By Andrew Spooner |
<p>I woke up this morning to terrible news. The 62 year old Thai political prisoner <a href="http://asiancorrespondent.com/70579/we-are-all-ar-kong-now-human-rights-on-the-slide-in-thailand/">Ampon "Ah Kong" Tangnoppakul</a> is dead. Three days ago, on the 5th of May, it was his 44th wedding anniversary and he leaves behind his wife, Pa Ou, and a large loving family.</p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk |
<p>Soon after Vipar Daomanee, a former Thammasat University lecturer, criticized red-shirt leader Nattawut Sai-gua for his endorsement of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s decision to pay respect to Privy Council President Gen. Prem Tinsulanond, Vipar received a short note from an audience at a symposium she spoke on lese majeste law and prisoner of conscience Somyos Prueksakasemsuk.</p>
<p><em>Note: This poem is from Mrs. Rosmalin (Aunty Oo), the wife of Mr. Amphon, or Ah Kong [Uncle] SMS. Mr. Amphon is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for allegedly sending 4 SMS messages with lese majesté content to the secretary of Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva, while he was in office as the prime minister.</em></p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk |
<p>Many ultra-royalists whom I engaged with over the course of many months of twitter exchanges and debates tend to think that something must be wrong with Thais who are against the lese majeste law.</p>
By Frank G Anderson |
<p>Time was when national security was hardly even a thought. The United States “back then” was big, still under basic infrastructure development – and initial stages of environmental degradation – and no one was really looking ahead at what we had, where we were really heading, and what would happen when we got there.</p>
By Andrew Spooner |
<p>Over the last couple of weeks there has been a deluge of opeds in the English language Thai media and blogosphere on Thaksin Shinawatra. The Bangkok Post, the Nation and even Asian Correspondent’s very own Bangkok Pundit have repeatedly poured over every varied aspect of Thaksin's possible return in what only could be described, in a nod to film theory, as the “New Wave of Thaksin Fever”.</p>
By Andrew Spooner |
<p>This is part two of my recent interview with leading Thai historian and academic, the former student leader, Dr. Thongchai Winichakul. Part one can be found <a href="http://bit.ly/HfEW2D">here</a>.</p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk |
<p>The just-released book in Thai language on the impact of the controversial and draconian lese majeste law on Thai society entitled ‘<em>Darkness Under the Sun</em>’ (ความมืดกลางแสงแดด) by writers and independent journalists Vorapoj Panphong and Thiti Meetaem reflects the Thai mainstream mass media’s failure in covering the issue of lese majeste law critically.</p>
By Aim Sinpeng |
<p>“More companies have been registered in Myanmar in the past six months than the previous decade combined,” revealed, on separate occasion, directors of two market research firms in Rangoon. Since 2010, Burma recorded big jumps in its foreign investment stock, bringing in nearly US$25 billion, which account for more than all investment in the previous two decades. While the number of enterprises permitted to invest still remains low, a mere fifteen in 2011, the trend indicates both growth in volume and number.</p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk |
<p>The draconian and controversial lese majeste law as well as the Computer Crimes Act ensures that freedom of expression regarding anything mildly critical of the monarchy institution could be punishable by heavy jail sentences. Thais who live outside the prison should rethink the nature of their ‘free’ society, however.</p>
By Andrew Spooner |
<p>To anyone interested in Thailand’s recent history and politics Dr. Thongchai Winichakul needs little introduction. A famed academic and historian, now resident in Singapore and the USA, Dr. Thongchai was a student leader during the terrible Thammasat Massacre of 1976 and spent time in prison following those events.</p>
By Andrew Spooner |
<p>As the news of the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/11/us-soldier-killing-afghanistan-children">Kandahar Massacre</a> circles the globe, the eyes of the international community are once again scrutinising the USA’s dubious and often appalling human rights record – particularly when they are intervening/invading in some foreign country.</p>