New Mandala

- Burmese Army heavy machine gun.  Part of the security detail that accompanied the Burmese Army’s Northern Commander to the Manau.�
The Manau festival marking the 60th Anniversary of the Kachin State was a significant event for everyone who is jockeying to decide the future of northern Burma.  Under the current ceasefires in the Kachin State this [...]

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At the recent International Conference on Thai Studies, my colleage Nicholas Tapp presented a paper  [tapp.pdf] on the work of anthropologist Andrew Turton . The paper discussed Turton’s work on ideology, violence and coercion and its relevance to an understanding of power relations in Thai society. In a long footnote/afterword to the paper, Tapp makes an extended comment on work by [...]

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From The Nation:

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Hot on the tail of the lese majeste investigation of his A Coup for the Rich, Ji Ungpakorn is putting his hand up for more trouble. Here is a copy of an article he has written about the king [ji-ungpakorn-2008.pdf].  This is the punchline:
The Monarchy in Thailand can cope with either a democratic regime or a military junta. [...]

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I have received the following message from Ji Ungpakorn, author of A Coup for the Rich.�
Thai Special Branch Police ban the sale of “A Coup for the Rich”
I have just been informed today by Thammasart University bookshop, the only bookshop to agree to sell my book, that the Thai special branch have issued a letter [...]

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After more than a year of military rule Thailand has a new, democratically-elected Prime Minister.  Previous New Mandala coverage of Samak and his place in Thai politics is available here.
Will Samak’s tenure at the top mark a new stage (and level) of political conflict?  Will his many opponents be able to handle today’s electoral realities?  Has [...]

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Since the International Conference on Thai Studies, I have received a number of requests for the paper I presented on sufficiency economy. The paper was not included on the conference CD because I did not have time to submit it. So, here is the full text of my presentation. This is an edited version of a longer and much more detailed [...]

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More than one month after the election Thailand is edging ever closer to the formation of a democratically elected government. The coup by stealth has not eventuated, perhaps in part due to the realisation that the international credibility of the coup-makers (and their backers) would be strained beyond breaking point.But what does the formation of [...]

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This is a picture of a border checkpoint between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India.  Indian security personnel are pictured scrutinising the paperwork of everyone crossing the “Inner Line”.  For Indian citizens access to Arunachal Pradesh is closely controlled and foreigners require a “Protected Area Permit” to make the journey.  Residents of Arunachal Pradesh [...]

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The Lasang Awng Wa Group is the newest and least well-known of the Kachin armed factions.  It is also sometimes called the “Kachin Independence Organization/Kachin Independence Army Splinter Group”.  It was formed by an ex-Kachin Independence Organization Intelligence Chief, Colonel Lasang Awng Wa, after a 2004 coup attempt led to his expulsion from the KIO.  His relatively small [...]

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