Looking after our rights

Earlier this month, after more than a decade of attempting to establish Thailand's broadcasting and telecommunication regulatory agency, the Senate finally selected the 11 members of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission.

While all 11 members will no doubt have their work cut out for them during their six-year terms, two in particular - Supinya Klangnarong and Prawit Leesatapornwongsa, who are in charge of consumer protection - face plenty of challenges as they shift from advocacy to authority.

"This is the first time consumer protection representatives are formally part of a regulatory agency. I have to prove that it works. Otherwise, in future, members might only come from the technical and business sectors," says Prawit.

In addition to opening the field to more operators to allow for free and fair competition, Prawit says it's important that members of the public are encouraged to take action and fight for their rights.

Only two out of 100 consumers who face problems are likely to take action, he says, partly because the procedures require too much time and money compared to what they're paying, albeit unfairly, to the operators.

"A mobile phone user might not bother to file a complaint if the transport and phone calls involved cost more than the Bt10 he's losing to the company. But multiply all those Bt10 by the number of consumers who are being cheated and what happens is that the business operator is undeservingly getting several million baht," says Prawit, adding that an effective one-stop service centre is a solution.

Prawit, the former director of the Telecommunications Consumer Protection Institute, says his role will change from helping people on a case-by-case basis to fixing problems on a much larger scale.

"People say that when the 11 members of the NBTC are appointed, the Commission's work will progress. From my three years of experience at the Telecommunications Consumer Protection Institute, I can say that no matter how good the commission is, unless the wheels of the office turn accordingly, the commission's resolutions just get stuck in a rut," he says.

An activist since his student days, Prawit, now 46, says he enjoys being a pioneer because "laying a good foundation is very important".

He started his career as a director of hospitals in the provinces, went on to be a founding member of the Foundation for Consumers, and was the first director of the Telecommunications Consumer Protection Institute. Prawit, backed by fellow consumer protection activists, decided to apply for the NBTC post to prevent the post being taken by a representative from the business or academic world who would do nothing to protect consumers.

"Many candidates from consumer protection agencies put their names forward. But I'm the only to have worked in the telecommunications field. I can also start working immediately without having to study more," he notes.

Supinya has similarly credible credentials, having worked on media reforms for more than a decade.

A graduate of Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Communication Arts, Supinya soon became frustrated that her "quality" documentary programmes were not aired because of various "factors" in the broadcasting business. She moved to the non-governmental sector and was involved in the movement calling for media reform according to the 1997 Constitution.

Supinya hit the headlines in 2003 when in her capacity as secretary-general of the Campaign for Popular Media Reform, she was sued by Shin Corporation over comments that Shin Corp, then majority-owned by the family of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, had benefited from favourable policies by the Thaksin government. Shin also demanded Bt400 million in compensation. The court ruled in Supinya's favour in 2006.

Her appointment to the NBTC has met with criticism from certain quarters, with some citing her candidacy as inappropriate because she was one of the panel who drafted a related law.

Supinya says that while etiquette might have been violated, she has no conflict of interest in taking the job.

"My only concern is not being able to accomplish everything I have planned. As an activist, I have spoken a lot about how things should be. I cannot deny responsibility," she says.

Her first task, she says, is to draw on the cooperation of all stakeholders including viewers and media business operators to share ideas and find some common ground.

Despite her strong stands in the past, Supinya says she's learned how to compromise.

"I used to be anti-capitalist. But I have learned that there is an inter-dependence between the media business and consumers," she says.

She'll also be giving priority to regulating community radio stations.

Free and fair competition is an NBTC principle, but Supinya says she fears violence will break out as competition becomes more open, especially in the community media business.

"I'm not afraid that someone will shoot me. But I do worry about people shooting each other over business conflicts. It could be every bit as fierce as local politics," she says.

While the NBTC has to deal with enormous business interests and it will be difficult to please everybody, neither Supinya nor Prawit are afraid of being sued.

"If we are not sued, then we are doing nothing," says Supinya.

"Filing lawsuits is how telecom business operators delay the effect of the commission's orders, so we're expecting to be sued time and time again," says Prawit.