<p>At a prison in Samut Prakan Province, Mohammad (an alias), a Palestinian refugee from Syria, told us, “Please tell my wife for me, that I hope to return to her and our baby soon.” Having fled wars several times in his life and repeatedly becoming a refugee in foreign lands, the only reason he was charged with making and using a counterfeit passport in Thailand was that he dared to take on a little hope.</p> <p><strong>Hope for Survival</strong></p>

<p>Readers may already be aware of the Rights and Liberties Protection Department of the Ministry of Justice, a government agency that performs such sterling work as helping victims of crimes, arranging compensation, and giving legal advice when rights have been violated (more often than not by other government agencies).&nbsp; Far less well-known is a parallel organization, the Duties and Responsibilities Enforcement Department.</p>

<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5105/5785844398_c71867ff75.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 333px;" /></div> <div style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div> <div style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div> <div>Pheu Thai’s policies have been dismissed as ‘populism’, but elements of them can more properly be categorized as belonging to ‘Socialism of the 21^st&nbsp;Century’,&nbsp;a movement embraced by Latin American leaders such as&nbsp;Hugo Chávez of Venezuela&nbsp;and one with its own Wikipedia page for those interested.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div>

<p><em>Translator’s note: This is a different kind of new year story. Every year, Buddhist New Year is observed from 13-15 April. People tend to spend the holiday with their family and friends. One part of the holiday involves “playing water,” which means to throw water and flour on friends and community members in a joyful and playful fashion. In this essay, Noom Rednon reflects on the four Songkrans between 2010 and 2013 he spent behind bars. “Playing water” takes on a new meaning behind bars.</em></p>

<p>The latest attempt to remove Acting Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra over the transfer of former, and now re-instated, National Security Council Secretary-General Thawil Pliensri has run into some legal wrangling. &nbsp;</p> <p>The Supreme Administrative Court found that the transfer of Sec-Gen Thawil, shortly after the Yingluck administration took power, was illegal.&nbsp; Thawil argued that it was motivated by the patron-client system and “if the patronage system stays strong, how can civil officials be counted on to do their jobs correctly?” he argued.</p>

<p>Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet every year. They often share an upbeat outlook on ongoing regionalization, which will witness the grouping celebrate a milestone in its community building in 2015. In looking closely into the region however, underneath such optimism lies an inconvenient truth. In Southeast Asia, existing political flashpoints have the potential to hamper the path toward an ASEAN community. The seeming inability of ASEAN to manage regional disputes has so far symbolized a failure in the strengthening of its regional architecture.</p>

<p>I trust you were as shocked as I was to read the outrageous ‘Gridlock makes losers of us all’ column by Atiya Achakulwisut in last Tuesday’s Bangkok Post.&nbsp; It being April 1, I momentarily suspected it was an April Fool spoof, but it seems I was sadly mistaken.&nbsp;</p> <p>In a single article she carelessly junked the Post’s carefully crafted paeans to the bravery, statesmanship and personal sacrifice of Suthep Thaugsuban. &nbsp;These puff pieces have for months laboured to overcome his legacy as a corrupt provincial wheeler-dealer with a lightning quick eye for the main chance.</p>

<p>Following the decision of the suddenly even-handed Election Commission to call for a re-run of the Bangkok governor’s election, political office holders around the country are looking over their shoulders and wondering if a similar fate will befall them.</p>

<p>Friends of Thai Democracy are becoming increasingly anxious as the search for its whereabouts or any trace of its remains now enters its third month.</p>

<div>Dear fellow Thai citizens,</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Are you fed up with and hopeless about politics yet?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>I wouldn't be surprised if you feel despair and smell political hatred in the air.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Monday the group of six independent organisations gave both caretaker PM Yingluck Shinawatra and anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) leader Suthep Thaugsuban seven days to nominate 10 possible mediators to facilitate negotiations to end the prolonged political impasse. </div>

<div>An estimated 2 million migrants from Myanmar working across Thailand remain anxious to an irrational deadline imposed on permission to work here. The two countries agreed in 2003 that these workers could remain in Thailand only for 4 years before returning home for at least 3 years prior to any possible return.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>This limit on migrant’s stay in Thailand was imposed on ‘legal’ workers who, since 2009, completed a Nationality Verification regularisation process (NV). </div>

<p>As the good people of Crimea go to the polls, the leaders of the democratic west (as they like to think of themselves) reject the vote in advance and even threaten punishment for voting.</p>