COMMENTARY
VASANA CHINVARAKORN
For the past few weeks, my sister-in-law has allowed the PAD to bring its rally into our living room. Greeting me every night after work is the blaring of speakers, courtesy of the People's Alliance for Democracy and ASTV. The sight of her listening attentively to their rhetoric, every now and then to be joined by my brother and their son, gives me much food for thought.
A working housewife, she has suddenly become an enthusiastic audience for the "crucial information" - about the dubious, murky state of our national (and international) affairs - to be divulged by Sondhi Limthongkul and Co.
I have no doubt my sister-in-law is among the thousands of Thais yearning to be "informed". For knowledge is power, but our so-called free TV stations (with few exceptions) have consistently offered very little besides the shrieks of insanity and self-aggrandisement from soap dramas and game and talk shows.
On the other side of the political fence, the anti-PAD group must be subscribing to a contrary set of information. Oh, and perhaps to that Sunday morning blabbering of our prime minister, too. The fodder is being fed to a growing-ever-bigger fire. Actually, the gap has already spiralled into sporadic confrontations between masses of different political colours. We just don't know how much more often, and more violent, the melee will turn out. Will it exceed the phenomenon of the post-war years, or of the mid '70s, both of which ended in coups d'etat? Is this a script we have to contend with as a price for being Thai citizens?
Which leads me to appreciate more the third group's effort. On Wednesday, a couple of hundred people convened at a meeting to discuss the limitations and how to stretch the scope of the law on disclosure of public information. From the victims of the Map Ta Phut industrialisation and medical malpractice to farmers, residents living near Suvarnabhumi Airport, protesters against the steel mill complex in Prachuab Khiri Khan and so on, one common story they all shared is their exhausting search for information - clues about how their lives and/or communities have been, or will be, affected by such-and-such a project.
The list of what they seek to know is long, and ironic though the term may sound, revealing. It tells of how much has been kept away from the very people who (will) have first-hand experience, mostly of the unpleasant kind.
Senior lawyer Panas Tassaneeyanont said at the beginning of the meeting that, in his view, the National Act on public information disclosure seems more like a law that tries to cover up than to provide the pertinent facts.
He is not alone.
Remarkably, the ordeals these active citizens have been through reflect the potential of our country, if given an opportunity. They have to hunt, suffer ridicule, tolerate indifference, the foot-dragging attitude of bureaucrats who seem to think that treating as secretive what should have been publicly shared, is part of their job description.
They are also willing to go through the complex self-learning process. They take the trouble of going after the original documents, and not second-hand, simplified summaries.
A few residents at Map Ta Phut have, over time, educated themselves about different types and effects of toxic chemicals used in nearby factories.
Some of those living next-door to Suvarnabhumi Airport have learned about the meaning of environmental impact assessment (EIA), and how different versions of Noise Exposure Forecast (NEF) can grow arbitrarily fat or thin, depending on the will of the authorities. Victims of reckless physicians have since formed a nationwide network and courageously challenge the medical establishment.
One interesting correlation is between the level of protectiveness of information by relevant agencies and the amount of spending on publicity stunts. The more those in the corridors of power want to hide from the public, it seems, the more they lavishly pour into organising luxury trips for some local leaders, TV and radio advertisements, and even giving away free toys to children. Ask for medical reports, and you get teddy bears. By the way, the size of public relations budgets allotted by state agencies is a piece of information that is wanted, too.
But until the right to information is duly enforced, and truly respected, there is little to hope for but much to fear. For which would you prefer - the PAD-ASTV channel, or Jakrapob's newly revived PTV? Throw in Samak's weekly grumbling and you will get, um, not a really pleasant picture.
Vasana Chinvarakorn is a senior writer for Outlook, Bangkok Post.
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