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Monday, February 08, 2010
Land security comes first, not money
The rationale is simple enough. If you want the services that are crucial to your well-being, you must be willing to pay for them.This economic reasoning is behind the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES), an incentive measure which is being adopted in various parts of the world to convince farmers ...
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22 January 2010
Forest eviction plan to steal from the poor
Ulterior political motives aside, the Khao Yai Thiang controversy highlights how draconian central land control, legal impotency and endemic corruption are causing systematic land theft from the poor.But it is a pipedream to hope that the government will use the controversy to clean up the ...
Read this blog post | comments (18)18 December 2009
Time for monks to let go
Now that not many Thai men want to become Buddhist monks, isn't it strange that when women want to be ordained, the answer from the clergy is a fierce, firm "No"?When misconduct by clerics is rampant from top to bottom, isn't it sad that the Council of Elders insists on closing its eyes ...
Read this blog post | comments (51)30 November 2009
Thailand's shocking inequity statistics
How will this political mess end? Will Thaksin Shinawatra finally return to haunt us with his bottomless greed? Or will the old, oppressive system that perpetuates social injustice prevail to suffocate us?Is there any way out of this madness?Ask historian/thinker Nidhi Eeo-seewong, and his answer is ...
Read this blog post | comments (94)20 November 2009
Sangha split opens door for women
When the monastic elders in Thailand were busy with the Wat Sothorn monks' protest two week ago over who would get to be the abbot of their rich temple, their Western counterparts were simultaneously facing a serious split over the ordination of bhikkhuni (female monks).Here in Thailand, we just ...
Read this blog post | comments (14)13 November 2009
Bhikkhuni and Western Sangha split
The late forest monk and meditation master Luang Por Chah was a true visionary.While his peers did not bother with training Western monks, he did. And he did it seriously at his Wat Pah Pong forest monastery in Ubon Ratchathani.Not only that. The far-sighted master also sent his fleet of phra ...
Read this blog post | comments (14)30 October 2009
Transsexuals at war with military prejudices
Ask any transsexuals in Thailand what happened to them on military conscription day, and they will painfully tell you how they had to bear with humiliation, ridicule, and - quite often - sexual harassment. As part of the physical examination, for example, transsexuals are required to take off ...
Read this blog post | comments (12)23 October 2009
For a better train service, break the monopoly
Taking a train in Thailand is always a gamble. We know it is going to be late, but how late? Thirty minutes? An hour? The last time we took a train ride on a family holiday, it was four hours late. We were lucky. At least it was only a gamble with time. Now a train ride has become a gamble with ...
Read this blog post | comments (22)16 October 2009
Corrupt police are 'major problem'
When overwhelmed by a barrage of entangled problems, we often let ourselves sink into hopelessness simply because we just don't know where to start.Thailand's money politics, for example. Where to start to undo it?Heavy punishment for vote-buying? But the canvasser system is not working only on the ...
Read this blog post | comments (37)12 October 2009
There's still hope for Thai democracy
If you, too, have lost hope in Thailand's messy politics which is mired in proxy wars driven by the political elite's fiery greed, hatred, revenge and back-door bargaining, head to Kuanru in Songkhla province. It is where Thailand's hope in democracy lies - on the ground.A decade ago, Kuanru was a ...
Read this blog post | comments (10)05 October 2009
Fighting sexual harassment in the military
The maverick Rabiabrat Pongpanich has bitterly discovered what others before her did when trying to expose the silent crime of sexual harassment in the workplace: the battle is not only with the defendant, but also with the defendant's institution to protect its name and face.The outspoken family ...
Read this blog post | comments (4)25 September 2009
A society on the verge of colliding
How will this messy politics eventually end? When will these proxy wars between the anti- and pro-Thaksin camps be over?This question is on the mind of every Thai but few dare offer an answer. Not that they cannot see the writing on the wall. Often, they simply want to avoid confronting what looks ...
Read this blog post | comments (20)21 September 2009
Compassion cuts through the racism
A migrant boy and his paper plane dream. A hilltribe girl and her winning name for a baby panda. Many may see their struggle to get due recognition as stories of ethnic discrimination. And rightly so. But theirs is also a story of hope for change.The public was furious when the news broke that a ...
Read this blog post | comments (2)11 September 2009
Unemployed? Become a monk!
It is definitely a good intention. It is also definitely clear that the Ecclesiastical Council's decision to help unemployed men by turning them into monks will be plagued with problems.To help ease the economic stress, the clerical council recently ordered all temples to ordain unemployed men so ...
Read this blog post | comments (18)31 August 2009
Cruelty and heartlessness
If decency is measured by how we treat those less fortunate than us, then we cannot call ourselves decent, given our heartlessness towards migrant workers.In mid-August, two Rohingya teenage boys wilted and died inside Ranong detention centre. Doomed for a life in a limbo behind bars, they just ...
Read this blog post | comments (25)24 August 2009
Extraordinary ordinary women of the South
What is going on in the three Muslim-dominated southernmost provinces? Five years on, and we still don't have a clue who are the masterminds behind the ongoing violence in the deep South and what exactly it is that they want.If only we knew...We really believe that, don't we?We believe that if we ...
Read this blog post | comments (13)17 August 2009
Stop hunting for 'foreign' scapegoats
It is one thing to nurse concern for small-scale farmers. It is another thing, however, to make foreigners the scapegoats. For the so-called backbone of the country, the lack of farmland indeed poses a serious problem to Thai farmers, who are also struggling with indebtedness from the high cost of ...
Read this blog post | comments (50)10 August 2009
Living with a dying sea
Now in her 80s, a granny at Ban Pod, a small fishing village in Surat Thani, still has vivid memories of a happy childhood. That should make her glad. Instead, it makes her sad.Not for herself, though. But for her children and grandchildren, who are helplessly watching their village ...
Read this blog post | comments (11)31 July 2009
A crack in political dynasties
Is the era of political dynasties in Thai local politics coming to an end? What happened last week in Surat Thani, when the long-reigning Thaugsuban clan was defeated in a provincial election, was telling.Surat Thani has long been a Democrat stronghold under the clan of Deputy Prime Minister Suthep ...
Read this blog post | comments (12)24 July 2009
Ministry of misery
The very same week the Abhisit government promised that the progressive property tax would take effect next year, a group of 200 landless villagers in Chaiyaphum province moved into a state-owned eucalyptus plantation to reclaim the land that was once theirs. Their plight started 30 years ago, when ...
Read this blog post | comments (12)17 July 2009
In considering marriage, stick with tradition
What will you do if your independent-minded daughter who is going to get married says she wants to do away with the fuss of a wedding?There is a good chance that she is only informing you, not asking for your permission. You know how kids are these days. Still, you'd tell her: Don't.Not that she ...
Read this blog post | comments (48)09 July 2009
Heartbreak in the mountains
While we city parents complain about rote-learning in the education system which kills our children's creativity, the ethnic Karen forest dwellers in the northernmost mountains of Mae Hong Son suffer a different disillusionment."Schools have stolen our children," said Tabuko, the ...
Read this blog post | comments (21)03 July 2009
We're not sheep, we're citizens
It is not about anger. It is about anguish and disillusionment. It is about a country where small people have to pay with their blood, sweat and tears for the boon which the ruling elite of all sides want to grab.It is also about a wife's determination not to let hopelessness swallow her up in a sea ...
Read this blog post | comments (21)26 June 2009
Fear of foreigner on the farm
Hands off! The back-breaking rice farming work is only for Thais. If you are a foreigner wanting to invest in farming here, our laws allow you to partake only in the more profitable business of food processing and other agriculture-related investments which require high capital and technology.No, ...
Read this blog post | comments (40)18 June 2009
The South: Consult the locals first
Remember the public's reaction when the idea of setting up a special administrative zone for the Muslim-dominated South was introduced five years ago? The proposal came from former PM Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh. And boy, how that was torn to shreds!The criticism stemmed partly from his image problem. ...
Read this blog post | comments (19)11 June 2009
Shocking pix need a call for moral outrage
On Sunday June 7, we were shocked by the photo of actor David Carradine in Thai Rath, the country's biggest and most influential newspaper.The next day, we were left speechless by the photo of a dead teenager, with two gunshot wounds oozing blood on to her barely covered breast in Khaosod, Thai ...
Read this blog post | comments (60)05 June 2009
A living will that allows us to die in peace
When I was little, I used to believe that death was inevitable for everyone else except me. Such is the arrogance of childhood. Now that the person I see in the mirror is a totally different being from that unknowing girl - with each strand of grey hair confirming a step closer to the inevitable - ...
Read this blog post | comments (18)28 May 2009
No turning back on land reform
Looking for good news from trouble-plagued Thailand? Here's one item. An important one: Community land reform is becoming a reality.After years of struggle against death threats from land mafia and jail sentences from the legal system, the landless movement's demands for a more equitable land ...
Read this blog post | comments (16)21 May 2009
Organic farming will save the day
The strong stench from the black concoction never fails to put people off. But for Somboon Daeng-aroon, the foul-smelling black liquid is but a magic potion. And he is very proud of it. It has been five years now since Somboon, a farmer at Tambon Praeg Namdaeng in Samut Songkhram's Amphawa district, ...
Read this blog post | comments (14)10 May 2009
Annihilating ourselves
Last year's Oct 7 crackdown happened during Buddhist Lent, a time for restraint and self-contemplation. This year's violent Red Songkran struck during festivities traditionally reserved for family reunions to celebrate the virtues of thankfulness and gratitude.The sacred Visakha Bucha Day this month ...
Read this blog post | comments (11)
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