New Mandala

Our live coverage of the 2009 Thai Update held at the Australian National University (and organised by the National Thai Studies Centre) will start at about 9 AM today.
The program for the Update is here.
You can follow New Mandala’s Twitter posts about the Update on our Twitter page here.
If you want to follow all posts [...]

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A September 15 article on the New Era website reports that UNICEF-funded kindergartens in cyclone affected areas of Myanmar’s delta are empty. The Kale Pyaw Neya (literally, Happy Children Place) kindergartens have no kids in them, Aung Kyaw Moe writes, because parents can’t afford to pay for carers. He quotes an INGO staff person working [...]

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The protagonists in the ongoing political war may have their own reasons for destroying each other. But when they manage to kill people’s faith in the very foundation of a genuine democratic system, that is inexcusable.
- Extracted from Suthichai Yoon, “From delusion to loss of faith in ‘democracy‘”, The Nation, 17 September 2009.

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Contested waterscapes in the Mekong Region: hydropower, livelihoods and governance
Dr Tira Foran
Research Fellow, Unit for Social and Environmental Research (USER), Chiang Mai University
12.30-1.30pm Tuesday 18 August
Seminar Room B, (Arndt Room)
Coombs Building, The Australian National University

Dr Tira Foran is an editor of the recently published Contested Waterscapes in the Mekong Region: Hydropower, Livelihoods and Governance, which [...]

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Phom mai dai khai chat (I did not sell my country) (2008) by Nophadon Pathama (ISBN: 9789743681141 ). Nophadon, former foreign minister in Samak’s government was hounded out of office for his role in Preah Vihear temple dispute. This book is his story and his account of Preah Vihear. Part one is autobiographical and part [...]

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A “flash mob” for Burma will hit London tonight as campaigners urge commuters to remember victims of the cyclone and decades of human rights abuses in the country.
- Extracted from Joanna Sugden, “Flash mob for Burma hits London”, The Times, 25 June 2008.  If any New Mandala readers were there, or have thoughts on this [...]

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Courtesy of Bangkpok Pundit I learned of a new political party taking to the streets of Bangkok.  The Pundit has this post in his “light relief” category (alongside, I noticed, a brief piece about Big Brother UK’s Thai housemate).  Hippy politics in Bangkok?  A cookie addict in Hertfordshire?  Crazy times.

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A New Mandala reader has sent through these comments on the period immediately before Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy Delta.  It will, I’m sure, be of interest to many.
I was due to go to Yangon on the Sunday but was told by the Burmese friend I was going to meet there that they were expecting bad [...]

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Bertil Lintner and Andrew Marshall – who have penned, between them, some of the more interesting books on modern Burma - have both come to the (renewed) attention of the Burmese authorities in recent days.  The Irrawaddy has the details.
On the topic of journalistic access to Burma, I noticed in this Saturday’s The Guardian that Cathy Scott-Clark and [...]

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New Mandala readers who take an interest in the human rights situation in Thailand will be keen to learn about an innovative blog project.  In the run-up to the appointment of a new batch of National Human Rights Commissioners it is asking for ideas on who should be given the nod.  The current group of Commissioners were appointed [...]

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