What is it about society that drives people to protest? Other than for the sake of being there and actually experiencing a protest, I’ve never felt compelled to take to the streets to stand up for what I believe in. I wonder, though, had I grown up in Thailand rather than the UK, if perhaps [...]

In South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, there’s a scene where some of the characters sing a song called “Blame Canada” in response to the trouble that their children have been getting into after watching the movie Terrance and Phillip: Asses of Fire. Imagine, for a minute, that South Park is set in Thailand. What [...]

Have you ever been in the cinema when the Thai national anthem plays and you’ve seen someone not stand up? I have, a couple of times — and it was Thai people, not foreigners. I’ve also seen people not stop in the street or at the BTS station when the anthem has played.
There are some [...]

I’ve been writing about immigrant workers a lot recently. It’s not that I feel some sort of satisfaction by criticizing the police or the government, but I think it’s important to highlight the hypocrisy of the government’s recent attempts to curb the flow of illegal Burmese laborer entering Thailand.
The 54 Burmese migrants who died in [...]

It has taken the death of 54 Burmese migrants to provoke the government to redraft a law prohibiting human trafficking. The way the law is set up at the moment, the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act is ineffective.
The National Operation Center on Human Trafficking is part of the Ministry of Social Development and [...]

Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia was on April 3 sentenced to three-and-a-half years imprisonment for “inciting subversion of state power and the socialist system”. For years, Hu Jia has been working in the name of human rights, often coming into conflict with the Chinese government.
There have been numerous attempts to silence Hu Jia. Along [...]

Tomorrow’s Olympic-torch relay is shaping up to be one of the most farcical events in Thailand for years. Even more unbelievable than a girl’s pet puppy turning into a giant panda, 2,000 policemen, four police vehicles, a bomb squad, a canine crew and a 150-strong Chinese contingent will be on hand just to make sure [...]

Atrocious title to this blog post aside, Jonathan Head, the BBC’s Thailand correspondent, could be in serious trouble. Thanks to New Mandala and Andrew for covering this. From IHT:
A police officer filed a criminal complaint Tuesday seeking to have a journalist for the British Broadcasting Corporation charged with insulting Thailand’s king. Lt. Col. Wattanasak [...]

Tonight’s the night that Bangkok’s bloggers will be out in force to put questions to the man who blocked YouTube, Thailand’s Minister for Information and Communication Technology Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom. It might feel like a Bangkok bloggers’ convention in the FCCT tonight, so get down early if you have something on your mind you want to [...]

“I’m old. I have an e-mail account but rarely check it; normally I use the telephone.”
Strange words for a man in charge of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology. Surely someone in such a position should know how to use the internet, but he has already admitted that he only ever visits two websites: [...]

The Youtube fiasco roles on this week as the MICT has now announced that it plans to sue Youtube. This from the IHT:
Sitthichai Phokai-udom, the minister of information and communications technology said the refusal to remove the clip on grounds of free flow of communication was “total hypocrisy” since the YouTube owners Google censored their [...]

Andrew Walker over at New Mandala has written an article criticizing the Surayud regime. I think he hits a few home truths here. The fact is, the knee-jerk response of blocking Youtube has created such publicity because the website is so high profile.
At the moment, the media is reporting that Youtube has offered to “teach” [...]

Youtube is not likely to be back any time soon. The situation has become a lot uglier thanks to user ‘thaifreespeech’ who has posted a 42-second video entitled ‘Bh–ibol Adul—-j 2: K–g of the ap-s!’ I watched it just now on a proxy server and even I was a little shocked. The video depicts HMtK [...]

After Kitty’s recent blog post with not one, but two Avril Lavigne videos, the powers that be decided enough was enough and they have now blocked our access to Youtube altogether. Of all the ridiculous, self-serving, futile, redundant, irritating things they could have done, this has got to be right up there with them. It [...]