By Jared Makana Kirkey |
<p>Critics contend that efforts by Thailand’s Prime Minister and the Royal Thai Armed Forces to downplay the significance of an incursion into Thai airspace by a Myanmar MiG-29 fighter place border safety at risk.</p>
By Kanchanaphorn Teeruk, Veeraphattra Siangyen |
<p>A peek at the lives of road sweepers in Bangkok, and their work on the streets of the capital city of a country that is ranked top in the world in road fatalities. We look at safety policies and the rewards for risking danger on the day that Thai society woke up to road safety, and when road sweepers lose their lives every year.</p>
By Teeranai Charuvastra |
<p>After a hiatus of nearly two decades, the Pride Parade returned to Bangkok last Sunday with a bang, drawing crowds of LGBTQ community members, sex workers, feminists, political dissidents, and even corporate representatives. </p>
By Teeranai Charuvastra |
<p>Chadchart Sittipunt’s landslide victory in the gubernatorial election captured the media's attention, but the battle for the City Councilor seats may turn out to have even greater implications for national politics, observers say. </p>
By Teeranai Charuvastra |
<p>A disability rights advocate spent half a day in jail – in his wheelchair – after a court unexpectedly accepted a criminal case against him and held him in custody as his lawyers scrambled to raise bail. His alleged crime: posting a photo of a car that he believed was improperly occupying a wheelchair user’s parking space.</p>
By Yiamyut Sutthichaya |
<p>Sorcery and religious rites that are deeply imbedded in Thai society have been in the spotlight as mainstream media outlets have joined hands with vigilantes to expose monastic malpractice and cults. Calls for professionalism that have long been overshadowed by competition for audiences have been sounded again.</p>
By Teeranai Charuvastra |
<p>Government data says 2 million out of 12 million senior citizens have yet to receive a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and many more have yet to get their booster shots, despite established evidence that the elderly population is most at risk in the face of Omicron’s onslaught. </p>
By Yiamyut Sutthichaya |
<p>Vocational Students Protecting the Institution have admitted that their members took part in assaults of a photojournalist and another citizen after a protest on 22 April. Despite the attacker being temporarily banished from the group, concerns remain over media safety and the likelihood of further hate crimes.</p>
By Teeranai Charuvastra |
<p>Election banners have become a leading campaign gimmick in the gubernatorial race. In response to criticism that the plastic banners are wasteful relics from the pre-digital era, some candidates have come up with ‘green’ alternatives, like shrinking banners or promising to recycle them after the vote is over. </p>
By Teeranai Charuvastra |
<p>Although it’s now common for royal insult defendants to be freed on bail, their freedom often comes with vague conditions like bans on joining protests that could lead to “chaos” or doing anything that “damages” the monarchy. Experts question whether these conditions may violate the rights to free expression. </p>
By Anna Lawattanatrakul and Yiamyut Suthichaya |
<p>Declared 2 years ago to combat the spread of Covid-19, Thailand’s State of Emergency has resulted in diminished freedom of expression and assembly. It has also been used as grounds for cracking down on pro-democracy protests and prosecuting activists.</p>
By Teeranai Charuvastra |
<p>Individuals accused of insulting the monarchy are paying astronomical sums of money – sometimes in the millions of baht – to secure their freedom while their cases are ongoing, a practice that one law scholar said could amount to violating the constitutional right to a fair trial.</p>