New Mandala

After SOAS, Giles’s second stop of his tour of major UK campuses to deliver his critique of contemporary Thai politics brought him to Oxford, where he now lives in exile with his wife and son. Around 60 people attended his talk, which I chaired, virtually all of them Thai, some sympathisers and some hostile. Before [...]

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The suffiency message is spreading. Here is a report from the Vientiane Times (27 Jan 2009).
The agriculture-based, self-sufficient nature of the country’s economy will protect Laos from any major fallout from the global financial crisis, according to a senior economics lecturer at the National University of Laos. Vice Dean of the university’s Economics and Business [...]

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A recent report of people killed and injured by fireworks in northern Thailand reminded me to dig out some of the images I have of local fireworks in the northern Thai village of Baan Tiam. For some time (I am not sure how long) firework competitions have become a feature of loi krathong celebrations in Baan Tiam (and, [...]

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We haven’t featured anything on sufficiency economy for a while (at least not since its principle architect was identified by Forbes as the world’s wealthiest royal) so I was very pleased yesterday when a colleague passed me information about a scheme to take sufficiency economy to the world. It’s been organised by the Thai Research [...]

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For about half a century, northern Thailand’s Royal Projects have been a frontier institution transforming the agrarian landscape through various “hill tribe” development schemes. This institution has been established not only through development/humanitarian processes, but also through political processes to the extent that popular (and academic) discourses seem to have been limited to representing the [...]

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There is lots of chatter, both online and offline, about the Forbes article that attempted to quantify the king of Thailand’s monumental wealth.  It has certainly got the people talking.
The Bangkok Post has now joined the fray — there are two relevant articles including one that posits the story is “flawed”. It is based on this statement [...]

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Last night SBS television news in Australia featured a story on buffalos in Thailand. According to CNN’s Dan Rivers, farmers in northern Thailand are turning to buffalos to plough their fields instead of tractors. He interviewed a local farmer, Jile Songkasri, who said that high fuel prices and the bad economy had encouraged him to dust off his old plough [...]

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Today New Mandala is not immediately in a position to add much to the analysis of the current standoff in central Bangkok between the PA(S)D and the Royal Thai Police. 
What I can do, of course, is provide links to some of the best “live” coverage.  Bangkok Pundit leads the charge, as usual, with a characteristically well-chosen mix [...]

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Garlic growers in Mae Hong Son were encamped outside the city and blocked two roads in their protest to urge the government to buy garlic at a guaranteed price on Wednesday. The protesters gathered at city hall and moved to block a second road in Mae Sarieng district. Garlic farmers have encamped the Mae Hong [...]

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