Bangkok Post: Opinion

Sunday, November 25, 2012

A rice deal that never existed in the first place

By Veera Preteepchaikul

The truth is out, that the Commerce Ministry's claim of a 15-million-tonne government-to-government rice deal with China over three years is anything but real.There is a popular Thai saying that goes along these lines: “A dead elephant cannot be covered up by lotus leaves.”This is exactly ...

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• 20 October 2009

  Rail strike a disgrace to the union

  By Veera Preteepchaikul

  “Shame on you!” appear to be too lenient the words used to describe the deplorable actions by the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) unionists in their treatment of tens of thousands passengers in the past five days.On Sunday alone, as many as 4,000 passengers travelling on the long-haul route ...

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• 06 October 2009

  An old soldier who refuses to fade away

  By Veera Preteepchaikul

  General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh is the classic opposite case of the famous old saying: “Old Soldiers Never Die, They Just Fade Away.”  The one-time prime minister and retired army chief simply refuses to fade away but occasionally keeps re-emerging to claim a place in public limelight.After ...

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• 08 September 2009

  Charter changes; but for whose benefits?

  By Veera Preteepchaikul

  Despite all the empty claims that constitutional changes are meant to restore national reconciliation, the fresh attempt to amend the existing Constitution is intended to benefit politicians only.  Worse still, the other stakeholders, the public in particular, will be mere onlookers who have no ...

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• 10 August 2009

  Should we rethink our rice farming position?

  By Veera Preteepchaikul

  Are we overly excited with the prospect of foreign investors snapping up our farmland to grow rice or other staples to ensure future food security for their populations back home?  How about the prospect of Thai investors snapping up our farmland and turn them into industrial parks or real estates ...

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• 01 July 2009

  Amazing Thailand: A corrupt government is OK

  By Veera Preteepchaikul

  I really don’t know I should cry, laugh or just join the mai pen rai (it does not m atter) bandwagon about this latest Abac Poll about Thai people's perception towards the scourge of corruption.The opinion survey which was conducted on 1,228 household respondents in 17 provinces across the country ...

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• 23 June 2009

  Why not a food for oil deal?

  By Veera Preteepchaikul

  Recent report about the Gulf Cooperation Council showing keen interest to invest in farming and livestock in Thailand has brought to mind the alleged “neo colonial” land grab by rich governments and multinational corporations for arable land in Africa in order to ensure their food and energy ...

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• 14 May 2009

  Peace campaign under heavy attacks

  By Veera Preteepchaikul

  BangkokPost.comby Veera Prateepchaikul At first I thought the peace campaign appealing for a halt to violence and harmful acts against Thailand launched on May 4 by the Thai Journalists Association in association with academics and civic groups would be rejected outright by the red-shirt people.  I ...

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• 27 April 2009

  Spreading the hate message

  By Veera Preteepchaikul

  BangkokPost.comVeera Prateepchaikul Adolf Hitler once said: "Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it and eventually they will believe it." And Franklin P Adams, the well-known American journalist and radio personality: "The trouble with this country is that there are too many ...

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• 16 April 2009

  Thaksin's appeal for King's intervention smacks of hypocrisy

  By Veera Preteepchaikul

   by Veera Prateepchaikul Once describing himself as a “tamed dog”, it appears that convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has now irreversibly turned a full-time “vicious and mad dog” biting at the hands which once fed him and barking at everyone even at his own ...

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• 23 March 2009

  Thaksin goes for broke

  By Veera Preteepchaikul

   Guess what Thaksin Shinawatra had in mind when he decided to go on air Sunday night, donning a red shirt and fingerpointing two privy councilors, two senior judges and an academic for plotting the overthrow of his regime three years ago.In the video-linked address to his supporters in Chiang ...

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• 24 February 2009

  Rak Chiang Mai 51: A pride or a disgrace for Chiang Mai?

  By Veera Preteepchaikul

  BangkokPost.comby Veera Prateepchaikul  Organisers of last Saturday’s Gay Pride parade in Chiang Mai are demanding an apology from the Rak Chiang Mai 51 group for what they described as an uncivilized action by some 30 red-shirt hooligans who broke up the parade with force and ...

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• 26 January 2009

  Thaksin's old broken record

  By Veera Preteepchaikul

   BangkokPost.com  Those of you who are fans or no-fans of exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra should have, by now, learned what he had said during his phone-in interview from somewhere abroad with the Dstation of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship on Sunday.As ...

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• 19 January 2009

  Reading between the lines

  By Veera Preteepchaikul

   BangkokPost.comAs a young reporter a few decades ago, I was taught by my editor to try to ``read between the lines'' certain photos that become available when the country is under an unusual situation. On the surface, the pictures may look quite normal but they can contain some hidden messages ...

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