Ministry of Culture

6 Sep 2023
Former culture minister Itthiphol Khunpluem faces an arrest warrant after failing to appear in court to defend himself against accusations of malfeasance from when he was the mayor of Pattaya’ in 2008. A news source reports that he has flown to a neighbouring country.
7 Aug 2023
A group of activists staged a protest at the Ministry of Culture on Sunday (6 August) to demand that Senator and poet Naowarat Pongpaiboon be removed from his position as a national artist for abstaining during the vote for Prime Minister.
16 Oct 2021
Writer Suchart Sawatsri filed a lawsuit on Thursday (14 October) against the National Culture Commission (NCC) and the Ministry of Culture for stripping him of his national artist status, reportedly due to social media posts he made about the monarchy
17 Jun 2019
After Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha’s recommendation of Animal Farm last month created a small wave of George Orwell fever sweeping through the Thai internet, last Tuesday (11 June), he also recommended that Thais read Aesop’s Fables for moral guidance. It appears that Gen Prayut is trying to create a new image for himself as an intellectual, bookish Prime Minister. Not only is he recommending books, he is also sporting a pair of glasses.
18 Apr 2018
‘The winners write history,’ said many Thai netizens last week in criticisms of a Thai history textbook which praises the military government for establishing “true democracy” in Thailand. “Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha as Prime Minister has carried out a policy of reforming the country, reforming politics to be truly a democracy, eliminating corruption and using moral principles to lead the country to be truly a democracy.” This is a direct quote from page 195 of “History of the Thai Nation,” a history textbook published by the Mini
11 Aug 2017
After five years of legal struggle, a court has confirmed a ban on a film adaptation of Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’, which touches on sensitive historical topics. On 11 August 2017, the Administrative Court maintained a ban on ‘Shakespeare Must Die’, a political film with references to the 6 October 1976 student massacre and the political violence during the red shirt demonstrations in 2009. The leading character of the movie, called ‘Dear Leader’, is believed to be based on the controversial former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.   
23 Sep 2016
More than sixty thousand Thais have signed a petition opposing the Culture Ministry's attempt to ban a tourist ad that contains characters from the Ramayana, part of the national literary heritage.    On 22 September 2016, Jatuporn Rattanawaraha, a Thai national artist in the dramatic arts -- khon -- category, said that the music video titled “Thais tour in Thailand: Let’s have fun!” was inappropriate and would destroy Thailand’s national culture, reported Bangkok Business.  
3 Nov 2015
The Thai authorities have drafted a master plan to promote ‘morality’ based on sufficiency, honesty, and responsibility as a national programme.   According to Daily News, Gen Thanasak Patimaprakorn, Deputy Prime Minister and head of the National Committee to Promote Morality established under the Ministry of Culture, on Monday, 2 November 2015, revealed that the Committee approved a master plan to promote morality as a national programme at its first meeting.
30 Oct 2015
Following the controversial 12 nationalistic Thai values introduced in the aftermath of the 2014 coup d’état and the construction of a theme park with grandiose monuments of ancient kings, the Thai junta has now published its latest version of Thai history, which many historians view as an attempt to legitimize military rule via a narrow nationalistic history.
12 Oct 2015
Thailand’s Ministry of Culture has banned a horror film centring on the life of a teenage monk after the movie caused a stir among Buddhist hardliners who alleged that the film insults Buddhism. On Monday, 12 October 2015, Sahamongkol Film International, a Thai film production company, sent out a tweet to inform the public that it has to postpone screening the film ‘Abat’ (‘offense’ in the Pali language, the sacred language of Theravada Buddhism).
23 Sep 2015
Conservative Buddhist organisations in Thailand calls on the authorities to review a horror movie about a young novice, saying that the film insults Buddhism and Buddhist monks.
18 Mar 2015
Thai cultural officials are becoming concerned at the proliferation on the internet of ‘underblurb selfies’ posted by politicians in an attempt to make themselves attractive to voters. 

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