By CJ Hinke |
<p>Google’s recent opposition to Internet censorship in China went wildly underreported in Thailand. Yet this move to seize the moral high ground has vast implications to Thailand and every other censorship nation. The world’s censors have been put on notice by a company worth five billion dollars, more than many governments.</p>
By Harrison George |
<p>It was rather naughty if the Bangkok Post to list Thailand’s initial offer of $20,000 in emergency relief to Haiti directly underneath the $50,000 that Cambodia was giving, both dwarfed by the $1 million from Indonesia. This was hitting the Foreign Ministry, who authorized the payment, right where it hurts – in their image.</p>
By Jon Dent |
<p>Thailand’s exotic nature goes well beyond its breath taking landscapes. It permeates deep within Thai society. Foreigners living here or passing through who are blocked by the language barrier glimpse only the tip of the iceberg of Thai society and its politics. The two main English language Thai newspapers fail to report the full story on many issues. Sometimes they don’t bother to report at all. Personally, I am not part of any side of Thai politics.</p>
By Harrison George |
<p>So who says there is no press freedom in this country? Where else in the world could you find an op-ed article that as good as calls the government a lying law-breaker?</p>
By Bai Tong Haeng |
<p>I do not agree at all with the human rights organizations which have listed the 10 steps forward and 10 steps back for 2009 and have raised the case of the Supreme Administrative Court’s temporary injunction against 65 projects at Map Ta Phut to first place in human rights progress.</p>
By Andy Hall, The Human Rights and Development Foundation |
<p>20th Jan 2010 marks the renewal deadline for the first batch of 70, 000 Burmese, Cambodian and Laotian migrants working in Thailand whose work permits will expire on that day. The next date for the expiry of all the other work permits of migrants from Burma, Cambodia and Laos (approximately 930, 000 officially registered persons) is 28th Feb 2010.</p>
By Harrison George |
<p>The introduction of full body scanners at Suvarnabhumi International Airport caused some technical problems of a perhaps predictable nature.</p>
<p>‘Whoa, would you get a look at this guy’s kor kor nor.’</p>
<p>‘Hey, we’re supposed to be checking for explosives, not admiring people’s underwe – holy bananas, what’s he got in there?’</p>
<p>‘Dunno, but anything that size looks suspicious to me. What do you think?’</p>
<p>‘OK, get him in and strip him down.’</p>
By Harrison George |
<p>For those who have spent the past 7 days in a frenzy of head-scratching, Googling and fears of incipient Alzheimer’s, relief is at hand. Below, find the answers to last week’s quiz. Anyone scoring more than 5 might be proud of their capacity for memorizing trivia. Anyone with a score of more than 10 should give serious consideration to a drastic change of lifestyle.</p>
By Harrison George |
<p>So as a dedicated Prachatai reader, you think you know what’s going on in the world. You have 7 days to answer these question before your ignorance is revealed in next week’s column. All questions have been pre-tested with Prachatai staff and any question that any of them could answer was eliminated and replaced with something even more obscure.</p>
By Harrison George |
<p>The Post Whingebag column of the Bangkok Post has recently contained the almost obligatory pre-Christmas brouhaha about the noises coming out of department store sound systems. And they do have a point.</p>
By Harrison George |
<p>‘Hello. Could I speak to Tuy, please.’</p>
<p>‘Who’s calling?’</p>
<p>‘This is Somsri. It’s about my loan.’</p>
<p>‘Somsri? Which Somsri?’</p>
By Harrison George |
<p>There has been some discussion recently as to whether the Thai constitution (2007 version) guarantees the rights of all persons, or just Thais. This is, in fact, a minor issue when compared with the special rights that some Thais have created for themselves, and which the rest of world knows nothing about.</p>