Opinion

By Pravit Rojanaphruk
Senior Staff Writer

Once you put on a mask, like those of classical Thai khon dramas, they can become difficult to remove. You then may end up having...

By Pravit Rojanaphruk
Senior Staff Writer

Advancement, or at a minimum, tolerance for LGBT rights would go a long way to advancing democracy. Tolerance, if not the full embrace of different gender identities, can foster political tolerance if not acceptance of differing views and ideologies.

Last week, I was doing my routine run at my usual track. Afterwards, sinking into a chair, sweat drenching from every pore, I overheard a group of elderly puu yai gentlemen talking nearby. These were businessmen, captains of industries, and they were complaining about corruption that oozes out from everywhere, just as the sweat from my every pore. I’ve been running here for the past 20 years, and I’ve heard the same complaint over and over. No matter which political party was in charge, and now with the military government. So, if governments change, why does corruption remain? There’s a number of reasons for this, one of which is the constant that remains despite the parade of different governments: the bureaucrats (kah-racha-karn), the nucleus in the day-to-day management of Thailand.

Since COVID-19 has denied us the important opportunity to build on the momentum that we created two months ago, we cannot go on about and do anything without thinking about it carefully.

Thai media can remain relevant and viable in the formats of the future by rediscovering the purpose of its past.

Thailand’s Amanda Chalisa Obdam may not have won Miss Universe 2020 Crown last week, but the debate about her Thai identity was ignited anew.

Ubiquitously absent from televisions during the one-month period of compulsory mourning for His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej are prime-time soap operas.

The Yubamrung is a famous and powerful political family. The patriarch is Chalerm Yubamrung, a former police captain with a doctor’s degree in law. He’s also one of many politicians who had been accused of having “unusual wealth.” But nothing was ever proven.