New Mandala

A few months ago the blog operated by prolific commentator Colonel Jeru (also known as Jeroo) went offline and it has not returned.  It used to be available here.  And he hasn’t been on New Mandala for months.  Do any readers know what happened to the Colonel? 
In one of his last comments on New Mandala he [...]

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Here is an article by Viroj Na Ranong which appeared in the Bangkok Post on 14 February. It is certainly not a love letter to Thailand’s intellectuals. I have reproduced it here in full given that the Bangkok Post archive lasts about one day. 
Nightmare on Intelligentsia Street
Will the intellectuals and urban upper class dare to wake [...]

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In the lead-up to last year’s election I clipped the following report from the Bangkok Post (21 December 2007):
Hill tribesmen to be given Thai citizenship
Deputy Prime Minister Sonthi Boonyaratkalin said the government will give citizenship to 353,000 people who have lived in Thailand for more than 10 years. These people are mostly hill tribesmen living in [...]

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Last year I highlighted “media freedom” in Southeast Asia using the detailed comparative information provided by Freedom House.   Freedom House also reports on the general “freedom” status of countries and divides them into three categories: Free, Partly Free and Not Free.  According to this year’s Freedom House report: 
The major positive development in the region was the improvement of [...]

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The Irrawaddy recently published a review I wrote (a long-time ago, I might add) of Ball and Mathieson’s Militia Redux: Or Sor and the Revival of Paramilitarism in Thailand.
Comments and questions from New Mandala readers are, as always, very welcome.

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The Bangkok Post reports that the community forest bill, a long-time rallying cause for activist academics and NGOs in Thailand, has finally been passed:
The long-awaited Community Forest Bill sailed through the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) yesterday by 57-2 votes with one abstention.  The passing of the bill, which combines one proposed by the Natural Resources and [...]

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Regular New Mandala readers may recall my commentary on the UNDP’s 2007 Human Development Report for Thailand. Kevin Hewison has also written a commentary and generously provides a preview here. The review will appear in the Journal of Contemporary Asia, 38, 1 (2008).
THAILAND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT. SUFFICIENCY ECONOMY AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. By UNDP (Bangkok: United [...]

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Most of the populist policies being pushed by parties competing in the December 23 general election belong to the bad variety, which means they pander to the unprincipled wants and needs of the people. What’s more, the implementation of bad populist policies could expose the country to unacceptable levels of financial liability.The problem is that [...]

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The Election Commission of Thailand (ECT) is championing a series of extraordinary laws that seek to extend bureaucratic control over the electoral process (see Asia Sentinel for a good overview of the rules). One of the strangest of the new regulations is the ban on candidates organising public rallies. According to two recent Thai Rat editorials ECT [...]

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A big proportion of New Mandala’s readers and contributors have a serious interest in Thai politics.  Unsurprisingly, many of those people are based in Thailand.  
To my mind, they are perfectly placed to take advantage of Deputy Prime Minister Sonthi Boonyaratglin’s generous offer to those who inform on vote buyers: “Pending the issuing of new regulations, informants [...]

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