Thailand Voice

Karan Singh, editor of the university textbook Udayimaan Bhartiya Samaj Ke Shikshak, has been arrested in Uttar Pradesh, India. The book’s publisher was also detained by police. The book was a set text at Ram Manohar Lohia Awadh University, though it contains a picture of Mohammed on page 403, in the chapter Manav … Read full story >>>

The Nation on the government’s PR campaign: A performance report will be released on August 3 along with the launch of a month-long publicity campaign. One of the highlights of this campaign will be the free 15-year compulsory education that the government has implemented nationwide. … Read full story >>>

While working through the municipality geocodes in the new code file named RCode , I noticed some strange or interesting cases worth noting. The list includes a code for the town Aranyaprathet ( เทศบาลเมืองอรัญญประเทศ ) in the province Prachinburi (2597) marked as obsolete … Read full story >>>

Your popularity is falling, the economy is in a poor state with increasing unemployment, so what do you do? A social order campaign, of course. In BP’s memory this first dates back to Sarit in the late 50s who would fly around to arson sites in Bangkok interrogate the suspects himself and … Read full story >>>

The Bangkok Post quotes Democrat party deputy spokesman Arkkrawit Suwanphakdee as stating: Mr Arkkrawit admitted that the economic downturn situation has not yet substantially improved despite the Democrat-led coalition government has taken office for more than six months and had enacted several stimulus measures. … Read full story >>>

Ok, BP does realize that some people don’t like polls, but well you can always skip the post. BP thinks polls can have some value as long as you read the wording of the question in Thai and the survey data. Polls rarely… Read full story >>>

To be honest, BP didn’t expect the government to admit there was a CIA black site in Thailand. All previous governments have denied it, but was first bemused with Veera’s op-ed in the Bangkok Post yesterday morning: Prime Minister Abhisit is right when he said there is… Read full story >>>

Have previously blogged about Marc Askew’s book on the Deep South and also briefly blogged with some links to some articles by Askew and McCargo. Askew had a long article in the Spectrum section of the Bangkok Post on Sunday on the violence in … Read full story >>>

Deputy Interior Minister Thaworn said he was, Thaksin’s lawyer confirmed it, and Thaksin himself did in his interview with a radio station in Udon….. but the Malaysians deny he was there as The Star reports : Former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who is now a fugitive, was never in Malaysia nor was… Read full story >>>

I have just recently written about the Lenten Candle Festival that takes place each year here in Ubon Ratchathani Thailand. I wrote about the International Wax Sculpting Competition here and also here as well . I then took some pictures of the candle floats at the following links, here , here and then of the … Read full story >>>

Last week, Dr Pavin Chachavalpongpun had an op-ed in the Bangkok Post making some valid criticism of Thaksin’s foreign policy, but then concluding: Under the Abhisit administration, Thai foreign policy has undergone an extreme makeove r. The Democrat-led government has rejected Thaksin’s business-first mentality and re-introduced a seemingly principle… Read full story >>>

2Bangkok has multiple links Phuket Wan Andrew Drummond King Power has other evidence. I am really confused about something. I thought you pay for your items, then receive goods at the departure gate or on the plane. I have bought things at duty free, though I can’t recall the last time I… Read full story >>>

What is the purpose of Korn ? I mean on this Earth ? Because, on Lalaplanet (located around galaxy ZE 521), the answer is obvious : to make people laugh. There is something warholian about Korn. Something Fox-Mulder-I-Want-To-Believe. Korn is so … Read full story >>>

[Reuters] Bomb kills soldier in Thai south [A soldier was killed by a bomb and a Muslim civilian was shot dead in the latest violence in Thailand’s restive south, police said Thursday. The bomb was detonated as troops travelled in a pickup on a… Read full story >>>

It’s only a matter of time before Kasit Biromya steps down as foreign minister, despite his strong statement on Channel 11 last night that he would stay on “because the terrorism charge filed by police is absolutely unreasonable.” PM Abhisit Vejjajiva has said Kasit doesn’t … Read full story >>>

One Democrat MP from the Northeast has been criticizing Abhisit for conceding the Northeast to Newin. It seems that the Democrats won’t be, but will include Newin in on their plans as Matichon reports – see Thailand Politics summary and commentary here . BP : It doesn’t necessarily mean a general election is in the… Read full story >>>

Since the time the People’s Alliance for Democracy started pushing its idea of “new politics,” the practical political question has been how to realize it. At the beginning, they had their protests at and around Government House and could thus impose the issue on the public agenda. … Read full story >>>

Bangkok Post : The Puea Thai party has called on Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai to resign, saying he had failed in his duty to control the outbreak of A(H1N1) influenza. The disease has killed seven people and the number confirmed infections had soared to 2,272 on Monday… Read full story >>>

FBI definition of Terrorism: The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a Government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives. Arab Definition of Terrorism: Any act … Read full story >>>

Bangkok Post : Preah Vihear is a quandary hard to solve tags : no_tag This year, bilateral ties plunged after the government’s protest against the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation last month. Thailand’s argument was the approval of the registration resulted in… Read full story >>>

In the wake of the April 2009 crushing of the Red Shirts, there was some speculation that Abhisit may be tempted to call an election sooner rather than later. I discussed this with a seasoned inside observer of Thai politics and he … Read full story >>>

… that isn’t the full story. Last week, a Bangkok University poll showed a significant drop in satisfaction with the government’s performance as TNA reports : Thailand’s coalition government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has scored only 4.06 out of 10 after six months in office, according to a survey conducted last week by Bangkok University. … Read full story >>>

Latest report from Matichon with unofficial results is Surachart Charnpradit of Puea Thai with 123,557 votes and Chart Thai Pattana’s Sakulthip Angkasakulkiat with 75,420 votes in the by-election in Sri Saket Constituency No. 1. So far the victory margin is 47,000 votes. BP : Unsure whether this in includes… Read full story >>>

China Daily : China and Thailand yesterday agreed to expand economic cooperation as part of visiting Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s efforts to revive the Thai economy that was hard hit by the financial crisis and political unrest. Commerce ministers from Thailand and China signed the agreement at the… Read full story >>>

Few people know that my hometown in Thailand is Saraburi (สราบุรี) .  To those at home I live “just outside Bangkok”. Those living in the Thailand have at least heard of Saraburi but generally it is a place they pass when travelling between Bangkok and the north of Thailand by … Read full story >>>

Source: Matichon BP: The above photo is of Chai Chidchob (Newin’s dad and Speaker of Parliament) and Democrat List MP Trairong Suwankiri at Trairong’s 65th birthday party bash. Matichon ’s article notes that a number of Puea Thai MPs were in attendance as they … Read full story >>>

Issues with Blogger are responsible for any repetitive posts you may have seen from this blog. Apologies for that. Once I’m finished wrestling with the format monkeys rest assured I’ll have a piece on Saraburi, my hometown in Thailand. Read full story >>>

Few people know that my hometown in Thailand is Saraburi ( สระบุรี). To those at home I live “just outside Bangkok”. Those living in the Thailand have at least heard of Saraburi but generally it is a place they pass when travelling between … Read full story >>>

[AFP] 7 wounded in Thai south attack “SUSPECTED Islamic militants opened fire at a Buddhist temple in Thailand’s restive south where people were taking part in an aerobics class, wounding seven, police said on Tuesday. Four armed insurgents stormed into the building in the troubled province of… Read full story >>>

Me knows, what a topic, what a heresy, but wait, who doesn’t like good food. And who’s never in a hurry. See? But even when you got time: CP Shrimp Wonton are … well … remarkable for a frozen food that you just nuke for two minutes and then enjoy. They’re piling up in our… Read full story >>>

The Nation A defence lawyer for alleged lese majeste offender Daranee Charncherngsilpakul expressed concern yesterday that his client may suffer a negative outcome because she faces a closed-door trial. Prawese Praphanukul said it was hard enough fighting a lese majeste case in the open, so having the trial closed to the public … Read full story >>>

Whenever I mention that I've played rugby in Thailand, there is always great interest in how good the Thai's are at the sport. Questions like 'do Thai people really play rugby?' and 'are they any good? They are quite small… Read full story >>>

The Bangkok Post : Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the government have some good ideas about moving ahead on the old, thorny and unfortunately violent issue of the temple of Preah Vihear. It is a shame that they have failed to develop those ideas properly. Instead of … Read full story >>>

Pridiyathorn in his op-ed today: DURING THE PAST WEEK, the Minister of Finance announced the investment package of Bt1.43 trillion, called the Strengthening Thailand budget. The proposed construction of dust-free roads over a total distance of over 7,200 kilometres would generate … Read full story >>>

Nirmal in the Straits Times (article available from here ): The death toll from the insurgency since January 2004 is believed to have surpassed 3,500. Police and analysts say up to half those deaths are the result of personal feuds and criminality . … Read full story >>>

As revealed by a PPP MP Sakda Khongpetch last year there was a Gang of Four who were controlling things behind the scenes. Back then, the Gang of Four comprised of Samak, his closer advisor Teerapol, Newin and then-Finance Minister … Read full story >>>

Art films don’t tend to do well in Thai cinemas. And Thailand’s bigger studios try to avoid making them. Recently, one big-name producer was able to convince a studio head to give a greenlight only after he ensured the exec that his director’s … Read full story >>>

A committee of the Zoological Park Organisation of Thailand has picked four names from thousands of entries submitted from all over the country for the new female baby panda at Chiang Mai Zoo. Read full story >>>

amphoe.com is one of the very good sources on information of the districts in Thailand, though in some cases there are smaller flaws in the details. Searching through the archived news reports of the National News Bureau of Thailand I now found a small reference… Read full story >>>

The Nation : Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij are slated to make passionate pleas for the legislative passage to authorise the government to borrow Bt800 billion to overcome the economic downturn. The opposition Pheu Thai Party will put up a strong fight by arguing the government is… Read full story >>>