A protest sign in Thai, alluding to former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's behind-the-scenesinfluence over current Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. (Photo/Frank G. Anderson)
Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Sondhi Limthongkul, a Thai media mogul and leader of the right-wing People’s Alliance for Democracy, is currently facing arrest and certain detention along with his fellow ‘conspirators’ for what Thai police are citing as treason.
Limthongkul operates at least two satellite relay TV stations, and one of them, ASTV 1, is continuously broadcasting the activities of the People’s Alliance for Democracy, a group which is currently staging a prolonged anti-government protest at the government office building in Bangkok.
ASTV 2, while broadcasting much of the same material during the day, has various broadcasts in English. The coverage, being independent from that of the government, provides an alternative viewpoint and details on current events not available through state media organs.
The fact that ASTV has become so widely popular in Thailand is not so much a testament to its format or its content per se, but rather to its informative nature – that is, it offers views and facts that no one in the Thai government wants aired in public.
Thais are also human beings and are therefore interested in hearing about news that the government is not necessarily interested in sharing with the public. This includes information such as the overpricing of a lease on some six thousand buses to be used on Bangkok routes and the government’s attempts to undermine the constitution in ways that would benefit those in government. Also, news such as cabinet approvals for megaprojects that always pass government scrutiny but somehow do not need environmental impact studies or even a neutral nod as to project feasibility is rarely shared with the public.
News of this kind is openly discussed on ASTV. Specific government officials and their business friends are mentioned by name, and the nature of potential or certain conflicts of interest and possible graft are discussed.
This does not happen with most other media within Thailand. Investigative reporting is an extremely hazardous vocation, and even when witnesses are initially available, they fade into the background as time passes and violent minions of VIPs call to warn them against personal involvement in investigating or testifying. Also, media networks that are foolish enough to openly pursue investigations quickly discover their advertising revenue drying up. In such an environment, can the PAD make a lot of difference?
Not unless Thais begin to think differently. There is very little sense of “E pluribus num” (Out of many, one) in Thailand. Rather, to mangle the Latin a bit, “Unum summa cum laude unum” (One, with highest praise, one). In other words, it is not really acceptable to act in ways that traditional society disapproves of or in ways that reflect an independent streak.
Often in Thailand, one will hear a Thai ask another, in a rhetorical tone, “Aren’t you Thai?” The meaning is that “you” are behaving differently from the accepted norm and that it is improper to do so. For example, when a Thai sued another for assault, the defendant asked the plaintiff, “Aren’t you Thai?” because it was felt that, for a small personal incident where there were blows from just one person to the other, it was not worth going to the police or the court.
This mirrors the case of Chotisak Onsung, who had refused to stand in a theater during the Royal Anthem. First chided, then sworn at and finally physically abused, he decided to file a complaint with the police, despite the police telling him that, if he did, he would himself face charges of lèse majesté or treason from the defendant. But he did not care. What was important in his case, as well as in an earlier incident where a Thai woman was assaulted and filed her own complaint, is that people in Thailand have a right to be protected from personal abuse and assault and not just to seek recourse in the courts.
In a general sense, the issue is simply one of protecting human rights and civil rights. But Thai institutions, most especially the police and government agencies that include the courts, are not yet prepared to provide adequate protection. To do so would be to accept a new paradigm that being Thai not only means being born in Thailand, but also means having the right to think differently, act differently and be different.
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(Frank G. Anderson is the Thailand representative of American Citizens Abroad. He was a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer to Thailand from 1965-67, working in community development. A freelance writer and founder of northeast Thailand's first local English language newspaper, the Korat Post – www.thekoratpost.com -- he has spent over eight years in Thailand "embedded" with the local media. He has an MBA in information management and an associate degree in construction technology. ©Copyright Frank G. Anderson.)
