Analysis: ‘Thailand Under Fire’ under spotlight

There’s little doubt that for those who’ve been involved with reporting Thailand’s recent and bloody political problems, the recent This World hour-long BBC2 documentary, presented by Fergal Keane, was a watershed moment.

It laid out, in the starkest and most harrowing detail, last year’s vicious crackdown in central Bangkok.  Then, the Abhisit Vejajiva-led Thai government and the Thai Army, crushed the ‘pro-democracy’ Red Shirt movement, killing over 80 protesters. Focusing on the deaths of three completely unarmed civilians – a medical worker (Ked), an Italian photo-journalist (Fabio Polenghi) and a Red Shirt protester (Akaradet Kankaew) – it followed their family members as they made futile attempts to gain justice for their loved ones.

Along the way, the programme interviewed numerous eyewitnesses who all confirmed the Thai Army shot dozens of unarmed civilians.

One of the key moments came when the crew interviewed Canadian journalist Mark MacKinnon.  He was present at a temple that had been designated a ‘safe haven’ and which ended up being the place were Nurse Kate, and 5 others, were shot and killed.

‘This was a designated safe area and honestly, I never saw a gun’ he said.

This interview is set in contrast to Thai Army spokesman, Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd, who claimed the persons found dead at the temple were ‘dragged inside’ by others and that numerous armaments were found there. Such explanation is no great surprise. In previous interviews the same spokesman has said: ‘I can categorically deny that the army has killed or hurt any Red Shirts or protesters’.

The most revealing sequence of pure investigative journalism, however, was when Keane interviewed members of Thailand’s DSI (Department of Special Investigations – the  equivalent of the FBI) who confirmed they had been ordered by both the Abhisit government and the Thai Army to be part of a cover-up.

Keane then interviewed Abhisit about why it had taken so long for the truth to emerge about what happened during the massacre. Abhisit, in an attempt  to throw Keane’s questions back at him, invoked Bloody Sunday, making the error that Keane is British.

‘How long did it take you to find out about Bloody Sunday?’ Abhisit asked.

‘I’m an Irishman. I knew facts about it pretty quickly,’ Keane retorted.

It is a very revealing moment and shows the Eton and Oxford-educated and British-born former-Thai PM in his true light.

Yet, while the programme certainly delivered on revealing both the Thai government and the Thai Army as being complicit in the deaths of unarmed protesters, there were other aspects it could have focused on.

There was mention, for example, of America’s massive and enduring support for the Thai military. In May of this year, only one year after Thai Army snipers and other soldiers were firing live rounds into civilian crowds, the US Marines visited Thailand to train Thai Army snipers.

Wikileaks’ cables released before the show went to air also revealed the US attitude to the 2006 Coup.  In one cable US Embassy officials in Bangkok seem aware in the days before the coup that the Thai Army were about to illegally remove the democratically elected Thai govt.

But questions remain.  Why didn’t the US Embassy seek to uphold international law and warn this government? Why did they refer to the coup-leaders as the ‘good guys’?  The enduring US support for Thailand’s brutal military, despite their 18 coups and numerous massacres may go down as one of the bigger failings in the US’s avowed ‘human-rights focused’ foreign policy.

The programme’s over-reliance, in places, on a rather flawed Human Rights Watch report was also another point of concern.

This report, produced earlier this year, is filled with contradictions, not least on the origin of the notorious armed Black Shirts. It asserted that this militant black-clad element were absolutely linked to the Red Shirts but then included eye-witness accounts which state that there was no evidence the two different groups were co-ordinating their actions.

After referring to the Black Shirts the programme failed to ask why none of them were ever shot or arrested, given they have always been cited as the main reason for the Thai Army’s brutal crackdown in 2010?

The programme also cited HRW’s account of the Red Shirts “storming” Chulalangkorn hospital. What was not mentioned is the hospital’s long-standing connection to the Thai establishment. Nor did they address the concern amongst some that Thai Army snipers had used hospital buildings to fire at the Red Shirts.

However, having said all this, the programme was by far and away the best that has yet been produced by the Western media on the situation in Thailand. Given that Bangkok is home to dozens of foreign journalists the only wonder is why had nobody made this before.

Andrew Spooner is a London-based journalist, academic and consultant who comments on all things Thailand from a ‘democratic and left-wing perspective’. Having first visited southeast Asia in 1989, Andrew now spends several months a year in the region and has worked for, amongst others, Sky News (UK), Guardian, Independent and CNN Traveller, as well as authoring several travel guidebooks for Footprint Books.