[Chapter-delegates] [Asia-Pacific-chapters] Welcome Duangthip Chomprang to ISOC Asia-Pacific Bureau

[President ISOC Cambodia]

On 5/18/2012 23:38, Rajnesh D. Singh wrote:
> Colleagues,
>
> Please join me in welcoming Duangthip Chomprang (Thip for short) to 
> the Asia-Pacific Bureau, and the ISOC family.

Welcome to Duangthip Chomprang to the ISOC Asia-Pacific Bureau and to 
the  ISOC family,

these words come as a special greeting from your neighboring country of 
Cambodia, where we have observed, over the years, the difficult 
situations faced by a number of Internet users, professionals, and 
researchers. I mention only some issues here -- to share information 
with our friends from further away who may not have followed the 
situation as much as you who has been in Thailand, involved in the 
international development field and related to telecom developments and 
privatization of state owned telecom operation which we have only been 
able to follow from afar -- especially also the selling of strategic 
Thai assets to a Singapore company, which contributed to the critical 
discussions on the freedom of the expression in the media and to the end 
of the power of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is now in 
self selected exile in Dubai to avoid arrest for a court conviction for 
corruption (for our colleagues in the European and the Latin American 
regions: he carries now passports of Montenegro and of Nicaragua!).

Of course we do not have access to detailed information, but we have 
rather been following the legal persecution of some Thai Internet 
professionals struggling for the freedom of expression, like Ms. Supinya 
Klangnarong and Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn. Just some context information:

/*Ms. Supinya* - Thaksin would set up thought police: Supinya
/
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/03/18/politics/politics_20003031.php
/
...Speaking at a symposium organized by the Thai Journalists' 
Association, Supinya said that though her legal battle had been about 
freedom of speech, a lot of obstacles remained that prevented the media 
and citizens from expressing themselves freely. This was because of the 
government's control of broadcast media and abuse of libel law, she said...

*Ms. Chiranuch* - Internet Freedom on Trial in Thailand: Prachatai 
Director in Court

[By "Center for Democracy and Technology - Keeping the Internet 
Innovative - Open - Free"]
/
https://www.cdt.org/blogs/cynthia-wong/internet-freedom-trial-thailand-prachatai-director-court
/
...Last Friday, 4 February 2011, marked the start of court proceedings 
against Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn (known as Jiew), director of the 
popular online newspaper Prachatai. Jiew faces criminal charges under 
the Computer Crimes Act (CCA), with a potential penalty of twenty years 
in prison. Her alleged crime? The government has accused her as operator 
of Prachatai's web forum of allowing ten user-generated posts to remain 
online for too long, even though the offending posts were removed far 
before her arrest.
Even more troubling, this case is merely the first of two: Jiew was 
arrested again in September 2010 upon her return from an Internet 
freedom conference and faces additional charges with penalties of up to 
fifty years...
/
*Reporter without Borders* adds:

/"Website hosting companies are under growing pressure to remove content 
in response to "notice and take down" process, a procedure likely to 
lead to abuses, as UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression Frank 
La Rue has stressed. In Thailand, Prachatai news website editor 
Chiranuch Premchaiporn is facing a possible 20-year jail sentence for 
failing to react with sufficient speed when told to remove comments 
posted by site visitors that were critical of the monarchy...

If Thailand continues down the slope of content filtering and jailing 
netizens on lèse-majesté charges, it could soon join the club of the 
world's most repressive countries as regards the Internet."
/
Knowing that you have observed all this in Thailand, we are hoping that 
the ISOC Asia-Pacific Bureau will also pay attention or, in future, even 
ask for additional information and make suggestions related to some of 
our fears, which I had shared here, since the government recently 
ordered that all Internet Cafes and other places with public access to 
the Internet or to telephone services -  like guest houses -- will have 
to install surveying video cameras and write down the names and 
identities of all users.

Welcome, Khun Thip, strengthening the Asia-Pacific ISOC family, 
especially with such experience in the situation of our region, because, 
after all: *The Internet is for everyone.
*

Norbert

-- 
Norbert Klein, President, ISOC Cambodia Chapter

Website: http://www.isoc-kh.org
eMail: president at isoc-kh.org
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