Foreign correspondents in Asia are concerned also about the political and economic strategies of the current military-installed government and warn that "cracks" are beginning to appear in the new administration.

The journalists said this did not mean they supported the former government, which they considered to have undermined democracy in Thailand.

Opinions were voiced at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) in Bangkok on Monday night, when CNN's interview with the former premier was played and discussed.

Peter Collins, Southeast Asia correspondent for The Economist, believes the current government has failed to convince foreign media and governments that the coup was necessary, which has resulted in Thailand's reputation suffering overseas.

"Military coups in general are not a good thing and do not solve problems," said Collins. "It was too early to give up on democracy.''

Collins said Thaksin's opponents had "greatly exaggerated'' claims that he had complete control of the state. "The only justification is that they owned the guns and the tanks,'' he said.

Collins said Thailand's interna-

tional reputation had "plummeted" because of the junta's bid to limit press freedom, the new currency controls and the "mess" made of the Foreign Business Act.

The government recently announced a series of amendments to the 1999 Act, including clarification about the use of nominees by foreign shareholders. This received wide international attention and criticism. But Collins said: "Thailand cannot afford to be choosy, otherwise foreign businesses will go elsewhere."

Marwaan Macan-Markar, Asia correspondent for the Inter Press Service News Agency, said the government had created many problems for itself since taking power. He was concerned at what he saw as a restriction of press freedom and said people were beginning to question the junta's approach to Thaksin.

"Thaksin was a diabolical character - there is no doubt about that,'' said Macan-Markar. "He undermined democracy to suit his interests. However, the coup that drove him from power is not a democratic solution to a problem that was essentially the undermining of democracy. Clearly, the easy part was to get rid of Thaksin. They had the guns."

Macan-Markar said the junta justified the coup by accusing Thaksin of dividing the country and came to power pledging to unite Thailand.

He said government pressure to restrict coverage of Thaksin by local broadcasters became obvious the day after the coup when the junta stopped community radio stations from broadcasting, thus trying to suppress any opinions sympathetic to the

former premier. "There is a chill in the editorial rooms of broadcast media," he said.

Cracks were beginning to appear within the new administration, which did not appear to have a clear strategy in place to respond to statements by Thaksin, he added.

Dominic Faulder, a former president of the FCCT, said that while the foreign media were very sceptical about coups in the 21st century - seeing them as outdated and outmoded - it was not their place to give opinions.

"It is not part of the job to give opinion. The job is to report what is going on in Thailand and report accurately,'' he said.

Faulder said the government's decision to censor broadcasting of the CNN interview with Thaksin was self-defeating. "Censoring Thaksin is making him more interesting than he otherwise would be,'' he said. "It is better to let him have a say than to turn him into a man of mystery.''

Faulder said the censorship was self-defeating because in the modern world whatever was said would be read and seen somewhere and all censorship could do was delay dissemination.

Alice Coster

The Nation