News that didn't make the news

With the country's political crisis dominating most of the space and airtime in the print and broadcast media this year, some non-political stories deserving better coverage because of the high public interest in them were under-played.

Inspired by Sonoma State University's Project Censored, which collected news stories that were under-reported, ignored, or censored by the US corporate media each year, the Bangkok Post has picked five local news items it believes were inadequately covered by the Thai media in 2008.

1. Aids patient sues a doctor for malpractice

Tantana Phromchuay, a 36-year-old HIV-positive woman, files a case against a doctor from Lamphun Hospital for alleged medical malpractice and disrespect of patients' rights, demanding 5.2 million baht in compensation.


The case, the first ever brought by an Aids patient against a doctor, was filed on Dec 17 under the newly-enforced 2008 Consumer Case Procedures Act at the Nonthaburi court after four rounds of negotiations for compensation failed.

Under the suit, Ms Tantana alleges that Dr Nuan-anong Luekamlang's actions were unethical when he refused to treat her lethal drug allergy symptoms in February.

"I vomited blood and was left lying in bed covered with my excrement for hours without any help from nurses and my doctor," says the lawsuit.

Ms Tantana also accused the doctor of causing her shame by exposing her illness to other patients and relatives.

"There were about 20 people in the ward when the doctor scolded me. She said I should have known that I had contracted Aids. Everybody heard it," she said.

"If I win, my case will set a precedence for the medical community and a warning for doctors that they have a duty to treat Aids patients whether they like it or not, particularly those in a critical condition," she said.

The Nonthaburi court will hold the first hearing of the case on Jan 20.

2. Two Malaysian jihad suspects arrested

Omar Hanif Shamsul Kamar and Muhammad Fadly bin Zainal Abidin were arrested in Sungai Kolok district while attempting to steal a motorcycle on June 28.

The two confessed to police that they came to Thailand to wage a jihad struggle to help their Muslim brothers fight against Thai soldiers, Col Prabphan Meemongkhon, superintendent of Sungai Kolok district, told the International Crisis Group (ICG).


Fadly, 23, a student at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, and Hanif, 17, a high school dropout, have been charged with planning to stage acts of terrorism.

This is not the first time that Malaysian nationals have been arrested in the South, but what is alarming is that this is the first time they have clearly linked their activity to the jihad, said a Bangkok-based ICG researcher Rungrawee Chalermsripinyorat.

One of the arrested Malaysians told the ICG that they had come to help their Muslim brothers fight Thai soldiers and planned to start their campaign of terror with an ambush of a military patrol.

He said his dream was to spearhead a jihad and he chose Thailand as it was the closest place to Malaysia.

Their arrests are considered proof that foreign Muslim radicals were being invited by members of local jihadi networks to operate in the far South.

"Thai security agencies can't afford to sit back and overlook the matter. They need to revise their military strategy if they hope to effectively deal with the external and internal jihadi threats in the deep South," she said.

3. Historic court cases against Irrigation Dept

The Supreme Administrative Court has ordered the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) to pay compensation to two Nong Bua Lamphu villagers for using their lands without permission.

The first case decided on Nov 13 when the judges upheld a lower court verdict ordering the RID to pay 153,500 baht compensation to Muan Pimko, 62, for causing damage to her 3-rai land plot during the dredging and widening of the Lam Paniang river.


The same court ruled on Dec 3 in favour of Jomsee Ornreug, 63, of Wang Nam Khao village, who was affected by the same project.

Mrs Jomsee was awarded 53,000 baht as compensation for the damage caused to her 1.5 rai of farmland.

Although the two villagers were dissatisfied with the amount of compensation, they were glad that the verdicts would set a legal precedence that authorities must respect the people's rights.

4. New alliance to protest against new power plants

Villagers concerned by the construction of natural gas and coal-fired power plants under the Independent Power Plant (IPP) programme have formed an alliance in an effort to put a stop to the projects.


Villagers from Chachoengsao, Saraburi, Ayutthaya, and Rayong provinces are joining forces to fight the multi-million-baht power plant projects, which they say will cause pollution and hurt their health.

Jointly developed by the US, German, and Japanese firms, the power plants will sell electricity to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.

After a series of protests failed to get enough public attention and any response from the firms and concerned agencies, the villagers in October announced that they would form an alliance of villagers affected by the IPP projects in a bid to stop their construction.

Observers earlier feared that the power plant protests could intensify next year.

5. More than 1,300 websites blocked

Reports about website closures and the blocking of online discussion web boards have been confirmed.

Most of the cases were unconfirmed until the Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (Fact) released a statement last week, saying that 1,303 sites have been blocked by the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MICT) since the Cyber Crime Act took effect in July last year.

The blocked materials include 860 YouTube videos and pages of the international news magazine The Economist which ran an inaccurate article on the Thai monarchy.


The group said it obtained the figure from a list leaked at the ministry.

The list of blocked sites was accompanied by copies of court orders detailing the ministry's petition to censor the websites, reasoning that their content was deemed as an insult to the monarchy and a threat to national security.

But they claimed that police and more than a hundred internet service providers typically block websites as they wish.

Fact demanded the authorities adhere to the 2007 Computer-Related Crimes Act, which stipulates no websites can be legally blocked without a court order.

Massive blockings of websites this year has also led to the formation of a new alliance of Thai internet users - Thai Netizens Network - to fight for cyber liberty and is likely to play a leading role in monitoring the MICT's control of freedom of expression.

(Contributed by Bangkok Post and Kultida Samabuddhi - 30.12.08)

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