Last week Thailand deputy prime minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, General Tanasak Patimapragorn, failed to join his counterparts from Indonesia and Malaysia at the conclusion of a mini summit in Kuala Lumpur to discuss the plight of thousands of Rohingya and Bengalis believed to be afloat on the Indian Ocean. This is the most […]
After a seeming eternity of successive Thai New Year’s being celebrated under the shadow of political unrest and bloodshed, Thais have welcomed this new year with gusto. While the country remains under the firm control of the the junta led by General Prayut Chan-o-cha following the May 2014 “military intervention” which saw the removal of […]
Since rolling Humvee’s and trucks laden with armed troops through Bangkok in the early hours of Tuesday (May 20) Thailand’s National Peace and Order Maintaining Council (NPOMC) has gradually withdrawn the majority of soldiers from public view, at the same time issuing a steady stream of orders broadcast on Thai television. Of 12 such martial […]
Last Sunday more than 20 million Thais participated in the the 2014 Thailand general election, defying the country’s main opposition Democrat Party and anti-government protesters, who had separately vowed to stop the election from proceeding. While the 46.79 per cent turnout of the 43,024,042 electoral pool* was a dramatic drop on the 75.03 per cent […]
An attempt by a small number of predominantly right-wing Bangkokians supported by Thailand’s second oldest political party*, the Democrat Party, to suspend democracy in Thailand and install their own unelected “people’s committee” under the guise of ridding the country of the “Thaksin regime” has seen political fervour reach a level not seen since 2010. Back […]
About 70 per cent of the Mercedes-Benz vehicles sold in Thailand by the country’s 30 dealerships are manufactured at the Thai owned, managed, and staffed Samut Prakan factory of Thonburi Automotive Assembly (TAAP), 23 kilometres (about 14.5 miles) from central Bangkok. The Thai family owned company last year churned out 6,000 Mercedes-Benz vehicles comprising C-Class, […]
One of the great success stories of Thailand manufacturing in recent years has been the Thailand automotive industry, which churned our some 2.45 million cars and 2.5 million motorbikes in 2012, making Thailand the 10th largest automobile manufacturer and eighth largest exporter (by volume) globally. While Japanese automotive giants such as Toyota, Isuzu, Honda, Mitsubishi, […]
The onset of the wet season in Bangkok brings with it not just a respite from the hot weather that proceeds it, but also serves as a poignant reminder of how strained this city of 12 million people is. Bangkok is rapidly reaching its use by date Al Jazeera English Originally founded as the capital […]
The behaviour of a previously little-known Thailand monk has thrust the Sangha in Thailand onto the front pages of daily newspapers, with salacious claims of money laundering, an illegitimate child, and millions of baht in “laundered” money only serving to spice up the soap-opera-like story. The scandal first began to emerge on June 17 when […]
Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has promised to review a raft of workers rights and conditions and demands raised by Thailand trade unions. The undertaking came as more than More than four thousand trade unionists gathered at Sanam Luang park in central Bangkok to mark Thailand Labour Day 2013. Amongst issues the trade unions want […]
At a nondescript ceremony inside the grounds of Wang Klai Kangwon Palace in Hua Hin, Thailand on December 5, 1995, Khwankeo Vajarodaya, grand chamberlain of the Royal House of Siam, flipped a switch that would change forever the problem of governments globally – the cost effective delivery of quality education to a geographically dispersed population. […]
The events of the last two weeks in Myanmar bear considerable similarity to events a little over 19 years ago in a country that became synonymous with the abject failure of the United Nations (UN) and defined the word “genocide” for the 20th century, Rwanda. While the one million people butchered in Rwanda is less […]