing with readers.  Fresh from London it covers the key details:
…it was filmed [...]

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“The guards are lazy, corrupt and self servicing and they beat people for no reason. I remember near the last day when we were eating they picked a poor Thai man and made him bend over and beat him with a heavy wooden pole across his back. When I asked some Iranian prisoners who spoke [...]

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For a slight change of pace I expect New Mandala readers will find much value in Aung Naing Oo’s essays about life as an anti-government rebel along the Thailand-Burma border in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  Some of the recent installments in this long series deal with medical care in the camp, jungle violence, [...]

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New Mandala readers who have been following the case of Harry Nicolaides will want to read this reflection published in today’s The Sydney Morning Herald.  Penned by a former Mae Fah Laung University colleague, Heath Dollar, it discusses Harry’s desire “to create a sensation, a publicity stunt to land an author on the literary map”.  [...]

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This is the second part of New Mandala’s interview with Giles Ji Ungpakorn, an academic who recently fled Thailand after being charged with lese majeste.  The first part of the interview is available here.
Thaksin, the red shirt movement, the PAD
New Mandala: The red shirt movement was often seen as a pro-Thaksin movement. Do you think [...]

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“Nicolaides should never have been arrested and sentenced to three years in prison…By according him a pardon, the king has corrected a serious miscarriage of justice and a violation of free expression. We call for an end to lese majeste proceedings against Thai citizens such as university academic Giles Ungpakorn and Internet user Suwicha Thakor.”
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Harry Nicolaides has been released from his Thai prison cell and is now on his way home.  Best wishes to him and his family from New Mandala.
UPDATE. Statement from Forde Nicolaides:
Some fantastic news! Harry was granted a Royal Pardon by his Majesty the King of Thailand on Wednesday afternoon Bangkok time. The Nicolaides family is [...]

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