Columnnist

Thana Boonlert

Bangkok Post columnist

Thana Boonlert is a writer for the Life section and a Bangkok Post columnist.

Thana Boonlert
17 Apr 2023

Songs for life as it's no longer lived

Ad Carabao's new song Prachathipatung revives the myth of vote-buying and ignorance in rural society. The title is a coinage blending prachathipatai (democracy) and tung (money). On the track, parents ask children to return to their home village to vote for local politicians who give them money. It puts into song from the political discourse of an urban middle class that expresses disdain for villagers along with antipathy for one type of money politics as well as full-fledged democracy.

17 Apr 2023
Songs for life as  it's no longer lived
27 Feb 2023

Letting go is key to moving forward

Some humans desire to transcend their biological limits. Such pursuit of immortality is expressed through art or architecture, or living through their descendants. I have been in touch with a number of artists who struggle to preserve their craft amid changing times. A succession crisis occurs when one cannot find anyone to continue his or her artistic legacy and only some can let go, though not easily.

27 Feb 2023
Letting go is key to moving forward
9 Jan 2023

Equality still a dream

In the lead-up to its second reading, the civil partnership draft bill marks a decade since its inception, dating back to a gay couple who were denied legal recognition in 2012 because the law limits marriage to a man and a woman. Given the conservatism of earlier decades, civil partnership was "the first brick" at a time when marriage equality was almost inconceivable. However, history is often ignored. Despite its long journey in conjunction with the new bill, the uphill push for marriage rights will remain an unfinished business under the current government.

9 Jan 2023 2
Equality still a dream
21 Nov 2022

When art gets stifled

'Art is short, a case is long," read a banner. Students apparently hijacked the well-known motto "art is long, life is short" by Prof Silpa Bhirasri, the father of Thai modern art, in protest of Chiang Mai University's legal action against its own lecturers and a student who "trespassed" on the art centre to exhibit works, some of which might challenge those in power, last year. It is a case in point for stifling democracy in Thai art.

21 Nov 2022 1
When art gets stifled
4 Nov 2022

Nationalism is not the answer to land woes

Resistance to the controversial foreign land ownership bill is giving rise to the term khai chat -- used to denounce traitors who sell the motherland -- being used in political discourse. Whether a person is a government critic or supporter, he or she believes their ancestors fought very hard to protect our land and it should not be given away to foreigners.

4 Nov 2022 35
Nationalism is not the answer to land woes
3 Oct 2022

Rethinking citizenship

What do you think when someone says those who are not loyal to the monarchy hate the nation?

3 Oct 2022 5
2 Sep 2022

The rebranding of 'big brother' Gen Prawit

A day after Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha was suspended from his prime ministerial duties, Paiboon Nititawan, deputy leader of the ruling Palang Pracharath Party, was handing out a biography on Gen Prawit Wongsuwon, now acting PM, to reporters.

2 Sep 2022 27
15 Aug 2022

Time is on our side

Win or lose, a protest is a process of trial and error. To put it simply, it is disruption, innovation, or something in between, just the way the now-defunct but shape-shifting Future Forward Party was in 2019 because it is born out of a spirit, not a person or a party. If the student-led demonstration goes down in history for demanding the boldest political reform, including the role of the monarchy, its resurrection last week proves that the pro-democracy movement is coming of age.

15 Aug 2022 2
6 Aug 2022

Thailand's Big Brother is upping the ante

In the late 18th century, British philosopher Jeremy Bentham visited his younger brother, Samuel, in Russia, who arranged unskilled factory workers in a circle so that he could supervise them. Inspired by this principle, Bentham developed "the panopticon", an inspection tower surrounded by cells. Its uniqueness was that it enabled a watchman to monitor prisoners without them knowing they were being watched.

6 Aug 2022 7
Thailand's Big Brother is upping the ante
1 Jul 2022

Farewells teach us all to live for the moment

When we bid farewell to something, it marks the end of a relationship. Saying it gives us a sense of ending. Saying goodbye reminds us of how vulnerable and uncertain our life is.

1 Jul 2022 2
Farewells teach us all to live for the moment