General Cariappa encounters \u27White Australia\u27 : Australia, India and the Commonwealth in the 1950s

There have been a number of studies of the White Australia policy and some examination of white Australia\u27s relationship to the new, multiracial Commonwealth that emerged after the Second World War. Drawing extensively on Indian sources, this article examines how Australia was viewed by India\u27s high commissioner to Australia and New Zealand, General K. M. Cariappa. In the period from September 1953 to April 1956 he sparked considerable controversy by suggesting that the White Australia policy ran the risk of alienating Asian opinion and undermining the Commonwealth ideal in India and Pakistan. Cariappa maintained a high public profile throughout his stay in Australia and was widely regarded as one of the most prominent diplomats posted to Canberra in the 1950s. <br /

The king and us: representations of monarchy in Thailand and the case of ‘Anna and the King’

In 1998, 20th Century Fox approached the Thai government asking permission to shoot on location in Thailand a film titled Anna and the King, a dramatized version of the famous 1950s musical The King and I. The latter film has long been banned in Thailand. Fox’s plans to produce a new version created a storm of controversy in Thailand, ending in the National Film Board’s decision not to allow the film to be made in Thailand. The completed film (shot in Malaysia) was also eventually banned from Thai movie screens. This article looks at why the story of Anna Leonowens and King Mongkut remains so controversial in Thailand, even in this era of greatly increased media freedom. The article also examines the continued importance of the idea of monarchy to the modern Thai state, and the endless flood of royal imagery that saturates the Thai media and public life generally