New Mandala

Last week Charles Keyes, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and International Studies at the University of Washington, penned a thought-provoking article on “how pervasive magic has become in Thai politics”.  Keyes describes the use of ritual, “black magic” and astrological insights by many of the players in the current political crisis.  He highlights the links between [...]

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In the past few months, Myanmar’s Rohingya ‘issue’ has come to be seen as a regional concern. Destination countries for Rohingya refugees/economic migrants (that delineation being particularly complex in this situation) have used their diplomatic bargaining chips to discuss the issue in such fora as February’s ASEAN Summit, as well as the high-level Ministerial meetings of [...]

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Long-term New Mandala readers will recall the series of substantial posts on Chachoengsao politics written by Michael H. Nelson.  Michael has now produced a comprehensive account of the the 23 December 2007 elections in the province that he knows so well.  It is available here as a KPI Thai Politics Update.  Thanks to Michael for [...]

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Next week there will be a discussion of academic blogging at which I will make a short presentation.  There will also be a presentation from the East Asia Forum team, and an opportunity for questions and discussion.  Readers in Canberra may like to attend.
Seminar: Academic Blogging in the College of Asia and the Pacific
Hedley Bull [...]

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Thailand has been big news in recent weeks.  With all the attention on Abhisit, Thaksin, Sondhi and all the rest it is all too easy to forget that Suwicha Thakor (สุวิชา ท่าค้อ) remains locked up for lese majeste.  Political Prisoners in Thailand continues to update its file on his tragic case.  He was, you may [...]

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Conventional wisdom has suggested for decades that the monarchy is the most important factor that stabilises Thai politics and its transition to democracy. We can find this view in so many publications from academic works to journalistic outputs.
The crisis since 2005 indicates the opposite.
The view that the monarchy is the political stabiliser is in fact only a [...]

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The following notice may be of interest to New Mandala readers who are students at the ANU:

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Najib Tun Razak was sworn in as Malaysia’s sixth Prime Minister on 3 April 2009. He takes over the Prime Ministership of Malaysia at a critical juncture in the history of his political party and Malaysia. On the global front, Malaysia is battered by the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression. Domestically, Najib’s ruling party, [...]

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I really don’t see an end to these political problems — even my elephants are suffering…Sadly, I think the only way out is for our King to tell everyone to stop fighting.
- Laithonglian Meephan, who runs an elephant park in Ayutthaya, quoted in Martin Petty, “Thais pine for political fix as unrest hurt economy”, Reuters, [...]

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History is not one of my favourite subjects.  I don’t like it at all — and I have no ambitions to be a great King, and go down in history.  When great Kings reign, Mr Davis, there are invariably wars during their lifetime — and I want people to be happy and free of war [...]

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