SEAPA: Thai leadership hostile to free press

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has always had a combative stance when it comes to a free press. During a brief stint as interior minister in the late 1970's, Samak was criticised for government moves to shutter the English broadsheet The Nation and other critical members of the press.

Meanwhile, throughout his career, he has been notorious for answering the media with responses that range from being flippant to being crude and rude. Since assuming the highest elected post in government, Samak has engaged journalists and the Thai media in testy exchanges that, given his power and stature, are in themselves threatening and potentially chilling.

The prime minister's behaviour is more than unbecoming. It is in fact threatening. It betrays an inherent hostility to the very principles of free expression he says he is merely also exercising.

The truth is that if the prime minister were sincere in subscribing to the values and virtues of a free press, he would not only be more forthright and respectful of the jobs of journalists. He would also take the lead in rolling back controversial laws on national security and "computer crimes" that have had a chilling effect on journalists and free expression, particularly online.

He should also take the lead in decriminalising defamation, and denounce the abuse of civil defamation suits, as exercised by powerful personalities and lobbies (such as, most recently, Tesco Lotus, which is suing its critics to the tune of more than Bt1 billion.) Equally important, he should ensure, rather than undermine, a crucial experiment in public broadcasting that is underway in Thailand.

Sadly, the record so far is discouraging. The Thai Journalists Association (TJA) has released a study of Samak's actions and behaviour, and it concludes that Thailand currently has a leader who is given to stonewalling against public queries, abusing and rebuking journalists over legitimate questions, and sarcasm that fails to mitigate his lack of transparency.

His acts meanwhile betray contempt for independent broadcasting, and could potentially undermine the experiment in public broadcasting.

It is important to note that Unesco chose for WPFD 2008 the theme, "Access to Information and the Empowerment of People".

This focus asserts that press freedom and free expression are themselves compromised when people cannot get proper and relevant information from government - nor even straight, forthright answers from their leaders.

The TJA, a founding member of SEAPA, has promised to continually monitor the prime minister in both his words and deeds. When it comes to press freedom, such close scrutiny is all the prime minister has so far won for himself.

Southeast Asia  Press Alliance

Bangkok

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Nice guys cannot succeed in business in Thailand

Re: concerning Burin Kantabutra's letter concerning the effect of Tesco Lotus on Thai businesses and also the ongoing lawsuits on the parties involved, plus just basic freedom of the press issues.

As owner of a market in a small Thai town, I have been directly negatively affected by these "superstores". Burin makes many good points in his letter, but I feel he believes big business can operate with a "heart".

In the business man/woman's case, it's the ability to not feel guilt, even when their behaviour on a whole would be considered antisocial in most circles.

What I'm saying is that you can't make big money being a nice guy; it just doesn't work that way.

Big companies like Tesco Lotus don't have a board of directors that look at how people feel, unless they happen to be a shareholder. That's just life in the fast lane. Like I stated earlier, I'm getting hurt too, but you can't build a wall around Thailand called protectionism and expect the country to keep up with the rest of the world.

I came here in 2005. I've never seen so many frivolous lawsuits in my life except in the US. So, unfortunately, Tesco Lotus looked at their options to combat the drive against them and they decided to adopt the "Thai way" to resolve the issue of perceived defamation, sue the hell out of someone. It's called fighting fire with fire. I empathise with Burin, and my business is falling, but the reality is, unless we held 51 per cent of the company's shares, they feel nothing, just like the good businessmen/women they are.

Chris Holden

Krabi

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Solving the renewable energy problem

What sorts of alternative energy research are Thai scientists involved in? With its vast coastline, Thailand is in a prime position for tapping into the vast potential of wave energy.

Some would say spending a portion of Egat's Bt1.38 billion on research toward renewable energy technology would be lot smarter than spending that enormous sum of money on a nuclear power feasibility report with a foregone conclusion.

If Thai researchers are not inspired or innovative enough to do their own experimentation, there are existing blueprints for functional power generators which harness the unceasing power of coastal waves and tides.

As far back as the mid-1960s there was a front cover article in Scientific American magazine that featured a tidal powered electric generator, complete with description and drawings.

I recall the contraption looked like two barge-sized flat floats tethered in place perpendicular to the shore.  The connecting apparatus was like a giant hinge that powered a generator. Power transmission lines ran to the shore. The non-stop action of the waves caused the two large floats to crank the power generation hinge back and forth over and over as the waves rolled toward the shore.

Ken Albertsen

Chiang Rai