CrazyExpat

Thailand is experiencing the worst drought in decades, with seven out of 67 provinces affected and water rationing taking place in almost a third of the country. Thailand’s Irrigation Department said that the amount of usable water in dams across the country, except in the West, have dwindled to below 10 percent and in the capital Bangkok tap water production has been slowing down since May, reports the Associated Press. Meanwhile the drought is taking its toll on the country’s farmers. Rice farmers usually plant their paddy in June or July but because of critical water shortages, the Agriculture Ministry has asked farmers to delay planting their crop until August. According to the Office of Agricultural Economics, the delay could cost farmers in Thailand’s central plains 60 billion baht ($1.8 billion) in losses and straddle them with significant debt. http://time.com/3960462/thailand-drought/

The balcony of room A5 at Ocean View Bungalows commands one of the finest vistas of Koh Tao’s sweeping Sairee Beach. Traditional longtail boats, a rainbow of scarves adorning their bows, bob on the lapping water of the glistening bay. And right in the foreground, rising proudly from sliver sands, protrude a scattering of granite boulders, a furtive relic of this tranquil 21-sq-km (8 sq. mi.) island’s volcanic inception. These rocks are no strangers to explosive secrets. On Sept. 15, one of the occupants of that same room A5, Hannah Witheridge, was found bludgeoned to death in their midst alongside fellow British tourist David Miller, just a short stumble from her door. Witheridge, 23, from Great Yarmouth, a seaside town on the English east coast, had been raped and killed by blows to the head. Miller, a year older and from Jersey, one of the U.K.’s Channel Islands, had likewise suffered deep lacerations to his skull before drowning in the shallow surf. A mute Burmese beach cleaner stumbled upon the bodies shortly after dawn. A garden hoe and wooden club found nearby were quickly fingered as the principal murder weapons. The crime’s brutality amid Koh Tao’s insular, backpacker charm caused an international sensation and threatened to further weaken a tourist industry already reeling from the military coup of May 22, 2014, which saw hundreds arbitrarily detained and draconian new controls imposed on freedom of speech and assembly. https://time.com/3955081/thailand-koh-tao-murder-david-miller-hannah-witheridge-zaw-lin-wai-phyo-burma-myanmar/

ENFIELD— July 11 marks three months to the day former Connecticut National Guardsman Josh Devine, 36, vanished while on a diving excursion in Thailand. While Thailand officials called off the search for Devine, the family still has a lot of questions about what happened to him. “He’s been In war zones since he was 18, and goes missing while on a diving trip. It just doesn`t equate,” said Devine’s sister Jennifer Bakowski. Devine’s family is offering a $5,000 reward for anyone with information that could lead to his whereabouts. “We don’t want to put anyone else in danger by coming forward, but we need to bring him home. We need closure to this,” said Bakowski. Devine, 36, a U.S. Army veteran who deployed to Kosovo and Iraq, owns land in Thailand with his wife, Thadsana, family members said. He is an experienced diver, and was traveling with her on a dive boat traveling from Phuket, an island province in the Andaman Sea. http://foxct.com/2015/07/11/5000-reward-offered-in-disappearance-of-former-conn-guardsman-in-thailand/

The move has been condemned by the U.N., Washington and human-rights groups Thailand’s junta government has defended the forcible return of more than 100 Uighur migrants to China despite their fears of persecution. “Thailand has worked with China and Turkey to solve the Uighur Muslim problem,” Colonel Weerachon Sukhondhapatipak, deputy spokesman for the Thai government, told reporters Thursday. “We have sent them back to China after verifying their nationality.” The move has been condemned by the U.N., Washington and human-rights groups, and led to violent scenes in Turkey when pro-Uighur protesters attacked the Thai consulate in Istanbul with clubs and rocks. Uighurs are a Muslim minority in China’s far-western region of Xinjiang, but they are ethnically, culturally and geographically closer to the Turkic peoples of Central Asia than to the Han — China’s dominant ethnic group. Thousands have fled the escalating violence and perceived abuses in Xinjiang in recent years. https://time.com/3952498/china-uighur-xinjiang-deportations-turkey-thailand-human-rights/

Phra Buddha Issara is a monk with a mission. From his Buddhist temple near Bangkok he is calling for a radical overhaul of Thai Buddhism, fearing millions of dollars in temple donations and a rapidly modernizing nation are corrupting monks. Surrounded by verdant green rice fields at Wat Or Noi temple, Issara said he wants better oversight of temple finances and to shake up the fossilized structure of Thai Buddhism. “Buddhism in Thailand is a poisoned fruit. The highest level of the Buddhist religion has turned out to be the devious one,” he told Reuters in an interview. Buddha Issara’s quest began last month when the Supreme Sangha Council (SSC), Thai Buddhism’s governing body, cleared the abbot of Dhammakaya temple over allegations by the military government’s National Reform Council (NRC) that he embezzled some 900 million baht ($28 million) in donations. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/03/05/world/social-issues-world/activist-monk-seeks-buddhism-overhaul-in-thailand-over-corruption-fears/#.VPqD5UbHWPU

Tonight the remaining teams race to Thailand on The Amazing Race season 26, episode 3, “#MurphysLaw.” On the last episode of The Amazing Race Jenny and Jelani got a head start in Tokyo after resting for the night. Some of the teams struggled with transportation, especially C.J. and Lebya who missed their train and ended up far behind the others. At the Road Block, the teams had to open up puzzle boxes for their next clue. Jackie, Laura, and Jenny had fun watching their guys trying to figure out the complex puzzle. Tyler was able to finish first, giving them a slight lead over Jenny and Jelani. The Detour had the teams feeding each other noodles or pushing each other on chairs around an ice rink. Both Laura and Tyler, and Jenny and Jelani chose to eat the noodles and were neck and neck. It was Laura and Tyler’s mistake of letting their cab go that cost them the lead.Those who went for the ice rink had much less fun, especially Rochelle and Mike who took a nasty fall. http://www.hypable.com/the-amazing-race-26-episode-3-tonight/

Nestled among hundreds of identical white and brown two-storey homes crammed in this neighborhood for factory workers is a house with a trick - one not immediately apparent from its green-painted drywall and grey shade panels. Hidden under the house and its wraparound porch are steel pontoons filled with Styrofoam. These can lift the structure three meters off the ground if this area, two hours north of Bangkok, floods as it did in 2011 when two-thirds of the country was inundated, affecting a fifth of its 67 million people. The 2.8 million baht ($86,000) amphibious house in Ban Sang village is one way architects, developers and governments around the world are brainstorming solutions as climate change brews storms, floods and rising sea levels that threaten communities in low-lying coastal cities. "We can try to build walls to keep the water out, but that might not be a sustainable permanent solution," said architect Chuta Sinthuphan of Site-Specific Co. Ltd, the firm that designed and built the house for Thailand's National Housing Authority. http://news.yahoo.com/thailand-tests-floating-homes-region-grappling-floods-103739720.html

Valentine’s Day 2015 will be infamous for more than the release of the film version of 50 Shades of Grey. It also witnessed the world’s first recorded polygamous gay marriage, as Joke, 29, Bell, 21 and Art, 26 tied the knot. Watchers of The Hangover Part 2 will not be surprised to learn that the marriage took place in Thailand, in the Uthai Thani Province. The threesome did not undergo a state ceremony, since Thai law does not recognize same-sex marriages or polygamy, but the trio claims that their union is sanctioned by Buddhist law. Buddhism is notoriously short on rules and does not forbid polygamy, though Buddhists are counseled to limit themselves to one wife. Buddhism has no official teaching regarding homosexual practice, other than prohibiting it for celibate monks. Reports state that Art and Joke met through business and became romantically involved in 2010, shortly after which they began living together. The couple later met Bell at a party, and started spending time together. When Bell was later “hospitalized with a congenital disease,” Art and Joke proposed the three-way marriage. According to Art, “When Bell was in hospital, it became clear that we all had a lot of feelings for each other. We thought what better way to show our love for each other by getting married. It might seem strange to some, but many people understand our bond and the reasons we got married.” http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/03/05/worlds-first-three-way-gay-marriage-takes-place-in-thailand/

A Thai court issued a four-year prison sentence to 15 members of the political group United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), known as the Red Shirts [official blog], on Thursday, following a conviction for inciting riots in 2009. The Red Shirts are a political group that supports former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra [bBC profile], who was ousted by a military group in 2006 after allegations of corruption and disrespect for the king. In 2009 about 2,000 protesters were demanding that then-prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva [bBC profile; JURIST news archive] call for new elections because they felt he came into office illegitimately after two prime ministers they supported were ousted from office. During the protest, members of Red Shirts stormed a hotel [Guardian report] in Pattaya that was hosting the a summit of leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) [official website]. Some of the leaders were evacuated by helicopter. Red Shirts believe the country’s traditional establishment, royalists and military fear Thaksin’s popularity and influence [AP report]. Past court rulings have condemned Thaksin’s supporters while leaving his opponents mostly untouched. Thailand’s political system has been unstable since the 2006 Thai military coup [bBC backgrounder] that ousted Shinawatra. Recently, Thailand’s military-appointed legislature voted to impeach Red Shirt backed former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra [JURIST news archive]. In 2013 Yingluck Shinawatra announced [JURIST report] that there would be no early election in response to recent mass protests by citizens who wanted her removed from office. Also in 2013 protesters in Thailand demanded [JURIST report] assistance in overthrowing the government after Shinawatra survived a no-confidence vote by parliament. In response to the protests, Yingluck Shinawatra invoked a special security law [JURIST report] in districts of Bangkok and nearby areas after protesters stormed and occupied several key ministries. A Bangkok Criminal Court in January sentenced Red Shirt supporter [JURIST report] Jatuporn Prompan to two years in prison for defaming former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. Prompan is also currently facing pending charges [JURIST report] for actions sprouting from the 2010 protests by Red Shirt supporters who occupied downtown Bangkok before being dispersed by Abhisit’s government forces authorized to use live ammunition in limited circumstances. http://jurist.org/paperchase/2015/03/thailand-court-sentenced-red-shirt-members-for-2009-riot.php

Thailand’s stability as a result of military rule may send a bad message to neighboring Asean countries going through democratic transitions, a Cambodian scholar of Thai politics says. “In case that the Thai military remains in power for the next year or year and a half, and Thailand becomes more stable than in the pre-coup period, this sends a very bad message to its neighbors, especially Burma,” Deth Sok Udom, dean of academic affairs at Zaman University, told the “Asean Corner” call-in show on Thursday. Thailand’s coups are a bad model because neighbors like Burma, also known as Myanmar, Cambodia, and even communist Laos, can use them to point out the risks of democratization and the benefits of a more authoritarian regime, he said. Strategically located in Southeast Asia, Thailand’s economy is larger than its four neighbors—Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam—combined. The country is also mainland Southeast Asia’s only founding member of Asean, and it has traditionally played a leadership role in the grouping, including on democratic issues. http://www.voacambodia.com/content/thailands-junta-a-bad-role-model-for-asean-scholar-says/2670315.html

Suspected Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand on Friday detonated a car bomb that wounded 13 people and damaged buildings, police said. The bomb was hidden in a pickup truck that was parked in front of a karaoke bar in a commercial district in Narathiwat province, police Col. Manit Yimsaai said. He said the explosion wounded two soldiers and 11 civilians, one of them seriously. Manit said the blast just after the lunch break also damaged rows of restaurants and shops in the predominantly Buddhist neighborhood. He said the pickup was reported to have been stolen on Thailand's southern border with Malaysia and had been used in a previous rebel attack. Narathiwat is one of the three Muslim-majority southern provinces in Buddhist-dominated Thailand. More than 5,000 people have been killed in the region since an Islamic insurgency erupted in 2004. http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/car-bomb-hits-insurgency-plagued-southern-thailand-13-29096881

Thai authorities said Monday that they will issue etiquette manuals for Chinese tourists ahead of an influx of visitors expected this week for Chinese New Year celebrations following local complaints. According to The Bangkok Post, the manuals, prepared by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, will list some recommended behaviors such as not touching paintings, avoiding using public property as lavatories, and encouraging proper driving. The move comes after a series of high-profile incidents involving Chinese nationals visiting Thailand. For part of February 3, Chinese tourists were banned from entering Wat Rong Khun – more popularly known as the “White Temple” and one of the most famous destinations in Chiang Rai – following complaints of inappropriate toilet usage. They were only allowed to return once tour guides agreed to assume responsibility for clearing up any mess committed by their group members. And also in Chiang Rai just last week, reports surfaced about Chinese visitors breaking off a decades old wooden stair pole at the Black House Museum – known as Baan Dam in Thai. Meanwhile, in Chiang Mai – which will be a key center for manual distributions as it is the most popular destination for Chinese tourists – shocking photos of a Chinese tourist draping her wet underwear on chairs at Chiang Mai airport went viral on social media on February 2. According to The Post, around 90,000 visitors are expected to visit Chiang Mai over the Chinese New Year holidays this year alone. On Saturday, government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd reportedly admitted that “undesirable” elements were inevitable among such a large group of tourists but said that Thais must nonetheless maintain their spirit of hospitality. http://thediplomat.com/2015/02/thailand-tells-chinese-tourists-how-to-behave/

The unusually strident criticism of Thailand’s military regime by the US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Daniel Russel, during his visit to the country last month drew a strong reaction. Junta leader Prayut Chan-Ocha said publicly that he was “upset” by the comments. Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the US chargé d’affaires, W. Patrick Murphy, to express its displeasure. Users of Thailand’s conservative social media are incensed by what they see as American meddling in domestic affairs and “lack of understanding” of the country. One prominent “yellow shirt” activist has accused the US of deliberately fuelling anti-American sentiment as a pretext to invade the country to protect its interests. What does this reaction say about US-Thai relations? The US is clearly concerned about democracy and human rights in Thailand since the May 2014 coup. It is trying to play a careful game of not appearing to interfere in Thailand’s internal affairs, but at the same time sending a strong message to the military leadership that the current situation is unacceptable. In this years’s Cobra Gold annual joint military exercises, the largest such exercise involving the US in Asia, the US has pointedly reduced its level of participation. In his speech at the opening ceremony last week, Murphy explicitly mentioned the reason for downgrading US participation. http://theconversation.com/does-us-pressure-really-risk-driving-thailand-into-chinas-arms-37335

A military coup in Thailand in May and the imposition of martial law, which continues, slowed property sales, but they have rebounded since the beginning of this year, according to Richard Lusted, the chief executive of the Phuket-based brokerage Siam Real Estate, which has this listing. The price index for single-family detached homes in Thailand has grown every year since 2008 by 1 percent to 5.4 percent, according to housing data from the Bank of Thailand. The price indexes for condominiums, townhouses and land have grown even more quickly over that period, frequently in the range of 5 percent to 12 percent a year. Phuket is the most popular location for foreigners seeking to buy homes in Thailand, said Ann Adenius, a director of the international brokerage Signature Residences Worldwide. “Phuket has established itself as a world-class resort destination,” she said. “The island offers an international airport, international schools, first-class hospitals, championship golf courses, excellent yachting marinas, fine dining and Western-styled shopping malls.” Many buyers are looking for lower-cost “off-plan” or brand-new villas with two to three bedrooms and a pool on modest plots of land in boutique developments, Mr. Lusted said. Those homes typically range in price from about 7 million to 16 million baht, or roughly $217,000 to $496,000. However, villas in Phuket can range up well beyond the million-dollar range, such as the one listed here, and that market, which is largely made up of cash buyers, has thrived even in challenging economic times, Ms. Adenius said. “While buyers previously looked for properties on the traditionally-favored west coast of the island, Phuket’s south and east coast have surged in popularity as an upmarket alternative,” she said. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/realestate/house-hunting-in-thailand.html#

Thailand's interim parliament has passed a law that bans foreigners from seeking surrogacy services to end a "rent-a-womb" industry that made the Southeast Asian country a top destination for fertility tourism. Thailand was rocked by several surrogacy scandals last year and an outcry followed the case of an Australian couple — one of whom is a convicted child sex offender — who left a male twin surrogate baby with Down Syndrome in Thailand, bringing only his sister back to Australia. The couple at the center of the story of "Baby Gammy," and the surrogate mother told conflicting stories of how the infant came to be left behind. Another case involved a Japanese man who fathered at least at least 16 babies using Thai surrogates in what local Thai media called the "baby factory". Thailand gave preliminary approval in August for a draft law to make commercial surrogacy a crime. The draft passed its first reading in November and parliament voted 160 to 2 to pass the law Thursday night. "This law aims to stop Thai women's wombs from becoming the world's womb. This law bans foreign couples from coming to Thailand to seek commercial surrogacy services," Wanlop Tankananurak, a member of Thailand's National Legislative Assembly, told Reuters. http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/2/20/thailand-bans-surrogacy-for-foreigners.html

Thai political life after last year’s military takeover hovers somewhere between farce and tragedy. Farce, when the government had to hurriedly delete a scene showing a schoolboy painting a picture of Hitler in a film promoting prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s “12 core values”, a list of duties and responsibilities vaguely reminiscent of Vichy France’s “travail, famille, patrie”. Incompetence, sabotage, or what: who knows? It was farcical, too, when a prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, who had already been forced out, was solemnly impeached by an assembly that did not have the power to impeach. Even if it had, nobody could explain how impeachment, a method of removing a leader from office, could apply to one who had already departed. But such constitutional illiteracy is an everyday phenomenon in the generals’ Thailand. Farce, again, but darker, when critics are “invited” to army installations for “attitude adjustment” sessions. Farce, shading into persecution, when opponents are tried in military courts with no right of appeal or forced to sign documents that allow the seizure of their assets if they engage in political activity, or pursued on corruption charges when similar allegations against the junta’s supporters are neglected. The latest twist came on Thursday when the attorney general filed charges against Yingluck, the sister of Thaksin Shinawatra, who turned Thai politics upside down a decade and a half ago. Thaksin, now in exile, tapped into the needs, aspirations and frustrations of the less well-off majority, particularly in the countryside, and did it in a way that has enabled him or his proxies to win every election in Thailand since. The Thai elite was both enraged and perplexed, and remains so. It felt his majority was somehow unfair, that he had bought his support, and indeed Thaksin was and is a populist bearing some resemblance to a figure like Silvio Berlusconi. Still, he had the votes. Subterfuge, legal legerdemain and, finally, military intervention have all failed to alter the situation: the Thaksin phenomenon won’t go away, and wouldn’t even if he himself were to pass from the scene. As the Thai military and its civilian allies labour in vain to create a political system that looks respectable but in which the pro-Thaksin forces cannot win, there are signs that elements within the regime understand that some form of accommodation might be more realistic and more successful. Shadowy envoys flit back and forth between Bangkok and Dubai, where Thaksin lives. The charges against Yingluck may be part of a process involving both bargaining and threats. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/19/guardian-view-military-rule-thailand

NINE MONTHS after staging a coup against a democratically elected government, Thailand’s military has little to show for it. The economy is stagnant, one of the worst performing in Asia. The national “reconciliation” the generals promised is nowhere to be seen: There are hundreds of political prisoners, and a criminal prosecution of ousted prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is underway. Martial law remains in effect, making it illegal to hold any gathering without permission and crippling free expression. Junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha lamely protests that, unlike the military-backed regime of Egypt, his has not killed anyone. But given his reactionary plan to permanently hobble democracy, even that dubious distinction may not endure much longer. The army is attempting to accomplish something it has failed at twice before: a political system that eliminates the influence of the Shinawatra family, which has won every election in Thailand since 2001. Thaksin Shinawatra, the family’s exiled leader, gained wide support among the rural poor with a populist program that infuriates the country’s traditional elite, including the military leadership. Mr. Thaksin was guilty of authoritarian abuses while in office, and some of the policies he favored were ill-advised. But the ouster of three elected governments since 2006 has succeeded only in entrenching his support. Thai analysts believe that, if a free election were held now, Ms. Yingluck or another family nominee would win again. Knowing that, Mr. Prayuth has delayed elections despite a promise that his regime would last only a year. But the generals have had trouble restoring relations with Thailand’s closest allies, including the United States, where a law mandated the shutdown of military aid and training programs after the coup. So during a visit to Tokyo this month, Mr. Prayuth pledged that an election would be held at the end of this year or in early 2016 — on the generals’ terms. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/thailands-ineffective-rule-by-force/2015/02/19/0c53b660-b863-11e4-a200-c008a01a6692_story.html

Under a blazing midday sun in late 2013, Allen Stewart surveyed the scene before him: The Gulf of Thailand, a spectrum of blues, stretched out as far as the eye could see. To the west, the jagged, emerald-hued peaks of Koh Chang emerged; the Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia rose to the east. Thick swaths of palm trees hugged empty white sand beaches below. “I looked around for years for something like this,” Mr. Stewart, 60, said of the heart-stopping view. “I grew up outside of Yellowstone — how do you match that? But when I saw this, it took about three seconds to say, ‘Yup, this is what we’ve been looking for.’ ” Mr. Stewart began sharing that affection in 2011, when he and his wife opened Thaidaho Vista, a guesthouse on petite Koh Mak island. And it’s that sort of impassioned search for tranquillity, beauty and an off-the-grid feel — for the “old Thailanf.” one that’s fast disappearing — that’s luring entrepreneurs like Mr. Stewart and travelers to Koh Mak and its sister island of Koh Kut, an hour’s boat ride away, in the northeastern Gulf of Thailand, not far from the Cambodian border. The crowds of Thailand’s big-name beach destinations — Phuket, Koh Samui, Koh Chang — are worlds away from these palm-tree fringed, sleepy gems, where you’re more likely to encounter dogs and pigs sauntering along the road than traffic jams, and to have a stretch of sand and sea all to yourself, rather than elbow-to-elbow sun beds. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/travel/old-thailand-found-on-sleepy-islands.html

Thailand’s attorney general has pressed criminal charges against former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, alleging negligence related to her government’s rice subsidy scheme. The expected charge is the latest move initiated by the junta-led government against her polarising family and could see her jailed for up to a decade. Thailand’s regime is also considering launching a civil suit against the nation’s first female prime minister to seek $18bn in compensation for damages caused by the scheme. The prosecutors’ office on Thursday submitted 20 boxes of the case’s documents to the supreme court’s criminal division for politicians. They accused Yingluck of dereliction in overseeing a rice subsidy scheme that lost billions of dollars and temporarily cost Thailand its crown as the world’s top rice exporter. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/19/thailand-indicts-yingluck-shinawatra-over-rice-subsidy-scheme

Thai student protesters billing themselves as the “last group standing” in seeking to end military rule say they will openly defy what one leader called a tyrannical regime nine months after the army seized power. Members of the Thai Student Centre for Democracy (TSCD), who come from different political and socio-economic backgrounds, present a quandary for the junta, which has branded public protests illegal but wants to maintain its core support, including from Bangkok’s middle class and business elite. Some of the students support the “red shirt” grassroots movement of ousted prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, but others sympathise with the establishment that makes up the bulk of the junta’s support. A resurgence of public protests could prove destabilising for the military rulers, already struggling with economic mismanagement. The army says it wants to negotiate with the students, but at the weekend detained several for holding a public meeting. “A sure way the junta can mess up is if it slips up on the economy, which impacts the people directly,” Jurin Laksanawisit, a member of the conservative Democrat Party, Thailand’s oldest political party, told Reuters. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/17/thailands-students-defy-military-junta-and-call-for-return-to-democracy

My guide Ling told me that when Thais come to Ayutthaya and Sukhothai, they aim to visit nine temples in one day. “The word nine sounds like the word for progress,” she said, “and they think a quick tour of nine temples might bring them more money.” Any romantic notions I harboured about Buddhist spirituality evaporated in the humid air. To see nine temples, even in these two Unesco World Heritage cities, would demand a frenzied, whirlwind tour. This time it might not be best to “do as the locals do”. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/thailand/11418564/Slow-boat-to-Thailands-temple-cities-of-Ayutthaya-and-Sukhothai.html

BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Thailand's efforts to combat human trafficking in its multi-billion dollar fishing industry have been "wholly inadequate", and it has failed to end officials' involvement in trafficking and labour abuses, a rights group said. The U.S. State Department last year downgraded Thailand to its "tier 3" list of worst offenders – alongside 22 other countries including North Korea, Iran and Central African Republic – in its annual ranking of countries by their counter-trafficking efforts. While Thailand's military-backed government said last month it was "confident" it had met the minimum standards to improve its ranking, the London-based Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) said on Tuesday that the country was still failing to prevent trafficking and rights abuses in the fishing industry. "Nothing that we have seen or heard in the last year indicates that Thailand has taken meaningful action to address the root causes of trafficking and abuse," EJF executive director Steve Trent said in a statement. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/17/us-thailand-trafficking-idUSKBN0LL0P220150217

Thailand made headlines last month for proposing that its new constitution should prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression. That would put the Southeast Asian nation ahead of 32 U.S. states and all but a few countries. What does this mean? And why Thailand? The answers to these questions are easily misunderstood, because sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI in international-policy-speak) mean different things in different cultural contexts. In this case, third-gender Thai people are both recognized and stigmatized. Traditional attitudes are both problem and solution. First, this is a significant step forward. “This is a historic move in Thailand and a breakthrough for the Thai transgender community and Thai activists,” said Joe Wong of the Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN), a regional organization based in Bangkok. And yet the widely-reported notion that Thailand is explicitly protecting “third gender” people is not quite accurate, according to activists. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/08/the-best-place-to-be-trans-is-a-dictatorship.html

Thailand's junta — smarting over U.S. criticism of last year's coup that ousted an elected government — has announced that it will strengthen military ties with China over the next five years. An agreement with Beijing was announced during a two-day visit to Bangkok by China's defense minister, Chang Wanquan, reports Michael Sullivan. The two sides say they'll increase cooperation in intelligence-gathering and fighting transnational crime. The Bangkok Post says: "China's Defense Minister Chang Wanquan also took pains to stress that Beijing has no plans to 'interfere' with Thailand's military regime, something the Thai government feels its long-time ally, the United States, did last month during the visit of a high-ranking diplomat." The high-ranking diplomat in question, Daniel Russel, is the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs. Russel sparked the ire of Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha's government last month with a speech at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University that criticized the government's crackdown on free expression and called for an end to martial law, which has been in force since the May coup. "I'll be blunt here," Russel told the audience at Chulalongkorn, one of Thailand's most prestigious universities. "When an elected leader is deposed, impeached by the authorities that implemented the coup, and then targeted with criminal charges while basic democratic processes and institutions are interrupted, the international community is left with the impression that these steps could be politically driven." http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/02/06/384306120/thailands-military-moves-closer-to-china