Nareerat Wiriyapong
Acting Asia Focus Editor
Acting Asia Focus Editor
Marriage for everyone
Since my university days, I have had a number of gay friends, most of whom are living happily either in Thailand or abroad. But only recently have I started to see a major shift of attitudes in Thai society toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.
Standing up to hate speech
As a regular social media user, I find it annoying whenever I scroll through my Facebook account to find many ads that aren't relevant to my interests. My main purpose for using social media is just that: social. I like to hear from people I don't see regularly or long-lost friends from my school days.
Get a grip on bullying
As a corporate employee, I feel privileged that I'm able to work from home for most of the week. While the nature of my job allows me and my small team to carry on as usual, many other kinds of work require the physical presence of staff in a place of business.
The other C-word: Climate
As the world has been gripped by the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic, the dramatic slowdown in economic activity has resulted in cleaner air to breathe in traffic-congested Bangkok and other big cities worldwide.
New challenges for Asean
This year marks the midpoint of the 10-year journey toward the realisation of the Asean Community Vision 2025. The journey began with the formal establishment of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, and envisions deeper regional integration in terms of political and security dimensions over the next five years.
Safety tops the tourism agenda
For the past two months or so, many of the world's popular tourist destinations have been shuttered to visitors, leaving beaches, restaurants, shops, bars and streets almost empty.
Home working is here to stay
With Covid-19 infections falling considerably in most parts of Asia, more countries are exploring reopening their economies. Thailand, for example, last week recorded single-digit daily increases and even one day of no cases, prompting authorities to allow the long-awaited reopening of shopping malls and other activities, albeit with some restrictions.
Far too early for normal
As a regular user of public transport, I have to admit feeling uncomfortable getting on a slightly crowded public bus in the evening when leaving work. But seeing much larger crowds trying to barge into the subway convinced me that there's no other choice for me to get home.
Plastic loves the pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic has upended daily life and commerce throughout the world. As one of the millions working from home over the past few weeks, I've grown accustomed to having meals delivered to my doorstep. Before that, I rarely used food delivery services; dining out was the norm rather than eating at home.
Preparedness is the cure
First, a little bit of good news amid all the despair and depression: In Italy, where the number of deaths caused by Covid-19 is the highest in the world, a 104-year-old woman has recovered after falling sick on March 17. Amazingly, Ada Zanusso also survived the 1918 Spanish flu. Even more amazingly, she lived in a nursing home where 20 other residents died of the virus.