Protesters in Thailand have seized the nation's airports and are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat. They accuse Somchai of being a front for fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was recently convicted on charges of abuse of power. All civilian flights in and out of Bangkok have been blocked. Some say the protests have led Thailand into a national crisis that could severely damage the country's economic growth. UCLA has experts on the issues. 

 

Kantathi Suphamongkhon, a senior fellow at UCLA's Burkle Center for International Relations and a UC Regents Professor, is the former foreign minister of Thailand. A longtime diplomat, he also represented Thailand at the United Nations and served as a foreign affairs adviser to both the prime minister and the speaker of the Thai House of Representatives. [Full bio]

 

Contact:

E-mail: kantathi@ucla.edu

Phone: 310-825-2585 (UCLA Office of Media Relations) 

 

Geoffrey Robinson, associate professor of history and director of the UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies, specializes in Indonesia and Southeast Asian history. A former researcher with Amnesty International, he is the author of three volumes on human rights and political violence in Southeast Asia. In 1999, he served as a United Nations political affairs officer during the UN-supervised elections in Indonesian-occupied East Timor. [Full bio]

 

Contact:

E-mail: robinson@history.ucla.edu
Phone: 310-825-2585 (UCLA Office of Media Relations)