Bloggers fisk for answers-thai takes
- From: pluto <pluto@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 12:44:50 +0800
Bloggers fisk for answers
THAI TAKES BY PHILIP GOLAINGAI
In this uncertain political climate in Bangkok, bloggers feel that mainstream
media are not asking the right questions and demanding answers. Bloggers have
taken to fisking, which is a blogosphere slang meaning taking apart, sentence by
sentence, someone?s statement and pointing out where it is wrong.
ON SEPT 2, the Bangkok Post reported: ?(Thai) Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont
said yesterday the general election scheduled for Dec 23 could be postponed if
?other factors? were taken into account.?
That night, Bangkok Pundit posted: ?What are these ?other factors? that General
Surayud is referring to? Shouldn?t the media be asking hard questions and
demanding a better explanation? Was he referring to the same thing as General
Sonthi (Boonyaratkalin, the Sept 23 coup leader)? No doubt the Bangkok rumour
mill will not stop.
?Can one surmise that if the Bangkok media don't ask, it is because they know it
surrounds a certain subject that we can?t discuss? Or are they just too lazy or
subservient to Surayud??
Welcome to fisking, which is a blogosphere slang that means taking apart ?
sentence by sentence ? someone?s story and pointing out where it is wrong.
And fisking is a favourite technique of Bangkok Pundit, an anonymous blogger who
comments on Thai politics and the insurgency in southern Thailand in
bangkokpundit.blogspot.com.
Blogging incognito allows the blogger to comment on most matters without
worrying about consequences.
?For example, Thailand isn?t Burma, people can criticise the government. For a
small fish like me, I?m worried that someone in the government might take a
dislike to what I write and use laws such as the Computer Crime Act and lese
majeste against me,? Bangkok Pundit explained.
The blogger?s fear is justified.
Recently, two Thais were arrested by Thai authorities under the Computer Crime
Act for making comments deemed offensive by the monarchy.
Asked who Bangkok Pundit is, the blogger replied: ?A person who works in
South-East Asia and spends a large amount of time in Thailand.?
For the record, contrary to speculation by some of his readers, the blogger
states that he/she is not under the payroll of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former
Thai prime minister.
Though shielded by anonymity, Bangkok Pundit rarely blogs on the royal family.
?Which is disappointing as there are so many rumours (about the royal family)
and commenting will shed some light whether they are true or just patently
false,? explained the pundit.
?Sometimes, I try to provide some cryptic comments but there is so much danger ?
you can be charged under lese majeste.?
Bangkok Pundit started the blog because he/she found the level of political news
reporting by English-language Thai newspapers such as The Nation and Bangkok
Post not up to standard.
?They do have good coverage. But there are times when their coverage is lacking
compared with what the Thai-language newspapers report,? said the news junkie.
Blogging is also an outlet for Bangkok Pundit to express political views, as
face-to-face discussion on the subject in polarised Thailand (that is divided
into Thaksin lovers and haters) can turn ugly.
?I?ve friends whose sole source of news is the Manager (Phuchatkan Rai Wan, a
Thai-language daily newspaper founded by anti-Thaksin media mogul Sondhi
Limthongkul) and they think that Thaksin is the reincarnation of the devil and
to comment that the coup was maybe not the best thing will see us end up in an
argument,? the blogger said.
Since Bangkok Pundit?s first posting, Stupid Test Message (a trial entry), on
Jan 24, 2005, the blog has grown bigger than the blogger expected.
On average, the blog receives 300 to 500 readers a day and during ?live?
blogging on breaking news such as the plane crash in Phuket, it hosted 1,500 to
2,000 visitors.
?It is growing. Sometimes I hear people commenting about my blog without knowing
who I am. That?s strange,? the blogger said.
On the impact of the blog, which is among the handful of English-language blogs
on Thai politics including The Siam Sentinel (siamsentinel.blogspot.com),
Thailand Crisis (thaicrisis.wordpress.com) and Thailand Jumped the Shark
(thailandjumpedtheshark.blogspot.com), Bangkok Pundit acknowledges it is
minimal.
?But not to overstate my importance, the calibre of my readers are those who
follow Thai politics closely from Washington DC and government agencies in US
and other countries, and Bangkok-based diplomats and journalists,? the blogger
explained.
What?s the political pundit?s take on the date of the Thai general election?
On Thursday, the blogger e-mailed: ?As it stands now, I would say there is an
80% chance that it will take place on Dec 23.?
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