<p>"Actually, Pangdaeng has a lot more to learn about&hellip;" Sakunee "Koy" Natpoolwat talked to me one night. Perhaps true. The woman felt for the fate of Pangdaeng villagers. She has been researching on the community together with other researchers at Chiang Mai University for several years.</p>

<p><em>It was long after the sunset behind Doi Luang Chiang Dao. </em><em>Turn around, to face the eastern side, you will see. </em><em>As dark as the sky blanketed over Pangdaeng</em></p>

<p><span>Poverty and </span><span>economic disparity are enduring problems. In 2004, there were 8.8 million poor people or 14.4% of the whole population. Average household debt was 104,571 baht per family.&nbsp;<span>&nbsp;The 20% of the population with the lowest income made 982 baht per person per month, and their total income was 4.54% of all income. the 20% of the population with the highest income made 11,874 baht per person per month, and their total income was 54.86% of all income. <span>These problems need urgent solutions; otherwise they will undermine economic development and threaten national security.</span></span></span></p>

<p>"Is doing this bad or not, friends?" This question has been familiar to Thais since the beginning of 2006 when the movement to oust Thaksin Shinawatra^{<a name="sdfootnote1anc" href="#sdfootnote1sym" title="sdfootnote1anc">¹</a>} started up. The discourse of Thaksin as a bad person was repeated and emphasized until the moral conscience of those who follow politics was so jolted that it cracked open in a months-long show of force on the streets.</p>

<p>Banning books must be contagious in Thailand! The Thai government has now ordered censorship of the Thai translation of <u>Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party</u>, "à¡éÒº·ÇÔ¨Òóì¾Ãä¤ÍÁÁÔǹÔʵì" FACT readers may be forgiven for wondering what criticising the Chinese government has to do with us!</p>

<p>AS HARVARD&#39;S new president takes the helm, over 300 students from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom converged on the university last weekend for the fourth annual conference of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines. UAEM leads an international student movement to make the fruits of university research - in particular, lifesaving medications developed in university labs - available in developing countries.</p>

<p>The National Legislative Assembly today was supposed to consider two bills that would further erode freedom of political expression in Thailand. Each bill is being sponsored by over 60 members of the NLA, including several supposed media representatives. It is only good that both bills have been withdrawn. </p>

<p><span>Attention was nailed on the crisis in Burma over the last couple of weeks and rightly so. The crisis in Burma has once again brought home the grim reality that powerful elites, with little to nil concern for international human rights standards, feel they can justify extreme measures in order to ensure their grip on power. The military junta&#39;s use of extreme violence against unarmed monks and civilians aspiring freedom and democracy clearly highlights their fear and cowardice and has aroused condemnation all over the world. </span></p>

<p><span><span>Since the military coup of 19</span></span>^{<span><span>th</span></span>}<span><span> September 2006, Thailand has almost caught up with China as a world leader in the field of internet censorship and control, particularly with regard to freedom of political expression. This is a completely unacceptable environment for the promised return to democracy at the end of this year.</span></span></p>

<p><span><span>I was going to begin the series by expressing my views on our government&#39;s suffocation of internet freedom, but that will have to wait till next week. The present situation in Burma (officially called "Myanmar" by the governing military junta) requires me to urgently call upon our government (established by our own home-made military junta) to relinquish its wimpish "non-interference" position on the Burmese domestic situation, and tell the Burmese regime in no uncertain terms that any use of violence to crackdown on the peaceful mass demonstrations for democracy and social justice taking place all over country will be completely unacceptable to Thailand.</span></span></p>

<p>While the mainstream media concentrate on the pronouncements of foreign governments and the role of the U.N. in stopping the bloodshed perpetrated by the Burmese junta, the real struggle is on the streets and in the cities around Burma.</p>

<p><span>Council for National Security spokesperson Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd told reporters after a CNS meeting on Sept 17 that martial </span><span>law would remain in force in 27 provinces including Pattani and those along the border; the number decreased from 35 previously. This might cheer up the urban middle class a little bit as a good sign of improvement in the situation, economic in particular.</span></p>