| Thailand | Corruption

Thailand’s Ousted Prime Minister Shinawatra Flees Abroad: The Rest of the Story

Shortly before ousted Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra was to face a court ruling for her failed populist rice subsidy scheme, she reportedly fled the country, joining her likewise fugitive brother Thaksin Shinawatra in hiding abroad. Thaksin Shinawatra was himself ousted from power in 2006 for similar charges of corruption and abuse of power. While the US and European media attempt to frame the Shinawatras as victims of powerful, democracy-adverse institutions in Thailand, sensible analysis must consider the fact that Thailand does not exist in a geopolitical or socioeconomic vacuum

Asia | Thailand | Religion

Thailand’s top female monk hacked the system to bring women into the fold

Source: PRI

Dhammananda, a 72-year-old Thai woman, is forbidden from hugging her sons. She’s never been able to chase her giggling grandchildren around the room. Both acts are forbidden by the strict Buddhist precepts that monks must follow. Dhammananda is a self-described “rare species.” She’s a monk. She’s also a mom. And in the eyes of her homeland’s Buddhist establishment, she’s a feminist insurgent. Each day, she and her female disciples wear the same clothing: flowing robes the color of ripe mangoes. Their heads are shorn down to stubble. Their possessions are limited to flip flo

Asia | Thailand | Religion

‘Rebel’ female Buddhist monks challenge Thailand status quo

Source: AP

On a rural road just after daybreak, villagers young and old kneel reverently before a single file of ochre-robed women, filling their bowls with rice, curries, fruits and sweets. In this country, it's a rare sight. Thailand's top Buddhist authority bars women from becoming monks. They can only become white-cloaked nuns, who are routinely treated as domestic servants. Many here believe women are inferior beings who had better perform plenty of good deeds to ensure they will be reborn as men in their future lives. Yet with the religion beset by lurid scandals, female monastics or "bhikkhunis"

Asia | Thailand | Crimes

In northern Thailand, female prisoners are getting a second chance. Through massage

Source: PRI

Ponnipa Chanpeng says she didn't have any other options. When she was 22, both her parents died, leaving her to take care of a younger brother — and her father's debt. Family couldn't help. Creditors harassed her daily. Banks wouldn't give her a loan. So she made a desperate choice. One that landed her in prison. Throughout Thailand, rates of female imprisonment are on the rise. Between 2006 and 2012, the number of women in prison in Thailand increased almost 50 percent, with the vast majority of sentences stemming from using, producing or dealing drugs — mostly meth. Although pris

Asia | Thailand | Crimes

Human Trafficking Bust, Women Lured Through Facebook

Source: Inquisitr

Human trafficking busts have reached a new level of difficulty with the advent of social media. Three sex-slave recruiters arrested by Thai police early this week allegedly lured women on Facebook with hospitality jobs in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Yahoo News reported that Thailand’s Lieutenant-Colonel Komvich Padhanarath identified one of the suspects as Kheng Hsiang Low, a Malaysian male who, along with two female Thai associates, engaged women on Facebook to work in restaurants, spas, and karaoke bars in Malaysia. Instead, the unsuspecting victims ended up in the sex trade. Thailand�

Asia | Thailand | Corruption

Thai environmentalists pay for activism with their lives

Source: Aljazeera

Jintana Kaewkao, a 53-year-old activist, shop-owner and mother of three, arrived at the district government office on March 12 ready for a fight. With local tensions rising over the planned construction of a steel manufacturing plant amid the wetlands and coconut trees of this seaside community of Bangsaphan, Thailand, more than 30 villagers had assembled in the morning heat. Most were women; some had toddlers in tow. They were ready to register their concerns over potential pollution, and a local conglomerate’s questionable land acquisitions, with the district leader. As usual, they w