New Mandala

At first I could not believe my ears. But after checking the ABC’s website I had to accept that it was true. The story, of course, was the election of Taro Aso as Japan’s third Prime Minister in two years. The ABC site reports that Aso is “known for being a blunt speaker.”  Ouch!�
But there is worse … [...]

[Read more →]

[Ryan Manuel is a Rhodes scholar and doctoral student at Merton College, Oxford.  He is currently based at the Australian National University where he is contibuting to the East Asia Forum blog hosted at the Crawford School of Economics and Government.  Readers looking for perspectives on the wider East Asian region will find that it contains [...]

[Read more →]

Hosting a TV cooking show = GUILTY!
Staging a coup and tearing up a constitution = NO PROBLEM!

[Read more →]

Many commentators have suggested that the Samak government’s proposal for a referendum to resolve the current political crisis is a stunt.
Of course it is.
What comes of the stunt remains to be seen. The referendum questions need to be clarified. The constitutional implications need to be explored. A legal framework needs to be developed. And a [...]

[Read more →]

Coups, protests and conflicts are nothing more than the squabbling between rich and powerful men, whose fiery rhetoric, fancy tactics and deep pockets are able to rouse the people to flock to their banners.
I am no fan of prime minister Samak Sundaravej, nor am I a fan of the five leaders of the PAD. However, [...]

[Read more →]

In a bid to find ways to solve the ongoing political chaos, Samak government agreed on Thursday to conduct “public referendum,” Culture Minister Somsak Kietsuranond said Thursday.  He quoted Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej as saying that the referendum is the best solution to the problem. … Earlier People Power Party’s MP Suthin Klangsaeng said earlier [...]

[Read more →]

Thailand declared a state of emergency in Bangkok Tuesday, banning gatherings of more than five people in a bid to clamp down on anti-government protests that erupted into deadly clashes overnight.
- Extracted from “Thailand declares emergency in Bangkok after clashes leave one dead”, AFP, 2 September 2008.
This may be an opportune time just to reiterate that [...]

[Read more →]

I have taken the liberty of putting together a selection of key quotes from academic commentators who have turned their attention to Thailand’s political standoff in recent days.  If New Mandala readers find other useful insights please feel free to suggest them as comments.
“The People’s Alliance for Democracy is not a pro-democracy movement…The present crisis is [...]

[Read more →]

Flicking through Paul Handley’s The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand’s Bhumibol Adulyadej earlier today, this retro-extract jumped out at me.  I hope New Mandala readers find it as interesting as I did.  The extract in question comes from page 370 and describes an episode from 1995.
The [Banharn Silpa-archa] government proved as bad as anyone [...]

[Read more →]

Picture 1: On the front page of the Manager newspaper of August 29, the PAD’s two core leaders, Sonthi Limthongkul and Chamlong Srimuang, confirmed that “[We will] fight, not retreat!”

Picture 2: Before I posted my contribution to New Mandala on August 29, I had come across news that police had retaken Makkhawan Bridge and cleared [...]

[Read more →]