Opinion

BANGKOK — Imagine yourself an expat in a country dubbing itself as amazing but every time you travel from one province to another for longer than 24 hours you must report to police within 48 hours of arrival in the new place because you are an alien.

The two political bloodshed that took place in the same month of May may be 18 years apart, but they share a big similarity that should bother anyone who cares about accountability in this country.

Instead of throwing a juvenile temper tantrum, the Thai military should comply with the United States government's calls for lifting martial law and returning to democratic rule immediately.

It’s never a good time to be poor, or an ordinary person with no connections. When there’s a COVID-19 outbreak, it could quickly become fatal. Your chance of dying, if infected, is much higher than the rich and well-connected that will in no time be taken to a plush hospital.

Imagine the scene. An overweight and intimidating-looking LAX officer painfully scrutinizes the papers handed over by the tiny Asian lady. Glancing up, he matches the face to the passport. Looking down, he checks his screen’s blacklist.

There are many things I wish to see changed in Thailand in 2024, a sort of forlorn wish, but worth noting three here since it is the beginning of the year.

At a time when the public debates whether to rescue Thai Airways from its 200 billion baht debt or let it go bust, I have a confession to make about the airline.

Over the past week, the Srettha Thavisin administration repeatedly urges Thai workers in Israel to leave the country for Thailand as soon as possible, rightly citing the risks to their life.

In Berlin, one can accidentally walk past the Holocaust memorial near the Brandenburg Gate or parts of the remaining Berlin Wall. At leafy Tier Garten, one notices a memorial for killed Roma people. Just in front of Humboldt University’s Law Faculty, one can stare through a glass square into a white room full of empty bookshelves, as a reminder of the banned books burnt during the Third Reich.

(1 May) The confrontation which pits the MPs and Senators of the government camp against a number of judges of the Constitutional Court is quickly escalating.