US embassy cable - 05BANGKOK7574

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 007574 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PROP, SOCI, KPAO, TH, Media/Freedom of the Press 
SUBJECT: OLD FRIENDS, BAD DEALS, AND COMMUNITY RADIO: THE 
STORY OF THE REOPENING OF 92.25 
 
REF: A. BANGKOK 5419 
 
     B. BANGKOK 7197 
 
 1. (SBU) SUMMARY. On December 1, Embassy Officers visited 
controversial community radio station 92.25. Station 
personnel reported that the station had started up operations 
a week after the August raid (Reftel A) and was now 
technically broadcasting their programs solely on the 
Internet, which were then picked up by unaffiliated "allied 
community radio stations" which broadcast their programs on 
the 92.25 frequency. The station manager told Emboffs that he 
believed the station would not be targeted so long as the 
government was "preoccupied" with other issues. He also noted 
that station's costs were borne by one sponsor- the troubled 
Thai Petrochemical Industry Group (TPI).  While the station 
has become an important forum for opposition voices in 
Thailand, it appears to be operating under the watchful 
patronage of another former tycoon, Prachai Liewpairat, an 
ally of Thaksin critic Sondhi Limthongkul. END SUMMARY 
 
Pink Paper 
---------- 
 
2. (SBU) December 1, Pdoff and Poloff visited the new offices 
of radio station 92.25 FM (Reftel A).  The bare-bones 
"station" consisted of a mostly empty floor of TPI's (Thai 
Petrochemical Industry Group) Bangkok office building.  A few 
staff members were running the equipment, while the host of 
the program airing during Emboff's visit was calling in his 
show from home.  The windows overlooking the street and on 
the front door were covered with sheets of pink paper. 
Station staff explained that they were concerned about "dark 
forces peeking in" on their activities. 
 
3. (SBU) Station Manager Somchai Meechane said the station 
had resumed its Internet transmissions about a week after it 
was raided and shut down on August 9. On September 10, 92.25 
resumed radio broadcasts by feeding the Internet 
transmissions to about ten "allied stations", which are 
technically unaffiliated with 92.25 but broadcast on the 
92.25 FM bandwidth.  The station broadcasts 19 hours per day, 
from 6 a.m. until 1 a.m.  The station's schedule now includes 
a variety of political programming including one-man talk 
radio, call-in shows and interviews with prominent local 
personalties.  Somchai told Emboffs that all the "allied 
stations" are located around Bangkok, except for one in Khon 
Kaen.  Somchai said that he believes these indirect 
broadcasts will dissuade Thai authorities from harassing 
them, at least in the short-term.  Somchai also noted that 
the government was "preoccupied" with other issues at the 
moment and that the RTG might target the station again in the 
future. 
 
Follow the Money? 
----------------- 
 
4. (SBU) Somchai confirmed to Emboffs that the station's 
production costs were paid for entirely by their sole sponsor 
-- plastics and cement conglomerate TPI.  TPI went bankrupt 
in the 1997 crash, and has since faced well-publicized, 
long-standing debt problems.  TPI's founder Prachai 
Liewpairat -- who technically no longer controls his company 
-- is reportedly quite close to government critic Sondhi 
Limthongkul, with whom he had business dealings prior to 
1997. When PM Thaksin founded TRT in 1999, he allegedly 
promised both men that he would change Thailand's bankruptcy 
laws to allow them to reassume control of their business 
empires -- a promise that the PM failed to keep.  The 
relationship between these tycoons and Thaksin has since 
soured.  In early 2005, Prachai tried to bring in a Chinese 
financial company to help bail out TPI. According to rumor, 
Thaksin was instrumental in preventing this bailout from 
happening. Soon after that, 92.25 began taking potshots at 
the Prime Minister.  Station manager Somchai said the station 
had had no problems when it opened in March, and only began 
having trouble with the Government when it started 
broadcasting political programs in June. 
 
6. (SBU) Sondhi Limthongkul's "The Manager" newspaper and 
92.25 FM have settled into a cozy, symbiotic relationship. 
"The Manager" and its website publicly advertise that Thais 
should listen to his show live on 92.25. Meanwhile, the 
station's anti-Thaksin slant is frequently complimentary and 
sympathetic to Sondhi and his cause. (Reftel B) 
 
7. (SBU) Note: Somchai, the station manager, is also 
well-known in Bangkok journalist circles.  In 1998, he was 
fired from the Bangkok Post after 68 journalists filed a 
petition with the Press Council, accusing him of taking 
bribes from politician Suwat Liptapalop (now a TRT MP.)  He 
later left the Democrat-allied Naew Na newspaper after trying 
to set up a deal to sell shares of the newspaper to "business 
interests".  He is said to maintain close links to the 
Democrat Party. 
8. (SBU) COMMENT. The interesting history of personal 
relationships involving Thaksin, Sondhi and Prachai offers a 
new perspective on the reasons for this  "democratic" 
opposition radio station's existence.  Thailand lacks 
independent and objective media; news sources that are 
independent of the government are inevitably dependent on 
someone.  Despite its origins as a platform for a Thaksin 
opponent with a personal axe to grind, 92.25 has played a 
useful role, providing political dissenters with an 
all-too-rare forum to express their views.  Until the legal 
and economic structure develops sufficiently to support more 
impartial media, this is probably about the best we can 
expect. END COMMENT. 
BOYCE