Thai PM hits back at national human rights criticism<\/p>\n
Agencies, Bangkok<\/p>\n
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra rebuked the National Human
\nRights Commission on Thursday for a scathing verdict that his
\nthree years in power have spawned a \"culture of
\nauthoritarianism\".<\/p>\n
\"The Commission should have made constructive comments, not
\nacted like the opposition,\" Thaksin told reporters. \"Such a
\nreprimanding report has been dispatched all over the world. Do
\nthey feel that the country isn't already damaged?\"<\/p>\n
In particular, the 11-member commission laid into Thaksin for
\nhis 2003 \"war on drugs\" in which 2,500 people were killed.
\nBrushing aside past criticism, the government insists most of the
\ndeaths were internecine drug gang reprisals.<\/p>\n
The Bangkok Post and the Nation splashed the three-year-old
\nparliamentary body's blistering verdict across their front pages.<\/p>\n
But elsewhere in the Thai media, the commission's inaugural
\nreport -- which also leveled accusations of media interference
\nthrough \"networks of cronies\" -- was more noticeable for its
\nabsence.<\/p>\n
The mass circulation Thai Rath tabloid made no mention of the
\nreport, while the ITV news channel, set up in 1990s as a neutral
\nand national information source, touched only briefly on the
\nsubject and declined to delve into its conclusions or findings.<\/p>\n
Analysts said the report did not contain many new findings or
\ncriticisms, but said the coverage it produced reflected the
\ncontrol the former telecoms tycoon has managed to exert over the
\nmedia since coming to power in 2001.<\/p>\n
\"The government has been very shrewd in politicizing, co-
\nopting, coercing and weaseling the Thai-language press,\" said
\nThitinan Pongsudhirak, a former Nation journalist and now a
\npolitical analyst at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.<\/p>\n
\"There has not been a democratic period in which the media and
\npublic space have been so monopolized and manipulated,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Despite an economically damaging bird flu crisis and the
\neruption of violence in the mainly Muslim south this year,
\nThaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) political faction
\nremains wildly popular.<\/p>\n
Sucking up politicians from smaller parties, it is virtually
\nassured a thumping majority in elections due early next year on
\nthe back of sweeping populist policies which have divided or
\nneutralized any opposition voices, analysts say.<\/p>\n
Promises of lavish handouts and soft loans to rural folk -- 60
\npercent of Thailand's 63 million people live on the farm -- have
\ncreated a strong Thaksin support base outside the wealthy urban
\ncenters.<\/p>\n
They have also stymied opposition from non-governmental groups
\nby convincing them Thaksin has the plight of the poor at heart,
\nsaid Giles Ungphakorn, an associate professor at Chulalongkorn
\nUniversity.<\/p>\n
\"The social movements are in a state of shock,\" Ungphakorn
\nsaid. \"They don't know how to come to terms with this government.
\nThey don't know how to analyze the populist measures, which go
\nhand in hand with a degree of repression.\"<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a second volume of Seeing Through Thaksin, an
\nexpose on Thai prime minister's three years in power, was
\nlaunched on Thursday, adding to a growing list of critical books
\nbeing published about the controversial Thai leader.<\/p>\n
Volume two of Ruthan Thaksin, or Seeing Through Thaksin, is a
\ncompilation of essays by 16 well-known academics, writers and
\npublic figures that sells under the slogan: \"Don't Like Thaksin,
\nyou must read it. Like Thaksin, must read it even more.\"<\/p>\n
The first volume, launched last April, sold out its initial
\nrun of 5,000 copies within weeks and had to reprint 60,000
\ncopies, according to the Bangkok Post newspaper.<\/p>\n
Ruthan Thaksin Volume II, published in the Thai language, was
\nlaunched less than a week after the publication of Thaksin - The
\nBusiness Of Politics In Thailand, by husband and wife team Chris
\nBaker and Pasuk Phongpaichit.<\/p>",
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