Thai Privilege: woe be to foreign residences

What if you’re a tax-paying, law-abiding, foreign residence with a proper work permit? It doesn’t matter. What if you’re also married to a Thai citizen? It doesn’t matter either. Richard Burrow (@RichardBarrow) has for years delivered some of the best news updates on what’s happening in Thailand. Today, he tweetedContinue Reading

How to make an 11 billion baht debt disappear

On 25 May 2019, Bhumjaitai party-list MP Weerasak Wangsuphakijkosol took office and became Deputy Commerce Minister (he’s now a Deputy Transport Minister). According to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), the Deputy Minister declared his assets as followed:Wealth, 99,662,809 million baht. Debt, 11,138,404,713 billion baht. Of the debt, 9,636,125,937 billion bahtContinue Reading

Ong-dam Warriors of the Two Seas

The Songkran holiday ended on a high note for hardcore traditionalists and fans of vigilante (in)justice everywhere. Here’s the story. There’s a group of vigilantes calling itself “Ong-dam Warriors of the Two Seas” (นักรบองค์ดำสองคาบสมุทร). Ong-dam (องค์ดำ) is a name of His Majesty King Naresuan the Great. Sumet Trakulwoonnhoo is theContinue Reading

General Prayut finally listens to Thanathorn.

When Thanathorn Juangrungruangkit cautioned that Thailand shouldn’t put all bets on one horse, the Astra-Zeneca vaccine, he received a storm of condemnations, including Section 112, lese majeste charges. With the record-breaking third outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand, General Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday (16 April) announced that he’s looking intoContinue Reading

It has come to this: we now lie to the elderly

Today, 14 April, is doubly auspicious for Thailand, a two-in-one special of National Elderly Day and National Family Day. On this special day, General Prayut Chan-o-cha delivered a message to the kingdom’s aged population via Deputy Government Spokesperson Rachada Dhnadirek. This is an excerpt from his message: “The new COVID-19Continue Reading