National government
Head of state
Thai PM urges middle class to save day
Upper- and middle income people need to come out and vote if they want to stop parties pitching populist policies to the poor from regaining office, says Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. They should decide what they want at the polls or someone else would do that for ...
Transition teams kick off months-long dialogue
Transition committees set up to ensure a smooth handover of power are to meet four times a week until March, a senior National League for Democracy member said on 16 December. The government and NLD both formed eight-member teams on December 10 to coordinate the transition ...
ASEAN disaster management conference opens
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong called for further regional cooperation in disaster response and adaptation to climate change at the third ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management, held at the Cambodiana Hotel in Phnom Penh on 16 December. Delivering the opening ...
Border scrap off talks agenda
The territorial conflict between Thailand and Cambodia will not be discussed during Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s visit to Thailand this week, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha says. Gen Prayut said while both countries will discuss a wide range of topics such as energy and trade and ...
South Korean PM leaves for Laos, Mongolia
South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-Ahn left for Laos on 13 December to discuss enhancing bilateral ties and South Korea’s possible participation in constructing a power plant in the Southeast Asian country. Hwang’s trip to Laos is on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the re-establishment ...
New idea floated to allow NLD leader to assume presidency
A new idea has been presented that would allow Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to get around a constitutional provision that bars her from the presidency. The proposal appears to be gaining ground and has now received the backing of a former senior military officer serving ...
Former dictator said to accept Daw Suu as ‘future leader’
Not seen in public for four years but still a power behind the scenes, former junta leader U Than Shwe has reportedly endorsed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as “the future leader of Myanmar”, fuelling speculation of a possible deal that would allow her to ...
Suu Kyi, Than Shwe discuss Myanmar's future
Myanmar election winner Aung San Suu Kyi and long-time former military junta leader Than Shwe met for more than two hours and discussed the country’s future, sources said on 6 December. The 4 December meeting at military headquarters in the political capital Nay Pyi Taw was facilitated ...
President and NLD leader discuss transfer of power
President U Thein Sein and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met for 45 minutes this morning to discuss the transfer of power following the landslide election victory of her National League for Democracy. U Ye Htut, a spokesperson for the president, said the meeting focused on ...
Critics doubt Thai PM's climate pledge
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on 1 December declared in front of the world community that Thailand would slash greenhouse gases by 20-25 per cent within 15 years, but critics panned the plan, saying it was just for show, as it looked unrealistic. Prayut told the two-week-long United Nations climate-change ...