New Mandala

The Nation online provides two ways to love Thailand.

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New Mandala readers who prefer their coverage in the Thai language will appreciate this translation of a recent post.  That post highlights the ongoing plight of Daranee “Da Torpedo” Charnchoengsilpakul who is on trial for lese majeste.  Does anyone know what has happened since the court was closed last week?  How is she faring?

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The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT) is deeply embroiled in the ongoing circus of lese majeste accusations.  Jonathan Head, the BBC correspondent in Bangkok and FCCT First Vice President, has long been singled out for attention.  But now we hear that the entire FCCT board has been accused of insulting the Thai monarchy.  The [...]

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There was a flurry of media excitement last week when it was announced that a prehistoric reptile had been granted a highly auspicious royal title.
The ancient land turtle was named “Basilochelys macrobios, in honour of His Majesty the King” according to The Nation. Drawing on my longstanding expertise with scientific nomenclature, I translated the royal turtle title [...]

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I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately about contract farming, in Thailand and other countries. One interesting case that I came across was that of baby corn. In a report published almost 20 years ago veteran journalist and activist Sanitsuda Ekachai wrote about the fate of Thai peasants who had been caught up in [...]

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In the wake of the April 2009 crushing of the Red Shirts, there was some speculation that Abhisit may be tempted to call an election sooner rather than later. I discussed this with a seasoned inside observer of Thai politics and he assured me that Abhisit would only call an election when he and his [...]

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…of reality TV or Thai politics then you will enjoy this latest report from Not The Nation.  Classic.

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I hope that every one of us will keep our Thainess by eating Thai rice, not farang rice…I thank everyone who has worked on the rice patent issue.
- King Bhumibol Adulyadej quoted in “HM King praises Thai rice patent”, Bangkok Post, 25 June 2009.
I don’t spend much time scouting around for this kind of thing [...]

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The International Crisis Group (ICG) has published a new report titled Recruiting Militants in Southern Thailand.  The Executive Summary is available here and the full report, as a PDF, is here.
The following information particularly caught my eye:
Insurgents draw on local culture to invoke traditional oaths to discipline their own ranks, though such practices alienate them [...]

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I know that many New Mandala readers have been waiting for the re-appearance of Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn in the news.
He still doesn’t seem to have been out in public but I did notice that the Bangkok Post announced the graduation of his youngest daughter, Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana, from Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Fine and Applied [...]

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