Published on October 18, 2005

Former PM Chuan, academics, news mavens launch campaign to save service. Prominent fans of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s Thai-language radio service – including former prime minister Chuan Leekpai – pledged yesterday to join a campaign to try and stop it being discontinued as part of a cost-cutting plan.

The campaign was launched yesterday by Nopmanee Som-boonsub, a self-proclaimed staunch fan of the BBC Thai Service, after news broke that BBC executives planned to pull the Thai-language service off the air as of January 1, after 65 years of operations.

Nopmanee has begun to send emails to fellow listeners in an effort to bring pressure to bear on BBC chief executives to drop their move.

Nopmanee said the 25-minute programme, broadcast twice daily, had been a valuable source of news and entertainment to its dedicated Thai listeners, broadening their world view. Nopmanee urged other disgruntled listeners to speak up through thai@bbc.co.uk.

Nopmanee, who works for an international organisation, said she had been a regular listener to the BBC Thai language service for a decade.

“I’ve been very appreciative of the [BBC Thai Service] team for their ability to speak in proper Thai and for the way they present news,” she said, adding that the BBC’s reports on sensitive issues were always impartial and reliable.

Former prime minister Chuan Leekpai said yesterday he was willing to join the email petition

campaign against the planned cancellation of the Thai-language radio service.

“I’m happy to support [the campaign],” said Chuan, who has been a long-time fan of the programme which broadcasts twice daily between 6.30am and 7am, and between 7.35pm and 8pm.

“It would be unfortunate [to cancel the programme] because many people listen to it. The quality of the news is high and the reports are courageous,” he said. “More facts are presented truthfully at a time when all radio and television are being controlled [by Thaksin Shinawatra’s government].”

Chuan said most journalists working at Thai-owned media outlets were beholden to government officials and so were unable to remain impartial. “They are either on the side of the government or else parrot [the views of the government].”

Thanet Aphornsuwan, director of Southeast Asian studies at Thammasat University, agreed. “The BBC can say things that local Thai journalists cannot say,” Thanet said. “I think the BBC Thai-language service has played a role in strengthening people’s access to news and information. It also keeps Thai authorities on their toes.”

Thanet said he began listening to the BBC’s Thai service, along with the English service, when he was a young communist guerrilla holed up in the jungles of southern Thailand in 1976. He said he would join Nopmanee’s petition drive.

Pibhop Dhongchai, advisor to the Campaign for Popular Democracy, said he would do the same.

“I’ll join the campaign because press freedom is very restricted in Thailand right now and there may be many things that mainstream Thai media outlets can’t or won’t report.”

Sri Daoruang, a respected writer, said she had written an unpublished story about the radio service, on which she was “hooked” because of its diverse offerings of book reviews and human-interest stories.

“It’ll be a shock if I have to lose the chance of listening to the station,” she said.

Despite all the voices coming out in favour of the BBC radio’s Thai broadcasts, an industry observer noted the real need for such a service was far lower in Thailand than in neighbouring countries like Burma and Vietnam, where press freedom is non-existent.

In fact, insisted the source, who asked to remain anonymous, the decision by BBC executives to discontinue the Thai service reflected well on Thai democracy.

“We should be happy for this,” the media observer said. “It means the level of press freedom in Thailand is already advanced enough.”

A statement from the BBC World Service said the agency was debating the entire budgeting of all services, including the Thai language broadcasts, with internal and external stakeholders.

“We are expecting a conclusion to that debate in the autumn,” the service’s press office said.

“We expect to make an announcement when that debate has concluded and any decisions are ratified by the BBC – the BBC Governors, the independent body who regulate and oversee the BBC, and the UK Foreign Office, who fund our services through grant-in-aid.”

Subhatra Bhumiprabhas,

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation

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