Thailand Voice

There will be “elections” in Burma this year. But we should not be fooled into believing they will be free or fair. They will be a sham and will further entrench the military at the heart of power. The new constitution is harsh and one of the most unfair anywhere… Read full story >>>

Maj Gen Kattiya Swasdiporn — better known as Seh Daeng — says he has proposed to Thaksin Shinawatra a “3-Day Make-or-Break Plan” that will bring him back as prime minister during his latest trip to Dubai last week. Thaksin apparently … Read full story >>>

Dear Internet, Believe it or not, I am still alive. Apologies for not keeping you updated lately. There isn’t really much interesting news to share these days. Just a lot of long hours in the office in front of the computer… Read full story >>>

This is a five part New Mandala series.  Readers are warned that some of the content in this series is graphic. April 1972 and it was the last Sunday before the Thin-Gyan water festivals when I found the dead boy. He was slumping lifeless in… Read full story >>>

Tomorrow, 2 March 2010, the Nobel Women’s Initiative is holding an International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women of Burma.  According to their website: The Nobel Women’s Initiative and the Women’s League of Burma are jointly convening this important event in New York City. Participants, and those watching the webcast, will hear the compelling testimony–for the first… Read full story >>>

Nation is excited like a teenager watching a fashion show with naugthy pieces of lingerie fine . Think about it ! After weeks and week of cheap preparation of the plebeian’s mind (“violence will occur in february, repeat after me, violence will occur in february”)… after some nice starts … Read full story >>>

Results are coming in on the vidiprinter North East Nakhon Phanom 4 – 2 Roi Et United Loei City 3 – 0 Nong Khai Nakhon Ratchasima 1 – 3 Yasothon Sakon Nakhon. 1 – 2 Buriram Ubon Tiger 3 – 2 Mukdahan Chaiyaphum FC. 1 – 1 Mahasarakham Surin 2 – 2 Kalasin Udon Thani 0 – 1 Nongbualamphu Comment – What can we say? Far to many new teams to really tell us what we… Read full story >>>

Last night I ventured out to N-Joy, an expat meeting place to watch the F.A Cup and also have a few quiet beers with some mates. Anyway the football went on till late into the night and so did the dancing, and golden oldie songs and … Read full story >>>

In July this year troops from the 13th Infantry Regiment in Udon Thani will make up a large part of the 8oo strong Thai Task Force 980 which will be undertaking a United Nations (UN) peace-keeping operation in Sudan. After the UN’s successful deployment of Thai soldiers in East Timor the… Read full story >>>

This “Thai People Love Peace” T-shirt is part of the campaign to ask the Silent Majority to act to prevent violence in the wake of the expected upcoming politocal chaos. “Let’s stop being just bystanders. Let’s become active peace-loving players,” says the slogan of the movement being… Read full story >>>

The Bangkok Post: Laboratory tests cannot be conducted on the controversial GT200 bomb detector because of confidentiality agreements struck when they were purchased, say members of a government panel assessing the device.Pansak Siriruchatapong, director of the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre, said: “The p… Read full story >>>

Ang Cheng Guan, Southeast Asia and the Vietnam War. London and New York: Routledge, 2010. Pp. ix, 131; bib., index. At a press conference on April 7, 1954, a journalist asked President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower to explain “the strategic importance of Indochina to the free … Read full story >>>

Bloomberg: The Thai government said it won’t pursue charges against the crew of a plane carrying North Korean weapons seized in Bangkok two months ago, and that the five men would be deported to their home countries.“We didn’t say they’re not Read full story >>>

A panel discussion on “Thai Political Situation: Wherefrom and Whereto?” Presented by the Royal Thai Embassy and the SOAS Thai Society Location: Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, SOAS Date and time: Friday, 29 January 2010, 17.30-20.00 Panellists: Professor Suchit Boonbongkarn, Professor Duncan McCargo, Professor Peter Leyland ,and Professor Borwornsak Uwanno Moderator: H.E. Mr. David Fall Part … Read full story >>>

There was a seminar organized yesterday by the Faculty of Science at Chulalongkorn University on the GT200 device. Below is the news clip from the TV Thai news program on ThaiPBS. … Read full story >>>

I guess you’ve heard about the “GT200 explosive detectors” scandal. It’s simply huge. First, we have to say “chapeau bas” to Bangkok Pundit who probably spent hours following up on this issue, cross checking, compiling infos, writing… Amazing work. Really. I … Read full story >>>

I asked the taxi driver who these two characters are supposed to represent and he told me they’re “farang”, or white foreigners. I used to dislike the word “farang” as it implies that any white person in Thailand is an outsider, regardless of how long they’ve lived here. Over time, I’ve come to realize that… Read full story >>>

On 28 January 2010 Colonel Apirat Kongsompong and the leaders of several Army Regiments and Battalions came out in support of Army Chief, General Anupong Paochinda, and denounced Major General Khattiya “Sae Daeng” Sawasdipol for violating the code of conduct and military regulations. The following day, during the Red Shirt Rally at the Army headquarters… Read full story >>>

Have mentioned the BBC report where they looked at the GT200 device, but want to focus in particular on the detection cards. Key excerpt: Explosives expert Sidney Alford took apart the “black box” of the GT200, which is supposed to receive signals from the detection cards.He was surprised at what he found… Read full story >>>

Doubts remain about the government’s chances of survival and how satisfied the army’s top brass is with Abhisit in charge. The biggest fear is it will grow impatient with the protracted standoff and take matters into its own hands. – Extracted from Martin Petty, “ Are cracks appearing in Read full story >>>

Just when BP thought we were getting somewhere and could move on to other topics, Deputy PM Suthep shatters BP's hopes of some resemblance of sanity from the governmment. Matichon quotes Thailand's Deputy PM Suthep Thaugsuban as confirming that the GT200 works (ยืนยันว่า เครื่องตรวจวัตถุร�… Read full story >>>

Yesterday, the Bangkok Post in an editorial Rather than brushing aside their criticism or branding the doubters as having a hidden agenda, the Thai army should welcome such concern and seriously investigate the matter. Double-blind tests of the bomb detector, to be conducted in the presence of the media, Read full story >>>

Andrew Selth continues his regular stream of important Burma-related posts over at the Lowy Institute’s Interpreter . This time he takes on the thorny issue of Burma-North Korea defence ties. His focus is the potential proliferation of “Scud-type short range ballistic missiles” (SRBMs). His conclusion is worth quoting … Read full story >>>

The last week, some of the stories in the newspapers here in Thailand have been really saddening. Deaths of young children in motorbike crashes and rapes involving children. Two really sad stories involved a 2 year old boy and a 9 year old girl, … Read full story >>>

We don’t believe there should be two-way trade between Australia and Burma at all … but there certainly shouldn’t be two-way trade in sensitive military equipment such as this… – Senator  Scott Ludlam (Greens – Western Australia), quoted in Arkar Moe, “ Australian Senator… Read full story >>>

Today's reference of the day is by Sophorntavy Vorng whose doctoral dissertation is entitled Status City: Consumption, Identity, and Middle Class Culture in Contemporary Bangkok and is available from here (… Read full story >>>

An independent committee has found irregularities in the public health stimulus package and the Minister guilty of negligence (as blogged about here). Most of this relates to overpriced medical machines and construction products. One problem is, what is the fair price? Should … Read full story >>>

Tension seems to be building in Myanmar’s border areas, as the end-of-year deadline set by the Tatmadaw for ceasefire armies to convert to a Border Guard Force expired. With rumours of troop movements by the military, as well as the … Read full story >>>

In a big debut for the new production company M39, the romantic comedy 32 Thunwa ( 32 ธันวา , 32 December Love Error ) opened at No. 1 at the Thai box office over the weekend. According to the chart at NangDee.com , 32 Thunwa earned 37 million baht. Directed by Rergchai Paungpetch… Read full story >>>

New Mandala readers who follow Burmese military matters will be intrigued by this article in today’s Sydney Morning Herald . It deals with radio sets made by an Australian company, Barrett Communications, that “have been deployed in recent months at the Burmese Army’s headquarters in the capital… Read full story >>>