New Mandala

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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The voters in Sakon Nakhon have overwhelmingly chosen to elect an MP who will sit on the opposition side of parliament. The by-election in Sakon Nakhon (3) was bought about when one of the sitting Pheua Thai members, Pongsak Boonsol, was disqualified for alleged electoral misconduct. The by-election, held yesterday, was a contest between Pongsak’s wife, Anurak [...]

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Over at Asia Sentinel political scientist and long-time Thailand watcher Kevin Hewison has an important summary article.  Readers new to Kevin’s work will find this 2007 interview has many details on his previous outputs and ongoing interests.

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The Irrawaddy’s May - June 2009 edition has a useful interview with Chulalongkorn University political analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak.  It is well worth a look for those trying to get a handle on the current state-of-play in Thai politics.
I should also note that in same edition there is an interview with Quinton Quayle, the British Ambassador [...]

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Earlier in the week I took the liberty of pointing out a few interesting parts of Burma that are visible on WikiMapia’s satellite imagery.  There has been some subsequent interest in what we can learn about other countries in mainland Southeast Asia from these types of images.
Where to start?  The average New Mandala reader has [...]

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The Sydney Morning Herald’s Peter Hartcher has an interesting piece today. He asks how, in political terms, Thailand has turned into Indonesia - and vice versa. Here is an extract of his analysis of the Thai situation.
Thailand’s trajectory changed with the decision to mount an unconstitutional coup against the prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, first elected [...]

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Recently the exiled Ji Ungpakorn issued a statement (available here) about the position of Thai NGOs in the ongoing political crisis. He traces the role of NGOs in the anti-Thaksin protests of 2005 and 2006; their response to the September 2006 coup; and NGO statements about the yellow shirt protests of 2008 and the red shirt protests of [...]

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Over at Inside Story Andrew and I have a follow-up to our earlier essay on what we call “Thailand’s royal sub-plot”.  We argue that the sub-plot has thickened with Sondhi Limthongkul’s close shave.  The full version of this most recent article is available here.

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Yesterday at the ANU,  scholars, students, guests and embassy officials enjoyed another of Medhi Krongkaew’s discussions on the state of Thai politics. Medhi, whose day-job is with the National Counter Corruption Commission, gave a day-by-day summary of the red-shirt protests that took place in Bangkok between 8 and 14 April. According to Medhi, Abhisit’s handling of [...]

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