New Mandala

New perspectives on mainland Southeast Asia

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Opportunity at The Irrawaddy

May 1st, 2009 by Nicholas Farrelly · Add a Comment

The Irrawaddy is looking for a marketing advisor to help improve its prospects as a pivotal source of regional information.  We don’t usually advertise jobs here but this strikes me as a role that, if done well, could have significance far beyond an individual’s 6-month contract.  All the details are available here.

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Tags: Burma · Media · Trans-Border Issues

Pasuk and Baker on “spirits, stars and Thai politics”

May 1st, 2009 by Nicholas Farrelly · 14 Comments

Pasuk Phongpaichit and Chris Baker have sent through a paper they presented at the Siam Society in December 2008.  It deals with the same general set of magical themes as the article by Charles Keyes discussed in this recent New Mandala post.  The text of the Pasuk and Baker presentation, plus a fascinating series of [...]

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Tags: Coup · Royal family · Thailand · Thaksin

$ufficiency economy

May 1st, 2009 by Andrew Walker · 40 Comments

We haven’t had much discussion of $ufficiency economy here lately, so I was pleased to see this short article in The Nation:
Govt approves 2nd phase of sufficiency community project.
The government has approved the second phase of the sufficiency community project worth Bt5 billion, Deputy Prime Minister Korbsak Sabhavasu said Thursday. The second phase covers 17,000 [...]

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Tags: Sufficiency Economy · Thailand

From the New Mandala archive: ASEAN connections

May 1st, 2009 by Nicholas Farrelly · 2 Comments

One of the earlier posts I made on New Mandala highlighted a sign of ASEAN goodwill at an intersection outside Pitsanulok in central Thailand.  On this first day of May 2009 I thought it would be a nice idea to draw it, once again, to readers’ attention.  If you click on the image you will [...]

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Tags: Burma · China · Environment · History · Malaysia · Trans-Border Issues

Utopian visions, Buddhism and King Bhumibol

May 1st, 2009 by Nicholas Farrelly · 3 Comments

Over at The Nation Thanong Khanthong offers a meditation on life, King Bhumibol and Buddhism that dovetails nicely with yesterday’s effort to question the relationship between politics, royalty and the supernatural.  Thanong waxes lyrical in his usual style and concludes with a:
…a vision of the future, when the Thai people become enlightened…and will embrace the [...]

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Tags: Royal family · Thailand

Cyclone Nargis: One year on

May 1st, 2009 by Nicholas Farrelly · Add a Comment

Immediately after the cyclone, Burmese civil society groups, Buddhist monks, Christian charity organizations, and local staff from international agencies already operating in Burma responded in affected areas, often having to circumvent official restrictions on movement and access under extremely difficult circumstances. Without their work, the disaster response would have cost many more lives. The government’s [...]

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Tags: Burma · Cyclone Nargis · Trans-Border Issues