<p>It seems to have been a somewhat difficult meeting.&nbsp; The new Minister of Finance, Dr Surapong Suebwonglee, and his two deputies, Pradit Pattaraprasit and Second Lieutenant Ranongrak Suwanchawee, recently held their first meeting with the Permanent Secretary and other high-ranking officials of the Ministry.&nbsp;</p>

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma">Revelations that at least one of the CIA videotapes which are alleged to show the waterboarding of suspected terrorist prisoners were shot in Thailand have led to an official letter of complaint to the US Embassy in Bangkok from the Alien Registration Division of the Department of Labour.<span>&nbsp; </span></span></p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">Those with power are likely to be able to set the rules. These words are not too excessive in the reality of how relations have worked from the past to the present. Rules are what are always referred to in order to claim legitimacy for any action. </p>

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma;">Leftists and pro-democracy people found it really hard to swallow the appointment of Samak Sundaravej, the right-wing, royalist politician, as the 25th Prime Minister. <span>&nbsp;</span>But those who were most blissful&mdash;no, not Thaksin Shinawatra who handpicked Samak himself&mdash;were the &lsquo;People&rsquo;s Alliance for coup D&rsquo;&eacute;tat&rsquo;, which resurrected conservative, rightist royalism as the dominant force in Thailand&rsquo;s politics two years ago.</span></p>

<p>Well, after two years of derailment, here we are, back on the rusty tracks of &quot;Thai democracy&quot;. And to pilot the country into the new era is our notorious new Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej who will most likely be joined by such well-matching personalities as Chalerm Yubamrung as interior minister and Plodprasop Suraswadi as environment minister. </p>

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma">Following closely in the wake of protests by Thai Airways female cabin crew against the soap opera &lsquo;War of Angels&rsquo;, the Association of Politicians, Influential Persons and Sundry Other Flaks (PIPSOF) has launched a similar campaign against the portrayal of politicians in the Thai media.</span></p>

<p>Thailand needs to re-think about the concept of Thainess before social unrest or an ethnic uprising similar to that in the Deep South spreads to other regions, academics said at a seminar yesterday on the &quot;Concept of Thainess and the Southern Insurgency.&quot;</p>

<p>Three decades ago, some Australian outfit produced a documentary about schoolboys in Thailand. It was one of those &lsquo;follow them around with a camera&#39; efforts, and, without bothering with an explanatory soundtrack, it focussed on 3 Bangkok kids, each from a different social class. </p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span>Doctor Sa-nguan Nitayarumphong, or Doc Sa-nguan, to those that knew him well, was an entrepreneur who succeeded in making universal healthcare possible in this country. Most recently, he served a second term as Secretary General of the National Health Security Office. </span></p>

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma">The old Soviet Union, as a country consciously founded on an economic principle, spent much time and effort on drilling the basics of communism as part of its formal education system.<span>&nbsp; </span></span></p>

<p>Acharn Chatri Prakitnonthakan&nbsp;is known for his writings on the political history of Thai architecture and are of interest to students of Thai politics and history, as well as architecture.&nbsp; This paper was delivered to the 10th International Thai Studies Conference which was recently held at Thammasat University and is published with the author&#39;s kind permission</p>

<p>Whilst much attention has been given to the celebration of the fortieth birthday of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), an equally important institution crucial to the building of an ASEAN community, the ASEAN Foundation, reached its tenth anniversary recently. </p>