Columnnist

Sanitsuda Ekachai

Former editorial pages editor

Sanitsuda Ekachai is a former editorial pages editor, Bangkok Post. She writes on social issues, gender, and Thai Buddhism.

Sanitsuda Ekachai
12 May 2022

Sex, money and monkhood don't mix

The latest sex scandal of a popular preacher "Luang Pi Kato" once again reveals how rotten the cleric system is.

12 May 2022 18
Sex, money and monkhood don't mix
11 Apr 2022

Temple graft shows need for reform

The country's latest temple corruption scandal occurred at a first-class royal monastery; the centre of a sect founded by reformist monarch King Mongkut to clean up the clergy. What an irony!

11 Apr 2022 6
Temple graft shows need for reform
15 Sep 2021

Autocracy, not giggling, is the problem

When two influencer monks -- Phra Maha Praiwan Worawano and Phra Maha Sompong Talaputto -- were summoned to Government House last week for giggling too much in their dhamma talk shows, I expected intellectual duels between the conservatives and the liberals on the monastic codes of conduct and the clergy's need to catch up with times.

15 Sep 2021 41
Autocracy, not giggling, is the problem
17 Jun 2021

Violence hampers Unesco park quest

Thailand's effort to turn the Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex into a Unesco World Heritage Site has been made in vain for the past six years. Will it have succeeded by the time the annual World Heritage Convention convenes in July?

17 Jun 2021 13
Violence hampers Unesco park quest
3 Mar 2021

Forest dictatorship at Kaeng Krachan

Enough is enough. When the meek indigenous forest dwellers fearlessly walked out of the meeting with the forest authorities in Kaeng Krachan National Park last week, their message was clear: Enough of your lies, cheating and violence. Enough of our hunger and loss of dignity from forced resettlement. Enough of threats and intimidation. We are going home for good.

3 Mar 2021 31
Forest dictatorship at Kaeng Krachan
1 Feb 2021

Last-ditch fight against forest tyranny

After two decades of hunger and hardship -- and a life without dignity in a prison-like resettlement village -- a group of indigenous forest dwellers decided to return to their ancestral home deep in the Kaeng Krachan jungle in Phetchaburi province.

1 Feb 2021 16
Last-ditch fight against forest tyranny
9 Sep 2020

Fanaticism, hate speech and Buddhism

If your ultra-royalist friends say we need to uphold the Nation-Religion-Monarchy state ideology to protect the country's peace, order and national identity, ask them whose nation and what religion they are talking about.

9 Sep 2020 67
Fanaticism, hate speech and Buddhism
3 Sep 2020

Locals resist environmental dictatorship

Drenched with a heavy downpour on Tuesday night while picketing in front of Government House, Anong Kuson looked up at the ferocious sky, her face wet with tears mixed with merciless rain.

3 Sep 2020 15
Locals resist environmental dictatorship
13 Jul 2020

Hair saga reflects authoritarian culture

If you want to understand why dictatorship persists in Thailand, or the reason why the culture of bullying and impunity is so deep-rooted here, what happened at a public school in Si Sa Ket earlier this month offers an answer.

13 Jul 2020 62
Hair saga reflects authoritarian culture
1 Jul 2020

Demolition, lies, nepotism and impunity

Seriously? The national park authorities in Phrae province outraged the whole nation by razing a historical heritage house to the ground, and are we still going to let them get away scot-free?

1 Jul 2020 22
Demolition, lies, nepotism and impunity