Modern media subverts Sondhi ban
 The Nation
November 19, 2005 - Hundreds of thousands of people who could not make it to Lumpini Park in downtown Bangkok yesterday to listen to Sondhi Limthongkul's rally against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra stayed home and watched the ASTV1 cable channel broadcast via satellite.
Others were glued to the live broadcast of the Sondhi talk show via the manager.co.th site on the Internet. And discussions were frantically heating up on the local websites, notably Pantip.com.
Welcome to a world of new media.
The government's attempt to silence Sondhi from slamming the premier has been futile in the face of new, sophisticated technologies that are proving to have a profound impact on the Thai political landscape. The government may control the broadcast media, but it has yet to effectively control the proliferation of the local cable news networks and the Internet, which has become a fertile ground for anti-Thaksin campaigning.
Satellite cable TV and the Internet are a far cry from the microphones and loud speakers of the 1970s and the mobile phones of the early 1990s. In 1973, during the student uprising that toppled the Thanom-Prapas regime and ushered Thailand into a modern era of democracy, Thammasat University was the pre-eminent political theatre, linked to the vast field of Sanam Luang and Rajdamnoen Road. Then microphones and loudspeakers were the simple tools that progressive students like Thirayuth Boonmee and Seksan Prasertkul spoke through to agitate the tens of thousands against the military dictatorship. These rudimentary tools were effective enough to convey the appealing message for democracy and triggered hundred of thousands of people to take the demonstrations to Rajdamnoen Road. The Thanom-Prapas regime collapsed eventually.
In 1992, during the pro-democracy movement launched by Maj-General Chamlong Srimuang against the Suchinda regime, mobile phones made their appearance for the first time. Middle-class Thais communicating with each other through the mobile phones took part in the pro-democracy movement in support of Chamlong. They were dissatisfied with the dictatorship regime of General Suchinda Kraprayoon. Suchinda lost the battle to what has come to be known as the "mobile phone mob".
Now the political theatre has shifted from the traditional ground of Thammasat University, Sanam Luang and Rajdamnoen Road to Lumpini Park in downtown Bangkok. The park is only a block away from Silom Road, Bangkok's financial centre. Thousands of people, many clad in yellow T-shirts as a display of solidarity, gathered at the park to watch Sondhi's talk show.
The number in his audience seems to grow every Friday since the banning of Sondhi's TV programme, "Maung Thai Rai Sapda", by the government.
Sondhi, boss of the Manager Group, has launched what seems to be a solo campaign to oust Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from office. First, he banked on the theme of "Fighting for His Majesty the King". His aim was to create a movement to oust the Thaksin regime and to write a new constitution. He has been now shifting his strategy of exposing the government's conflicts of interest via business dealings and shady privatisation deals.
By 16:30 hours, hundreds of people began to roam Lumpini Park. In spite of a drizzle, they came from all walks of life, ranging from students in uniform to the elderly.
Former Bangkok governor candidate Leena Chang Chanya said she had prepared banners for a final demonstration after the conclusion of the programme in front of the Rama IX monument as a display of people power for the prime minister to see.
"He is a megalomaniac. We are here to demand our power and voice back. The PM should not underestimate the people and censure the media,'' Leena said.
About 300 police were deployed to keep security at the event. No serious incidents took place.
The Public Relations Department instructed cable TV stations in the provinces not to relay satellite feeds from ASTV1 that broadcasts Sondhi's talk show. Yet local residents in Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hat Yai and Khon Kaen refused to give up.
Yesterday they organised themselves in front of huge openair projectors to watch the programme via satellite. Phujadkarn's provincial bureaus provided the projectors.
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