Every month Suan Dusit conducts a political index survey. The benefit of the Suan Dusit political index is that it is (1) nationwide, (2) a large sample size for the survey (6,846 for February), and (3) they ask the same questions each month which makes it easier to compare with previous months. BP’s plan...
Read more »
Between March 20-22, Bangkok University surveyed 1,203 people in Bangkok about current cost of living.* Q1: Opinion of people whether they or their family have been impacted by the cost of consumer goods A. Yes, 76.1% B. No, 23.9% Q2: Do you have sufficient income for the current cost of living? Yes, 46.8%...
Read more »
BP briefly mentioned this poll briefly just over a month ago and didn’t a chance to fully blog, but as BP wants to mention this poll and a few other polls in a later post assessing the performance of the government so instead of a very long post am trying to divide it...
Read more »
After the car bomb in Yala that killed 11 and the car bomb in Hat Yai that killed – the later is of particular importance to the Malaysians as 1 Malaysian died and 11 were injured – the Malaysian PM has commented. Bernama : The prime minister said Malaysia would continue to assist...
Read more »
Earlier today there was a car bomb in Yala province, one of the 3 provinces in the Deep South which has seen a large upsurge in violence since 2004, that has killed at least 10 (as blogged about here ). Around the same time, there was also an explosion at a hotel and...
Read more »
Last year, as Thailand experienced severe flooding BP blogged repeatedly about the the water level in dams last year – see Sirikit and Bhumibol dam posts. The relevance being as the water level in the dams increased, the authorities had to release water from the dams, but this was happening during the rainy...
Read more »
AP : Suspected Muslim insurgents set off a series of bombs as shoppers gathered for lunch Saturday in a commercial hub of Thailand’s insurgency-plagued south, killing eight people and wounding dozens, officials said. Yala Governor Dethrat Simsiri said that 68 people were wounded by three blasts that occurred within a 100-meter (100-yard) radius...
Read more »
Every month or so, there is a new article expressing concern about the rising household debt (a story from 2009 from The Nation with the headline “Rising household debt poses threat to economy” is a classic example). The Nation today : The chamber yesterday revealed the results of a survey conducted from March...
Read more »
The 2006 coup leader, Gen. Sonthi, who is now an MP and chairman of the House committee on national reconciliation, was advised a question by Sanan. The Bangkok Post : Maj Gen Sanan said that people nationwide wondered what had really caused the coup and that national reconciliation could not happen without the truth...
Read more »
LA Times : The law fails to “separate reasonable and truthful comment from insulting and threatening … the monarchy,” said Puangthong Pawakapan, a professor of politics at Chulalongkorn University who favors reform. With an increasingly polarized electorate, an aging king, a weak government, a conservative judiciary and a divided legislature, few analysts see...
Read more »
Pravit in The Nation : Most of the Bangkok-based mainstream mass media’s over-obsession with Thaksin strangely did not translate into curiosity to learn more about his red-shirt supporters , especially those from the rural poor. It is quite ironic and even perverted to think that foreign media like the International Herald Tribune seem...
Read more »
“ Saying the Unsayable: Monarchy and Democracy in Thailand ” is a book edited by Søren Ivarsson and Lotte Isager that was published in 2010. A description is below: A unique, multidisciplinary discussion of the cultural, historical, political, religious and legal forces that formed the Thai monarchy. Essential reading for anyone interested in Thai politics...
Read more »
Thirayuth Boonmee, is a well-known academic. He used to regularly speak to the media about politics. Chang Noi on Thirayuth in 1999 : Thirayuth Boonmee was a leader of the student revolt against military dictatorship in October 1973. Now he has become a kind of lay abbot. He immerses himself in the texts...
Read more »
Kavi has an op-ed today in The Nation entitled “Kingdom moving in right direction on human rights”: Thailand has moved away from being a blah-blah nation to become a serious and committed member of the UN Human Rights Council . Again, this week Thailand will have another opportunity to defend and further pledges...
Read more »
Kavi has an op-ed today in The Nation entitled “Kingdom moving in right direction on human rights”: Thailand has moved away from being a blah-blah nation to become a serious and committed member of the UN Human Rights Council . Again, this week Thailand will have another opportunity to defend and further pledges...
Read more »
The first ABAC Poll in September showed Yingluck with a 25 point lead over Abhisit. ABAC didn’t conduct another poll until January which showed the lead had dropped to 20 points – see BP’s post about that poll here . In February though, ABAC did another poll . The poll surveyed 2,585 people...
Read more »
Kaewmala has a series of posts at Siam Voices about Thai education failures. Part 1: Ridiculous O-NET questions which introduces readers to O-NET. Key excerpt: Thai students need to pass the O-NET (Ordinary National Educational Test) to graduate at the primary (P.6), lower secondary (M.3) and upper-secondary (M.6) school levels. O-NET is organized...
Read more »
Both Sondhi L and Thanong have raised the spectre of foreign interventionists who are out to either colonize Thailand (it make it a slave state) or to overthrow the monarchy. Kong Rithdee in an op-ed in the Bangkok Post has a response: It’s startling that even after so many televised explanations, the ultra-conservatives...
Read more »
Thanong in The Nation : We can see that the plot has been outlined and implemented so artfully to create deep divisions within the country. The theme is dialectical: the poor against the rich; the phrai against the ammart; democracy against dictatorship; freedom against censorship; freedom of expression against the lese majeste law....
Read more »
Every month Suan Dusit conducts a political index survey. The benefit of the Suan Dusit political index is that it is (1) nationwide, (2) a large sample size for the survey (6,051 for January), and (3) they ask the same questions each month and this makes it easier to provide a point of comparison....
Read more »
The plot never get an opportunity to materialize – as outline in the live blog post here and the round-up here . Initially, sources from the police and intelligence agencies stated that Israeli diplomats were the targets, but then as Reuters reports , the police chief went on the record: Thai government and...
Read more »
The plot never get an opportunity to materialize – as outline in the live blog post here and the round-up here . Initially, sources from the police and intelligence agencies stated that Israeli diplomats were the targets, but then as Reuters reports , the police chief went on the record: Thai government and...
Read more »
Thirasant Mann is a sub-editor at the Bangkok Post . His latest op-ed is entitled “A plague of legal scholars seeking to subvert ethics”. The opening: Nitirat is not pronounced “nitty rat” and does not mean “a rat with nits (baby lice)”. The word, derived from Pali and Sanskrit, translates as “ethics of...
Read more »
AFP : “ These three Iranian men are an assassination team and their targets were Israeli diplomats including the ambassador ,” a senior Thai intelligence official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Their plan was to attach bombs to diplomats’ cars.” … Explosives and magnets were later found inside the partially destroyed...
Read more »
What happened? Around 2:20 pm there was an explosion at No. 66 Soi Pridi Bhanomyong 31 (close to Pridi Bhanomyong 35) on Sukhumvit 71. This was at a house that had been rented to three Middle Eastern males who identified themselves as Iranian and a female who had been living there for several weeks...
Read more »
18:25 It was only last month that the US Embassy issued a travel warning for Thailand which coincided with the detaining of a Lebanese man, who authorities believe was connected to Hezbollah. 18:15 Bloomberg : Thai police said a foreign man was critically injured as he threw grenades in a bid to escape...
Read more »
Tulsathit in an op-ed in The Nation : All I’m asking for is a bit of a perspective. It’s not the end of the world when the Thai Culture Ministry threatens to ban SIMSIMI. Idiotic, yes, but of battling King Edward I proportions? No.
Read more »
BP has previously blogged about the Finland Declaration (where PAD leader Sondhi L alleged that Thaksin visited Finland with some academics and proposed a 5 stage plan to overthrow the monarchy) which has been pushed by the anti-Thaksin PAD (see also here and here ), but now PAD leader Sondhi L outlined a...
Read more »
While writing another post BP saw a new story blasted across the front page of the ASTV Manager site. The story is an attack by Sondhi’s son against The Nation and in particular Suthichai Yoon over his son and his son’s support over lese majeste. That really deserves a post on its own...
Read more »
It is a few weeks old, but last month ABAC had a poll that surveyed 4,689 people between December 1, 2011 and January 18, 2012 in 17 provinces, namely Bangkok, Pathum Thani, Samut Prakarn, Chachoensao, Subhan Buri, Nan, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Amnat Charoen, Srisaket, Loei, Sakon Nakorn, Udon Thani, Nakhon Ratachasima, Surat...
Read more »
TAN Network The Nation Headlines