Ignore Suu Kyi so she goes away
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Thailand's most updated English news website, newspaper english, breaking news : The Nation
It was tiring work, but Channel 3 reporter Thapanee “Yam” Ietsrichai was delighted to cover Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to Thailand, tweeting later in English, “I love you the lady ASSK”.
Basically all Thai journalists shared her enthusiasm, but there was uproar at the Mae La refugee camp on the Saturday when only a few reporters, including Yam, were allowed to accompany Suu Kyi inside.
“I’d like to reaffirm that I had no special privilege to enter the refugee camp,” Yam said later on Twitter. “I just prepared well and coordinated with the sources.” Yam smuggled in our head photographer Nanthasit Nimatha, and we’re certainly grateful for that, but what actually happened was government bungling, as often happens at major international events in Thailand.
Authorities had assured many news folks, including Nanthasit, that there was no need to register in advance for coverage access. Of course they arrived at the camp and couldn’t get in because they weren’t registered. “By this time it was 7pm and all the government offices were closed,” says Nanthasit.
So a bunch of the journalists sneaked into the camp. Caught inside without permission, most were soon back outside. Some hid in refugees’ domiciles.
A quarrel erupted outside the gate, of the sort often heard at government offices, with the local district chief getting a bit coarse as he tried to shoo away the protesters, citing “security” concerns. Some of the journos muttered that the government just wanted to limit coverage of Suu Kyi’s visit so it wouldn’t eclipse whatever Yingluck Shinawatra was doing.
That backfired, in a way often seen when the government flexes its muscles. Suu Kyi’s visit to the camp made headlines around the globe, of course, but so did the barring of the press.
Thomas Fuller of the New York Times even got apparent confirmation of the reporters’ suspicions. He quoted Tak Governor Suriya Prasatbuntitya as saying, “The Foreign Affairs minister asked us to keep her visit low-key.”
You can’t buy publicity like that.
