Thaksin Shinawatra
23 May 2022
Following the stunning victory on Sunday night by gubernatorial candidate Chadchart Sittipunt, who carried all of Bangkok’s 50 districts in a record-breaking sweep, many observers spent Monday speculating what the phenomenon would mean for Thai politics on the national level.
18 Nov 2021
When protesters and members of the public again raised the issue of amending the lèse majesté law in November, political parties and affiliated think tanks responded in different ways.
19 May 2020
This month marks the tenth anniversary of the killings of the red shirt protesters. Thai Political Slang Explained explores a word which justified the 2010 crackdown and, in a forthcoming second part, how it changed meaning in an unexpected twist to become a pejorative nickname of the Commander in Chief of the Royal Thai Army.
7 Jun 2019
พรรคแมลงสาบ [phak malaengsap] or ‘cockroach party’ is a derogatory term, widely used by the general public to refer to the Democrat Party based on its longevity and high resilience to stay in power. Many may attribute the term to its long controversial history, but the term was first used in 2002 from within the Democrat Party itself as Kanok Wongtrangan was looking for a model to navigate the politics of the time.
16 Oct 2017
A rock singer’s charity campaign has sparked debate over the ethics of donations, while a senior academic is facing a lèse majesté lawsuit for criticising King Naresuan, who ruled the kingdom of Ayutthaya 400 years ago.
Thailand’s lèse majesté law is notorious for its excessive punishments and broad interpretations.
10 Oct 2017
The former fugitive Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has threatened to take legal actions against those accusing him of royal defamation.
The former PM wrote on his twitter account on 9 October 2017 that he felt ‘extremely uncomfortable’ about the recent statement of Khemchai Chutiwongse, the Attorney General, that he will be indicted under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law.
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.
3 Apr 2017
Thaksin Shinawatra has urged Thailand’s ruling junta to stop blaming him for political violence, adding he wants no place in the military government’s ongoing reconciliation efforts.
On 31 March 2017, the exiled former Prime Minister condemned the junta on his Facebook page for its failure to handle the country’s economy.
27 Oct 2016
Under military rule, social order is attained at the expense of economic growth while elected governments usually lead to political turmoil.
15 Sep 2016
Thailand’s political landscape seems haunted by figures, events and images that once symbolised progressive change. Such change arguably has not come, yet the same symbols linger on, in newspapers, activist pamphlets and state media.
Pages
Prachatai Links
Human Rights Links
Politics Links
Economics Links
Academic Links
Support Prachatai
