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Pressure
Mounts On Thai Premier With Fresh Scandals
Report
by IOL Correspondent
BANGKOK,
March 8 (IslamOnline) - Thailand’s Premier Thaksin Shinawatra faced
allegations that his government is abusing power by intimidating and persecuting
the press in the country, reports said Friday.
The
Thai government is accused, by the press, of abusing state power to intimidate
journalists critical of its performance and of using the Anti-Money laundering
Money Office (AMLO) to crack down on these journalists.
The
AMLO is investigating the assets of senior journalists critical of the Thaksin
government. This has raised the question of whether the administration is
abusing state power to silence its critics.
The
Thai Journalists Association (TJA) on Thursday launched a signature campaign to
try and initiate a parliamentary inquiry into the alleged government
interference in the media.
The
nation group of newspapers petitioned the Administrative court the same day
asking it to stop anti-Money laundering efforts to inspect their assets.
Meanwhile,
a network of 10 media professional and advocacy groups is organizing a public
forum tomorrow to air their grievances about what they call the government's
strong-arm tactics against the free press.
One
of the forum organizers is the Confederation of Thai Journalists, an umbrella
group of print media professionals.
The
names of Nation Editor-in-chief Suthichai Yoon and Nation Group Editor Thepchai
Yong as well as their children and wives, are among the list circulated to all
local commercial banks, which were asked by AMLO to examine their accounts.
Others
on the list include The Nation senior editor Sopon Onkgara, Thai Post columnist
Roj Ngamman and his family members and Amporn Pimpipat, another Thai Post
columnist.
Media
academics and human rights groups condemned the government's move. Some compare
it to the Watergate scandal that brought down U.S. President Richard Nixon. They
are urging an immediate probe into the Thai prime minister’s assets and want
him to come clean on accusations against him.
The
media analysts are also surprised why the AMLO did not investigate politicians
against whom allegations of abuse and corruption are rife. In total, between
February 25 and March 5, AMLO ordered local commercial banks to investigate 34
people and entities.
In
a draft open letter to Parliament, the TJA condemns the government for violating
the Constitution in its alleged attempts to muzzle the press, and asks the
legislative branch to intervene and take action to restore media freedom.
The
draft letter is open for media professionals to sign before it is forwarded to
Parliament.
The
Nation group says the Thaksin government has blatantly used state power to
interfere with and intimidate the local press and academics since it came to
power one year ago.
In
doing so, the government has one objective - to limit the freedom of statement,
which is a basic right that is guaranteed by the Constitution, analysts said.
They
also say the government abused power through the ban of radio news programs
produced by the Nation Multimedia Group. Some of the popular programs were
severely anti-Thaksin, sources said.
Many
leading figures from non-governmental organizations have called on the
government to stop harassing the free press. The attacks against the press do
not bode well for democracy as they also limit people's freedom, said a Non
Government Organization (NGO) coordinator Suntree Sengking.
Nevertheless,
Thaksin, denied involvement in the AMLO attacks against the press and said AMLO
had no right to launch investigations unless there were grounds to suspect
people had committed any of the seven offences stated in the anti-money
laundering law.
He
said he knew nothing about the “rumor” of AMLO’s action supporting the
views by AMLO chief Peeraphan Prempooti that the list of names from the media
under investigation was a hoax.
"Don't
ask me about rumors," the prime minister said. "Even if there are
complaints against someone, the authorities must make sure that alleged offences
are covered by the law before they can initiate an investigation."
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