New Mandala

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Some of New Mandala readers and contributors may be familiar with an article by Grant Evans entitled “Transformation of Jinghong, Xishuangbanna, PRC” and included in the book Where China meets Southeast Asia (ISEAS, 2000). In that article, Evans referred to various tourist projects planned to be carried out in Jinghong, the capital of the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous [...]

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Here is the Jakarta Post’s editorial of 27 December 2007 (thanks to the Canberra Times for bringing it to my attention). Some refreshing frankness about the state of play in Thailand.
De-Thaksinization failure
With full endorsement from Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the military ousted its then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a bloodless coup in September 2006.  On [...]

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Here is a quick mapping of the initial count of the constituency results, before any disqualifications and reruns.
One dot is one MP. Where a province is split into several constituencies, the internal khet boundaries are not shown but the dots are inside them.
As in 2005 and 2006, TTT/PPP remains solid in the upper north, and [...]

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Long-term readers of New Mandala may recall last year’s Christmas Elf. Well, he’s back again looking happier than ever. And this time he’s bought one of his helpers along. Turn the volume up and enjoy! (It takes a while to load, but it’s well worth the wait!)
Merry Christmas.

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New Mandala is now signing off for election night.  Of course, the conversations can continue and more contributions from readers are very welcome.  We will be updating the site from time-to-time over the Christmas period, so please do check back for new content.
Merry Christmas to all!  And thanks for stopping by!
[UPDATE 24 December: there is [...]

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Here is a summary from Channel 9/Manager Online:
Samak Sunthornvej, the leader of the PPP party has claimed victory saying that the election result revealed the victory of all Thai people. Samak who appeared to be confident in the victory of his party insisted that he is ready to take the helm. He said that he will [...]

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In a democracy, if the majority is happy all is well, and the minority should not attempt to override majority rule until the next polls come around. In other words, the system should always be allowed to run its full course.
- Extracted from Nophakhun Limsamarnphun, “Whatever the results, let the majority’s choice stand“, The Nation, [...]

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Some choice quote from around the blogs:
The clear winners in this election: The Thai voters first, then, the People Power Party second, and, The Democrat Party third. The clear losers: the military coup makers. The Thai voters delivered a stinging slap in the generals’ faces and said in a clear message . . . we [...]

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From Manager Online 10.30 PM:
One hundred and eleven ex-executives of the dissolved Thai Rak Thai party will be granted amnesty Samak Sundaravej announced two and a half an hour after the election votes have been counted.  Samak told CNN that he plans to grant amnesty to the executive members of the TRT party and allow the ex-PM [...]

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As the night rolls on and more results from Thailand’s first post-coup election arrive, many New Mandala readers will have views about the future of the country.  From where you sit, what is next for Thailand?

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