New Mandala

Those foreign academics who continue to criticise sufficiency economy just don’t understand Thai values! Here is some compelling data from Assumption University:
One in five teenagers will likely end up having sex on Valentine’s Day this year, according to a survey by Assumption University.  The university polled 2,384 youths aged 12 to 19 and living in [...]

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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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The flexibility of the sufficiency economy concept took centre stage yesterday in the king’s annual birthday address. The latter sections of the king’s talk were devoted to proposals for the purchase of high-cost military hardware. The Thai military, not content with the 60 percent budget increase they have already received from their puppet government, are [...]

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Critics of Thaksin’s “populist” policies often condemned the wasteful expenditure of village credit on consumer goods such as mobile phones. I always found this a strange criticism, given that those making it probably couldn’t last a day without their own mobiles. But it does reflect the anachronistic view many commentators have about the nature of [...]

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For fashionistas, The Nation has helpfully arranged a slideshow of the many coloured blazers worn by Thailand’s King Bhumibol in recent months.  The show is accompanied by a new song composed and performed by an Australian, Kelly Newton-Wordsworth.  It is titled “Long Live the King of Thailand”.
Is this the ballad of choice for the upcoming royal celebrations?  �

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A regular New Mandala reader with camera at the ready captured these images of local campaigning in Chiang Mai’s Wororot market. Featured are Boosaba Yodbangtey and Dr. Anusorn Khunanusorn. I have crossed paths with Boosaba a few times in the past, as she has been active in building up political connections in the district where I [...]

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Mr. Amphol Senanarong, a Privy Councilor, said the office of Royal Development Projects Board, Bureau of Budget, Border Patrol Police and Royal Development Study Center at Cha-am District, Phetchaburi Province were together holding an exhibition called “HM the king’s 80th Birthday Anniversary for the happiness of the Thais”. The exhibition would display HM masterpieces on [...]

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Regular New Mandala readers may recall my commentary on the UNDP’s 2007 Human Development Report for Thailand. Kevin Hewison has also written a commentary and generously provides a preview here. The review will appear in the Journal of Contemporary Asia, 38, 1 (2008).
THAILAND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT. SUFFICIENCY ECONOMY AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. By UNDP (Bangkok: United [...]

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The Nation reports on another dreary event where elite commentators lecture about the danger of populist policies. But amongst the familiar refrains there was a breath of fresh air:
Viroj na Ranong, a senior research specialist with the Thailand Development Research Institute Foundation (TDRI), said the media’s stereotyping of the poor as rural voters who were [...]

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A conference on “Sufficiency Economy, Participatory Development, and Universities” will be held in Bangkok on 15 - 16 December 2007.  According to the conference blurb:
Outside academia, it is interesting to observe the resurgence of alternative thinking and practice–an attempt by people at the grassroots level to search for solutions to problems produced by imbalanced development–with the [...]

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