In the wake of the twentieth anniversary of the dreadful Tak Bai massacre, what are the prospects for a resolution of the long-standing insurgency in Thailand Malay-Muslim majority southern border provinces? Why has the Paetongtarn Shinawatra government failed to support justice for the families of the 85 men who died in the incident? Why do absurd conspiracy theories often loom larger than evidence-based analyses of the root causes underling the violence? And why does the Thai state struggle to embrace narratives of local identity that offer space for diversity, disagreement and pluralism? Don Pathan is a senior journalist and security analyst, well known for his expertise on the Southern insurgency. Duncan McCargo is President’s Chair in Global Affairs at Nanyang Technological University. He has published extensively on the southern conflict, including the award-winning book Tearing Apart the Land: Islam and Legitimacy in Southern Thailand (Cornell 2008). Chayata Sripanich is a research associate with the Generation Thailand project. Talking Thai Politics brings crafted conversations about the politics of Thailand to a global audience. Created by the Generation Thailand project at Nanyang Technological University, the podcast is co-hosted by Duncan McCargo and Chayata Sripanich. The production assistant for this episode was Nalinthip Ekapong. Website: https://thaipolitics.leeds.ac.uk/podcasts/
Why has Thailand’s politics been so contested and so intensely polarized in recent decades? How can we account for the persistent democratic regression of the past twenty years, despite the fact that the parallel vigour of progressive oppositional politics remains a source of hope for many? In this episode of Talking Thai Politics, prominent Thai political scientist Prajak Kongkirati discusses his new book Thailand: Contestation, Polarization and Democratic Regression (Cambridge UP, 2024), with Duncan McCargo. Prajak is an associate professor in the Faculty of Political Science at Thammasat University, and is well known for his extensive writings on Thai politics, notably on elections and political violence. His new book is an invaluable introductory text that anyone teaching Southeast Asian politics is likely to assign to their students. Duncan McCargo is President’s Chair in Global Affairs at Nanyang Technological University. Talking Thai Politics brings crafted conversations about the politics of Thailand to a global audience. Created by the Generation Thailand project at Nanyang Technological University, the podcast is co-hosted by Duncan McCargo and Chayata Sripanich. Our production assistant is Li Xinruo.
What is it like to be a human rights lawyer in Thailand? How does the new generation of 2020s political activists differ from those of previous eras? In this episode of Talking Thai Politics, we talk to Kunthika Nutcharut about her work with Thai Lawyers for Human Rights. Kunthika comes from a political family – her lawyer father Krisadang Nutcharut was a student activisit in the 1970s – and she studied and worked in Germany before deciding to return to Thailand to taken on the challenging work of defending outspoken figures in the post-2020 student-led protest movement. Duncan McCargo is President’s Chair in Global Affairs at Nanyang Technological University. Chayata Sripanich is a research associate with the Generation Thailand project. Talking Thai Politics brings crafted conversations about the politics of Thailand to a global audience. Created by the Generation Thailand project at Nanyang Technological University, the podcast is co-hosted by Duncan McCargo and Chayata Sripanich. Our production assistant is Li Xinruo.
Why was the late Ajarn Chaiwat Satha-Anand so passionate about bringing peace to Thailand’s deep south? How did he try to speak nonviolence to Thai power elites? In this episode of Talking Thai Politics, Ajarn Mark Tamthai of Payap University talks about his memories of working with Chaiwat, especially their efforts to end the ongoing violent conflict in the Malay-Muslim-majority region that includes Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. Chaiwat Satha-Anand (1955-2024) was a professor of political science at Thammasat University and one of Thailand’s most eminent social scientists. A political philosopher among whose core interests were Islam and non-violence, his numerous books included The Life of this World: negotiated Muslim lives in Thai society (2005) and Imagined Land: the state and southern violence in Thailand (2009). The article by Chaiwat mentioned in the episode is ‘The Silence of the Bullet Monument’, Critical Asian Studies 38, 1, 2006, at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14672710600556411 The English version of the 2006 National Reconciliation Commission Report (for which Chaiwat was the lead author) may be found here https://thaipolitics.leeds.ac.uk/projects/southern-thai-insurgency-2/southern-thai-insurgency/ Mark Tamthai is a former head of the Department of Philosophy at Chulalongkorn University and former director of the Institute of Religion, Culture and Peace at Payap University. Duncan McCargo is President’s Chair in Global Affairs at Nanyang Technological University. Talking Thai Politics brings crafted conversations about the politics of Thailand to a global audience. Created by the Generation Thailand project at Nanyang Technological University, the podcast is co-hosted by Duncan McCargo and Chayata Sripanich. Our production assistant is Li Xinruo. Website: https://thaipolitics.leeds.ac.uk/podcasts/
In this inaugural episode of Talking Thai Politics, Pannika Wanich of the Progressive Movement talks about generational contestation in Thailand, as well the evolution of Future Forward, Move Forward and the newly-formed People’s Party. A former political journalist and LSE graduate, 36-year old Pannika served as the spokesperson of the now-dissolved Future Forward Party; but was recently banned from electoral politics for life. She is one of the most articulate and outspoken voices among Thailand’s new generation politicians. Duncan McCargo is President’s Chair in Global Affairs at Nanyang Technological University. Talking Thai Politics brings crafted conversations about the politics of Thailand to a global audience. Created by the Generation Thailand project at Nanyang Technological University, the podcast is co-hosted by Duncan McCargo and Chayata Sripanich. Our production assistant is Li Xinruo.