New Mandala

Critics can be pessimistic about Thailand’s political future. But shouldn’t they take comfort from all the signs that Thai politics is returning to “normal” again? After all, since when did we not have vote-buying, political horse-trading and betrayal? They have all been part and parcel of Thai politics.So at end the day, there shouldn’t be [...]

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Yesterday I attended the Medhi Krongkaew’s seminar on Corruption and Current Political Developments in Thailand. ((As usual, this summary is based on my notes and memory. If anyone else who was at the seminar wants to add material or challenge my interpretation please submit your comments.)) Medhi, who was sporting the compulsory yellow tie, spoke about his [...]

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Chris Baker has prepared a translation of the revised Internal Security Act and has provided the following comments. Thanks very much Chris! (His comments on the previous version are here.)   [UPDATE 23 October 2007: the link to the translation above is an updated translation kindly provided by Chris.]

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New Mandala’s favourite junta bureaucrat, Ladda Tangsupachai (scourge of coyotes) has made it big time! ((One of our previous posts on Ladda, concerning Thai national dress, continues to attract an inordinate number of hits. I am sure it is the photo of Ladda that is attracting the attention!))  She features in an article in Time Magazine about Thailand’s [...]

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In early September this year the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) wrote to international universities advising them that new regulations on foreign research in Thailand had been adopted. The new regulations, which were approved by cabinet in late May 2007, appear to be broadly similiar to the 1982 regulations they have replaced. Based on [...]

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Thailand’s sufficiency democracy election campaign rolls on. Having spent years slamming Thaksin’s populism the Democrats-except-when-you-can’t-win-an-election-and-then-a-coup-is-OK  are out trying to woo the voters of the northeast with a swag of electoral goodies (including a “sufficiency economy fund to provide loans to farmers”!!). And the usual elite hand-wringing persists about the threat of vote-buying. But most bizarre of all [...]

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From todays Nation, further developments in a story New Mandala has been following for some time:
Prasong Soonsiri attacked Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont on Wednesday night, telling the premier that “your house is inside a national forest reserve.” He was speaking during the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) censure debate. Prasong displayed an aerial map that he [...]

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A number of New Mandala readers (including one journalist who is “frustrated to a degree that is hard to bear”) have drawn my attention to the proposed changes to Thailand’s lese majeste laws. Yahoo News carries one report:
Thailand, which strictly enforces laws protecting the monarchy, plans to extend protection to royal advisers and other members of [...]

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This post is a follow-up to the New Mandala interview with Paul Handley posted on 19 September 2007.�
Thanks for all the comments and interest in The King Never Smiles. I’m still a bit frustrated over the lack of discussion here and elsewhere over specific themes and content of the book. Everyone still focuses on the book’s existence [...]

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Under the headline “Entrepreneurs happy with performance of CNS, government”,  the Thai government’s news agency reports:
On the one-year performance evaluation of the CNS and the government, the survey found they won the entrepreneurs’ satisfaction narrowly regarding the supervision of the baht with a score of 5.2 out of 10 points, national reconciliation with 5.5, solving the southern unrest [...]

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