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The harsh economic contraction as a result of the stringent lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus made it necessary for the Prayut Chan-o-cha government to inject an enormous sum of money into the economy through loans packages worth 1.9 trillion baht, while another 88 billion baht in the 2020 fiscal budget has been siphoned from state agencies for virus-related emergency needs.
The coronavirus pandemic is fundamentally global but its impact is mainly local because of the international system of state sovereignty, borders and divergent national interests. What is needed to cope with, contain and overcome the pandemic is more international cooperation and coordination. But we are seeing less international efforts to fight the virus together and more self-help where every nation fends for itself. The upshot from this fractured and fragmented international system during Covid-19 is the primacy of domestic determinants of international outcomes. Nowhere is this reality clearer than the competition and confrontation between the United States and China.
Last Sunday in the city of Baltimore, they tore down a statue of Christopher Columbus and threw it into the harbour.
The coronavirus pandemic is fundamentally global but its impact is mainly local because of the international system of state sovereignty, borders and divergent national interests. What is needed to cope with, contain and overcome the pandemic is more international cooperation and coordination. But we are seeing less international efforts to fight the virus together and more self-help where every nation fends for itself. The upshot from this fractured and fragmented international system during Covid-19 is the primacy of domestic determinants of international outcomes. Nowhere is this reality clearer than the competition and confrontation between the United States and China.
The harsh economic contraction as a result of the stringent lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus made it necessary for the Prayut Chan-o-cha government to inject an enormous sum of money into the economy through loans packages worth 1.9 trillion baht, while another 88 billion baht in the 2020 fiscal budget has been siphoned from state agencies for virus-related emergency needs.
Last Sunday in the city of Baltimore, they tore down a statue of Christopher Columbus and threw it into the harbour.
In Indonesia, heart-breaking stories about healthcare workers who died as a result of Covid-19 started appearing in newspapers within weeks of the first diagnosed cases in the country. Doctors, nurses and other frontline health workers without appropriate protective equipment were falling gravely ill and in far too many cases, dying. Similar stories appeared across many Asean member states.
Schools are back in session and so is the debate over the student hairstyle. A new batch of pictures of students whose hair got cut or shaved poorly against their will, as a form of punishment, by their teachers has been recently circulated online. We're probably getting another set once the next hair inspection day comes. Last Friday, student activists submitted a petition to the Ministry of Education asking for clarity over the hairstyle rule. You see, the ministry has already allowed students to wear their hair long so long as it's neat and complies with other conditions. However, a few schools still take it upon themselves to cut students' hair that they deem "inappropriate".
The government and the coconut industry will do or say anything to avoid talking about the abuse of monkeys. Burying their heads in the sand or just plain lying about it isn't going to help the monkeys or the industry.
The government's mantra of not letting one's guard down will lose its spell if authorities fail to manage the transition to normalcy with utmost care.
A much under-evaluated Covid-19 impact is its consequences on higher education. As teachers quickly moved their lectures to virtual platforms, and students switched to learning from home, the higher education sector promptly slipped off the public radar. While universities have managed to tide over the crisis in the immediate and short-term, many observers have missed the medium and long-term impact of Covid on higher education, particularly international higher education.
When I heard that coconut products from Thailand had been banned from supermarkets in London, as a result of a campaign by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), I wasn't surprised. Peta is known to take the welfare of all types of animals seriously.
Denial alone won't help. To disprove the allegations of monkey abuse in Thailand's coconut business, the Commerce Ministry has no other option but to face up to the matter.
