Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to draw attention to the fact that tomorrow, June 22, the preliminary decision will be given in a civil suit of extreme importance for all persons concerned with freedom of speech in Thailand. The case is a libel suit filed by Shin Corp, Thailand’s biggest telecommunications and media company, which is owned by the family of the Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, against Ms Supinya Klangnarong, Secretary General of the Campaign for Popular Media Reform. The libel case was issued after Ms Supinya observed that Shin Corp’s profits have skyrocketed since Mr Thaksin became Prime Minister.
The case is deeply disturbing as Ms Supinya’s remarks were made out of concern for public interest in issues of media ownership and freedom of speech in Thailand. If Shin Corp is given leave to proceed with the suit, it will legitimate the use of the judicial system in Thailand as a means to silence public dissent and further intimidate Thailand’s civil sector, which has already been subjected to numerous threats and attacks in recent years.
AHRC calls for you to send letters, make emails and phone calls to Shin Corp’s Boonklee Plangsiri, Chairman of the Group Executive Committeem, asking Shin Corp to withdraw the case against Ms Supinya. You may also send letters of support to Ms Supinya directly.
Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:
On 16 July 2003, the Thai Post newspaper published an article in which Ms Supinya Klangnarong, Secretary General of the Campaign for Popular Media Reform (CPMR), observed that the profits of Shin Corp had increased enormously since its founder, Mr Thaksin Shinawatra, had become Prime Minister of Thailand. In the article, Ms Supinya pointed out that since Mr Thaksin founded his Thai Rak Thai political party five years earlier, his company’s profits had increased four times over, and were projected to increase many times still. She gave detailsbased upon sound researchof how Mr Thaksin had used the political system to manipulate business in favour of Shin Corp. She also noted that Shin Corp’s business interests were all in public communicationsmobile phones, satellite transmissions and televisionand therefore matters over which there should be public debate as matters of national concern. Additionally, she pointed out that the profits from Shin Corp were being channelled back into the Thai Rak Thai company, effectively integrating Mr Thaksin’s political and commercial interests into a single highly powerful enterprise.
After the report was released, Shin Corp filed a libel suit for about ten million Thai Baht (US$222,000). The case has been in preliminary hearings since 1 December 2003, and the court will decide on whether or not the case may proceed to the full court. If Shin Corp succeeds in taking the case to the next stage, it will have serious implications for Ms Supinya personally, and for efforts to democratize media in Thailand overall. For Ms Supinya, it will hamper her efforts to lead the campaign for desperately needed and long-overdue media reform in the country, as her time and resources will be spent fighting an arduous court battle. For others in the country concerned with freedom of speech and media reform it will legitimate methods used by the government and powerful commercial interests to pursue persons through the courts who have spoken against them out of concern for the public good and free expression.
It should be noted that only Shin Corp has sued Ms Supinya. Neither the Prime Minister nor his Thai Rak Thai party has denied her allegations that a connection exists between Mr Thaksin’s political and commercial enterprises.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The television and radio media in Thailand have been under a government and military monopoly since their introduction to the country. Although the new Constitution of Thailand introduced in 1997 set in place provisions for the democratization of these media, these provisions have not been realized. The only television station not controlled by the government or military is owned by Shin Corp. Radio stations have been started by local communities, but the government has threatened them with closure on the grounds they are “illegal”. In fact it is the government itself that has failed to introduce a licensing regime in accordance with the new Constitution. There is what the CPMR has identified as a new media monopoly emerging between the commercial and government sectors, as media concessions are issued to Shin Corp and other businesses close to senior politicians, thereby defeating the purpose of the constitutional reforms. Shin Corp in particular has totally dominated all sectors of the commercial media in Thailand, as it owns 24 companies running telecommunications, television, radio, internet, satellite and other communications throughout the country, and even into neighbouring Cambodia, Laos and Burma. The result is that outside a limited number of newspapers and low distribution journals, there remains virtually no independent media in Thailand, thereby greatly damaging the prospects for opening discussion on serious violations of human rights and other concerns currently faced by the people there. In particular, there are no avenues for the expression of popular concerns from the local level in Thailand, and as such the country continues to be dominated by an elite urban-centred discourse inimical to the furtherance of human rights in the country.
Ms Supinya set up the CPMR to advocate media reform and counter these trends on the basis of provisions in the new Constitution intended to liberalise and democratize electronic media in Thailand. As the spokesperson and leading figure of this forerunning organization for media reform in Thailand she poses a threat to those who would see a government and big business monopoly
For other reports on the case and background, see the following sites:
ABC (Australia) News: http://www.abcnews.net.au/asiapacific/location/asia/GAPLocAsiaStories_1006728.htm
Asia Media: http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=5363
Committee to Protect Journalists: http://www.cpj.org/attacks03/asia03/thai.html
CorpWatch: http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=9333
WACC: http://www.wacc.org.uk/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=1412
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please phone call or send a letter/fax/email to the Shin Corporation and demand them to drop the suit filed against Ms Supinya Klangnarong. AHRC suggests you to intervene into this case as quickly as possible as the preliminary decision about this case will be given in a civil suit on 22 June 2004 (tomorrow).
Sample letter:
