DYLAN RAMOS WRITES— On Monday, October 2nd, the leader of Thailand’s military junta, General Prayut Chan-o-cha, came to Washingto to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump. While the president was honoring yet another authoritarian leader with an invitation to the White House, the junta’s Attorney General was charging former Prime…
Full Article THAILAND: PRAYUT DIGS AT SHINAWATRAS, EMBRACES TRUMP
WRITES PETER OLSZEWSKI (courtesy of Mediaweek magazine) – When veteran Aussie editor David Armstrong began working the Southeast Asian beat in the early 1990s, he confronted a regional phenomenon – the non-media-savvy media owner. “In Australia, I was working with people who had been in media all their lives,” he…
Full Article THAILAND: MEMORIES OF A STAR EDITOR ABOUT NEWSPAPER PROPRIETORS IN ASIA
SPECIAL TO AMI FROM PAVIN CHACHAVALPONGUN – The other day, it was to be a judgment day for former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Throughout the past few months, Thailand’s political temperature has been rising following the heated court case of Yingluck, who is accused of mismanaging Thailand’s rice subsidy program.…
Full Article THAILAND: COMMENTATOR PAVIN ON THAILAND ‘JUSTICE’ AND THE FLIGHT OF YINGLUCK
KATRINA CROSBY WRITES- Thailand’s political stability may be rocked in the upcoming week. With the trial of former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra awaiting its final verdict, the nation’s Supreme Court decision could lead to to a divisive emergence of the current political forces swirling under the surface of this otherwise…
Full Article THAILAND: THE TRIAL OF YINGLUCK
TARN SANGPRASERT WRITES – A turtle in Thailand has died after a team of surgeons spent seven hours removing 900-plus coins from its belly. On March 6, veterinarians at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University operated on the 25-year-old sea turtle, which appeared to be suffering stomach pains and was swimming oddly. A…
Full Article ‘LUCKY’ COINS PROVE FATAL TO THAI TURTLE
ELIZABETH SOELISTIO WRITES – Jonathan Head, the South East Asia Correspondent for BBC News, is under the threat of serving up to five years of jail time in Thailand after a lawyer reported him for a criminal defamation. This charges are brought to Head after he reported on two foreign…
Full Article THAILAND: BBC journalist faces defamation and cyber crime charges in Thailand
YANISA LELAPINYOKUL WRITES – Shawatida “First” Kuptawatin – internet star, noodle restaurant owner, and a transgender woman – is taking a stand against Thailand’s strict social class system. In a September 6 Facebook live video (2 million views and counting), First talks about dealing with rude customers at the restaurant…
Full Article THAILAND: FIRST TO DISCUSS THE TABOO?
One of the most popular writers in English living in Southeast Asia is Christopher G. Moore. His ‘Vincent Calvino’ novels in particular crashed one bestselling list in Asia after another. A video on his work, on the ‘dark but rich’ side of Bangkok, and the life of the expat in…
Full Article BANGKOK: THE ROMANTIC EXISTENCE OF THE EXPAT IN MYSTERIOUS THAILAND
TH FOLLOWING COURTESY OF THE NATION NEWSPAPER IN BANGKOK- Chris Coles, the American expressionist painter who’s spent so many years in Thailand that every evening stroll becomes a neon nightmare, has suddenly gone all flowery. Faced with the predicament of having no paintings that his mother back in Maine would…
Full Article BANGKOK: THE FLOWERING OF THE NOIR ARTISTTHE INDEPENDENT NEWS SITE ASIAN CORRESPONDENT WRITES – Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has criticized attempts by the ruling military junta to push forward a constitution, calling it “crazy” and part of a strategy to avoid a long overdue election. Speaking to the Financial Times in Singapore recently, the…
Full Article THAILAND: WARNINGS FROM FORMER ELECTED PRIME MINISTER THAKSINThe famous Southeast Asian, media commentator and political analyst “Pavin” visited LMU Friday (8 Oct.) to offer informal but deeply informed observations about the politics and government of contemporary Thailand. He was not optimistic that the current government could succeed; nor was he optimistic that a new government could easily…
Full Article LOS ANGELES, ASIA MEDIA: PUNDIT/PROF PAVIN DELIVERS PENETRATING PITCH ON THAILAND
BANGKOK — The commander of the Thai Army has charged former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra with lese majeste for allegedly defaming the monarchy in a recent interview with a foreign news agency. Gen. Udomdet Sitabutr assigned an officer from the staff judge advocate corps to file the charge on his…
Full Article THAILAND: JUNTA STILL IN FEAR OF THAKSIN
YVONNE EPPS WRITES— We all have our poisons: Japan sips sake, Korea loves its Soju, the Philippines drink Tanduay rum. As for Vietnam, it would seem that they have finally reached their legal drinking age and the parental units are starting to feel uneasy. Out-of-state media sources have recently shown…
Full Article VIETNAM: Hangover City
ELIZABETH NA’AI WRITES – Thailand’s military junta is crafting an Orwellian state. Junta leader and self-imposed Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha declared those who cross the lèse majesté line, or espouse anti-junta political dissent will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)…
Full Article THAILAND: Orwellian Dystopia at its Finest
Asia Media International Founder Tom Plate writes in his syndicated column: History never comes to a halt but snakes its way into the future as it wishes – often in unexpected and sometimes tragic ways. Whether via revolution or counter-revolution, any abrupt change in citizen participation and political structure will…
Full Article SOUTHEAST ASIA: UPTICKS AND DOWNDRAFTS
ELIZABETH NAAI WRITES – The famed Land of Smiles could be mistaken for the Land of Scowls as the color-coded political strife continues. On November 3, junta leader and present Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha prescribed a Thaksin-detox for the media to remedy Thailand’s conflict. […]
Full Article THAILAND: History is ‘Rewritten’ by the Victors