Amid growing complaints in Thailand from consumers over the rising cost of goods, the Thai Commerce Ministry has insisted that prices are under control, but only part of the truth has been reported to the Cabinet and the public.In fact, the government has picked only some products whose prices have come down to showcase to society.Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyaphirom keep on saying that prices are under control and the cost of living has not risen d

Many tend to imagine cities to be a place where people keep to themselves and strangers don‘t talk to strangers. The fact is that in any given day strangers spend time with strangers, sometimes alone, in a closed room on thousands of occasions. It is called a taxi ride. Some taxi drivers like to share their views on current political issues. Some passengers like to chat with their cabbies about their daily routines. Some rides are almost silent except at the beginning when the passengers announc

Now that the parliamentary election is over, political parties are shifting their focus to the presidential race. The Wednesday election was widely viewed as the precursor to the December poll. Yet there is no guarantee that the Saenuri Party victory will be repeated in eight months’ time. To win the crucial election in December, political parties should listen to the vox populi expressed in the parliamentary poll. This applies to the ruling Saenuri Party, as well as to the main opposition Democ

On Wednesday, about 800 Japanese right-wingers gathered in Tokyo to reiterate their claim that Dokdo, Korea’s easternmost islets, is Japanese territory and urge the Tokyo government to act on the issue.The rally, organized by Shimane Prefecture of western Japan, is notable as it was the first of its kind held in Tokyo. Furthermore, the participants included some 60 Japanese lawmakers and senior government officials. Some of the politicians at the rally made highly provocative comments. For insta

Defying earlier predictions, the ruling Saenuri Party won a majority in the parliamentary elections on Wednesday and put the National Assembly under its control again. Due credit must be given to Rep. Park Geun-hye, who reorganized a party in disarray after the October by-elections and successfully rallied conservative voters behind the party.It was not just pre-election opinion polls but exit polls that indicated that the opposition alliance could beat the ruling party. They did not even rule o

The nation’s debt obligations have surpassed the 400 trillion won mark for the first time. The national debt, or the combined debt obligations of the central and local governments, was at 420.7 trillion won as of the end of 2011.The increase of 28.5 trillion won over the previous year raised the ratio of national debt to gross domestic product from 33.4 percent to 34 percent. This must be seen as a matter of concern.Nevertheless, it should not come as a surprise. That increase had been anticipat

Ethiopia isn’t the first place you would look for clues about Asia’s economies. Nor does Jose Rabacal, a 29-year-old Filipino sipping beer at an Addis Ababa airport cafe, think he’s a human economic indicator. But he is, and so are his 10 compatriots as they bided their time recently during a multihour layover. Each moved to Africa from the Philippines for opportunities that leaders failed to offer at home. Each left behind a family they see once a year, if they are lucky. “I haven’t seen my thr

Over the past decades, the Philippines used to be benign with its defence strategy over the claims in South China Sea.Domestic turmoil, economic down-turn and southern rebellions kept the country at arm’s length on this key security issue. However, since July 2010, the government under President Benign Aquino III has displayed assertive foreign policy postures in the relations with the U.S. and China ― which has currently moved in an opposite direction. At the last week’s ASEAN summit in Phnom P

Apologies to Ronald Reagan as we mangle his catchphrase, but what the U.S. and other world powers need to do in negotiations with Iran later this week is to “accept, but verify” an Iranian nuclear-fuel program that’s limited to producing low civilian-grade fuel. Only the most reckless gambler would bet on a breakthrough in the talks, due to take place in Istanbul on April 14. Ten years of abject diplomatic failure, distrust and Iranian filibustering have fed a justifiable cynicism. Nor is an ele

The toilet is a magnificent thing. Invented at the turn of the 19th century, the flush version has vastly improved human life. The toilet has been credited with adding a decade to our longevity. The sanitation system to which it is attached was voted the greatest medical advance in 150 years by readers of the British Medical Journal. Unfortunately it is an impractical luxury for about two-thirds of the world’s 7 billion people because it relies on connections to water and sewerage systems that m

Recently in Karachi, I dropped in on a talk by the Pakistani journalist and TV anchor Kamran Khan at a Rotary Club meeting. Describing relations between India and Pakistan at a “crossroads,” Khan exhorted his audience to feel shame about Pakistani involvement in the terrorist attacks on Mumbai in 2008 that killed 164 people and have frozen India- Pakistan relations ever since. Khan lamented the many missed opportunities for a comprehensive agreement between India and Pakistan. Finally, he expres