Thailand Voice

The 40 th King’s Cup tournament has kicked off in Nakshon Ratchasima with a victory for Thailand over Singapore . The ten-men Thais, wearing their ‘unlucky’ yellow shirts, were reduced to 10 men when Teerathep Winothai was sent off early in the second half but shortly thereafter got the only goal of the game… Read full story >>>

Congratulations to Bryan “Robbo” Robson for winning his first competitive match – 3-1 away in Singapore , which is a good result. The Thais played the red-shirted Lions off the park for most of the game and went into a 3-0 lead. However, a lack of concentration … Read full story >>>

Nick Nostitz has another guest post with photos at New Mandala of the red shirt concert on Saturday and the yellow shirt rally on Sunday. Read full story >>>

It’s the big match on Saturday evening – Singapore v Thailand in the first of two games as part of the qualifying group for the forthcoming Asian Championship (speaking of which, congratulations to the Pohang Steelers as club champions of Asia – do remind me to tell you my amusing Pohang Steel story one day)… Read full story >>>

The Barisan Nasional (National Front) has led Malaysia since independence in 1957. As the Alliance Party – which included the Malayan Indian Congress and the Malaysian Chinese Association, it governed the Federation of Malaya (then only constituting Peninsular Malaya) from 1957 to 1963. Then, in 1963, with the support of local political parties (e.g. People’s Action Party in… Read full story >>>

Nobody is quite sure what Veera Mugsikapong, one of the three core leaders of the Red Shirted Movement, meant when he said a “new state” would be created and all we have to do is to follow his instructions. He has yet to explain how the “new state” differs from the… Read full story >>>

One Night in Bangkok  Chris Coles    Wednesday 5 August 7pm @ Forth Gallery 69A Pagoda Street Singapore The blinding neon and shady denizens of the Bangkok night are captured vividly in American painter Chris Coles’ watercolour renditions of the lurid and colourful… Read full story >>>

Thai Takes By PHILIP GOLINGAI GUESS whose birthday it is tomorrow? Here are some hints. He is a Thai politician who advocates populist policies. And he is adored by half of Thailand’s population. No, it is not Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. If you were a Thai political watcher, you would… Read full story >>>

Thaksin Shinawatra’s birthday anniversary is this sunday, July 26. Premier Abhisit Vejjajiva’s falls on Aug 3. Their respective supporters won’t allow them to celebrate quietly with their families. Political activities have become part of the game now. Thaksin plans a host of activities for tomorrow — religous bordering on the superstitious… Read full story >>>

2010 is the Year of the Tiger in the Thai Zodiac, the tiger being the 3rd animal of the Thai Zodiac. The Year of the Tiger will begin on February 14th 2010 and end on February 2nd 2011 and will be associated with the Element “Metal”. The… Read full story >>>

Such a prestigious hotel as Raffles, is the very epitome of a bygone era. The hotel was founded by the Sarkies Brothers in 1887 and has been enlarged somewhat since then. We wondered what stories this grand old lady could tell, having stood through good times and bad, wealth and … Read full story >>>

The Merlion was designed as a logo for the Tourist Board by Fraser Brunner whereby the lion head alludes to Singapura (Singapore’s original name and meaning lion-city) and the fish body alludes to Temasek (the ancient fishing village which was to become Singapore). A local craftsman, Lim Nang Seng created Read full story >>>

A third man – a naval conscript – has died as a result of the H1N1 flu. That makes a total of three deaths so far and the overall number of infections has reached 1,330, although more than 1,300 of those people have already covered – the flu itself is Read full story >>>

In light of Puea Thai’s victories in the last two by-elections, a question which will arise, will some MPs who were formally with TRT/PPP/Puea Thai return to the fold? Puea Thai Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit is claiming … Read full story >>>

[Bangkok Post] Tak Bai decision contested [Rassada Manurassada, a lawyer provided by the Lawyers Council of Thailand to represent the relatives of the victims, said accounts from witnesses and evidence including video footage indicated that officials were to blame for the deaths of the 78 protesters who had been piled… Read full story >>>

[A New Mandala reader has sent me the following comments on sex trafficking in Singapore.] There have been a number of recent reports about women trafficked into coercive brothels in Singapore. Here is a Bangkok Post report from October last year about Thai women working in “forest brothels”. Here is another Bangkok Post… Read full story >>>

Continuing to snuff it in the Great Land of Smiles, we continue with……. 'B'.  This guide is not a joke, and should be taken very, very seriously. B Baker Thai bakers are far too rare to be dangerous. Pretend Bakers in Tesco Lotus and … Read full story >>>