(SEAPA/IFEX) – A newspaper publisher in southern Thailand has received a veiled threat from an influential politician after submitting himself to an official inquiry into an alleged vote-buying violation by a senior member of the ruling Thai Rak Thai (TRT) Party. Sompoch Boonrat, editor and publisher of Songkhla’s weekly newspaper, “Simila Times”, was questioned by […]
(SEAPA/IFEX) – A newspaper publisher in southern Thailand has received a veiled threat from an influential politician after submitting himself to an official inquiry into an alleged vote-buying violation by a senior member of the ruling Thai Rak Thai (TRT) Party.
Sompoch Boonrat, editor and publisher of Songkhla’s weekly newspaper, “Simila Times”, was questioned by an Election Commission (EC) official in his office in January, in connection with his coverage of a TRT political meeting in Songkhla province on 16 January 2005.
Sompoch told SEAPA that an influential politician, whom he declined to name, approached him on 31 January and asked for a taped conversation between him and the EC official in return for protection. The same person earlier tried to persuade him not to talk with the EC, while accusing him of being a supporter of the opposition Democrat Party, Sompoch said.
Although Sompoch and other journalists were not allowed inside the 16 January TRT meeting, he managed to take photographs of party supporters who attended the gathering. At the meeting, Deputy Agriculture Minister and TRT deputy leader Newin Chidchob was reported to have offered party supporters cash in exchange for votes.
Bangkok-based newspapers reported on the political gathering and quoted Nipit Intarasombat, a southern candidate of the Democrat Party, as saying Newin offered cash for votes, an accusation the TRT leader denied.
The incident sparked a heated row between the two parties in the lead up to the 6 February general election and prompted the EC to step in. The Democrats claimed they had evidence, including a taped controversial cash-for-votes pledge by Newin.
The politician’s harassment of Sompoch has prompted a protest from the Southern Editors Network and Central and Eastern Editors Network. In separate statements on 2 February, the two organisations strongly condemned this intimidation as a serious threat to press freedom. They expressed concern that such actions would affect the media’s performance of their duty, and called for an end to the harassment.
Sompoch, 45, founded “Simila Times” four years ago. Offering both community and national news, his newspaper is popular in the community and is considered non-partisan.
