Last month I had the honor of being invited by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand to participate in a panel discussion with former cabinet minister Suranand Vejjajiva and acting government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn. The subject was “Tanks, Thaksin and $2 Billion.” On the day of the event, I was informed by the organizers that Dr. Panitan had requested (and had, of course, obtained) to appear solo for the first 45 minutes, at the end of which he would leave and allow the event to continue in his absence. It has …

It’s my great pleasure to announce that the book “Thailand Unhinged” — a draft of which had been posted here in early January — was released today by Equinox Publishing (click here for the press release). It comes with a new subtitle: “Unraveling the Myth of a Thai-Style Democracy.” The blurb on the back reads as follows:

Thailand Unhinged offers a trenchant analysis of Thai politics and society over the tumultuous years that followed the ouster of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thailand’s ongoing political crisis is explained through the prism of the …

Here is another essay that combines some of the old blog posts about Thai culture and democracy with some rather provocative new material (pdf format). As usual, comments are welcome.

Once again, apologies for the long absence. Life and work get in the way sometimes. Anyway, I spent part of the last couple of months trying to put together a book manuscript on Thailand that combines some of the posts on this blog (hopefully improved from the original) with some new material. A draft of the manuscript should be done in a couple of weeks — at which point I’ll try to pitch it to a few publishers — but I am posting here a preview of one of the …

In the end, they just packed their bags and left. Clutching water bottles, walking slowly towards the buses aboard which they would begin the journey home, the red shirts streaming out of the besieged Government House looked more like a football team’s vanquished supporters than revolutionaries forced to surrender by a violent government crackdown. Dejected and emotionally spent, to be sure, but still walking away from it with their lives, their limbs, and their freedom. Earlier threats to the contrary notwithstanding, when their backs were against the wall their leaders …

It has been too long since the people of Thailand last faced any good option. Today as they have for much of the past eight decades, if perhaps in terms that have never been more stark, the Thai people confront a choice that offers no real alternative. Before them stand two factions, divided more by competing private agendas than they are by alternative visions for the future of the country. On one side, in yellow, safely ensconced behind their tanks, their guns, and a frenzied, yah bah- powered army of …

The good people of Thailand have a long history of meekly acquiescing to coups d’état. So it was not altogether surprising that they appeared to collectively breathe a sigh of relief when Abhisit Vejjajiva emerged from the siege of Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports with just enough parliamentary votes to become Thailand’s 27th Prime Minister. By-elections held on January 11 gave him an unexpected boost. The Democrat Party picked up a handful seats; its performance in a number of constituencies in Northern and Central Thailand improved markedly. The Thai people, …

Culture, we should have learned by now, is the first refuge of vulgar propagandists a world over. In this sense, the counteroffensive launched by a veritable army of sycophants, useful idiots, third-rate academics, and serial Kool-Aid drinkers in the Thai media – brain-dead buffoons like Thanong Khanthong, Vasit Dejkunchorn, and Surakiart Sathirathai – in the face of the increased scrutiny Thai politics has received in the foreign press was entirely predictable. Save for the fact that these writers have taken to new heights the laziness, intellectual dishonesty, and crass …