The election of Thailand as chair of the UN human rights council has little to do with its record but may make the country change. The recently concluded session of the UN human rights council, an intergovernmental organisation tasked to promote and protect human rights worldwide, ended with the election of Thailand as the new president to the 47-member council.

On the occasion of the first Asia-Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) Roundtable in Hong Kong on June 15-16, 2010, we, civil society representatives from eight Southeast Asian countries [see list of names and organizations below], call on the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and its Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) to fully uphold these aforementioned commitments and principles, as mandated by the United Nations Secretary-General.

In a sign that some people would rather forget than learn, this writer saw three photographs being taken down from the "Return the Smiles to Siam" photo exhibition at Siam Paragon last week. The first picture depicts a red-shirt boy held with care by a soldier in what appeared to be in the aftermath of the May 19 military crackdown. In another photograph, a young boy, all smiles, sports a yellow headband with the message "Save the country".

  Dear Mr. Abhisit  THAILAND: Chaining of wounded detainees under Emergency Decree    The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to you regarding the treatment of detainees under the state of emergency that your government has imposed in Bangkok and other provinces of Thailand in response to protests that gripped the capital in recent months. 

The dusts from the melee of fleeing Red Shirts and assaulting teams of soldiers have settled, and not even the hint of smoke from the burned buildings could be detected. Bangkok’s residents are now trying to pick up on the routines of their daily lives before the red-shirted protesters mounted mass actions in large sections of central Bangkok from March to May.  But for the Thai’s intellectuals, this seeming lull is a chance to take a more in-depth look at the recent past events and deal with nagging issues that confront Thai society.