Speaking at an international seminar marking the 20th anniversary of the Thai National Press Council (NPC), the council’s chairman and veteran journalist Chavarong Limpattamapanee identified the challenges facing the country. He said there was a lack of public trust and low cooperation among professionals as well as the pressing issue of the media regulatory bill, which is being imposed by the junta-appointed reform council.

Although self-regulation has been around for decades, the NPC chairman admitted that it still has room for improvement. The public does not trust the media to take complaints seriously and seldom gives official feedback to the media.

While press councils from Sweden, Australia and Myanmar, whose representatives also appeared at the seminar, received hundreds of complaints from the public every year, the Thai council received only 10 to 20.

“The public does not trust that we would handle the case quickly or that we will be able to satisfy them.” Chavarong said. “Rather, they take to social media like Facebook or Twitter. You can find the complaints everywhere and every day but they never want to complain officially to us.”

To tackle the issue, Chavarong said the council was currently working to open channels with the public such as a mobile application to give better access to media organisations to lodge complaints.

The council also has an ethics committee which Chavarong said would take an active role in raising or picking up complaints from the public and follow issues through.

Self-regulation has also been improved with an amendment to its charter last year that called for every newspaper to set up an internal ombudsman tasked with ensuring the outlets follow the professional codes and conduct, he said.

However, the practice has not yet met with success, as some companies did not take it seriously and would not support the ombudsman.

Despite the struggle and low cooperation among the media, the NPC chairman strongly supported self-regulation and opposed legal powers of control proposed by the junta-backed media regulatory bill.

“If there is to be legal power, the question is who will exercise it?” he said. “It is open to interference. When power is involved, people would struggle to be part of it. There is no guaranteed that once [the media is regulated by legal power] it would be free from political influence.”

He said that even though it was prescribed that those exercising power must be a media professionals, the same problem could occur.

“There are hundreds of media organisations in this country. And we do not know how many of them are genuine professionals.” Chavarong said.

He said that national media organisations had discussed the issue with a government representative who promised to review the draft bill and ensure media participation in the drafting process.

Chavarong said he was confident there would be a compromise on the media control issue and self-regulation would be maintained in the end. Media organisations were working very hard to protect press freedom, the NPC chairman said.

Phetch Pathumwan was presented to the press in Chanthaburi on Sunday along with a metre-long bamboo stick believed used in the murder and then taken to the scene in Khao Kitchakud district to re-enact the alleged crime.

Chanthaburi police chief Pol Maj General Charan Jitjeujun claimed Phetch had confessed to beating the victim on the head with the stick, ending a fight following a drinking session that left both of them drunk.

The woman’s body was found on Friday morning with trousers pulled off and shirt partially opened.

Phetch allegedly told police that he removed her clothes for sex, but discovered she was dead and fled. He also claimed he didn’t rape the woman, since she’d consented to sex.

The contradiction and further contradicting evidence at the scene led police to charge Phetch with murder pending forensic tests, which could bring additional charges including rape.

Phetch, who only met the victim when both were on their way to seek fruit-picking jobs in Chanthaburi late last month, were not related. He said she asked him to act as her stepfather.

Their employer told police the victim had phoned his wife on Thursday night to say she wanted to quit because she could no longer tolerate Phetch’s sexual harassment. She allegedly often complained to the wife that he’d tried to molest her.

ONE OF the suspects in the Big C Pattani car bomb explosion has identified eight accomplices, including the mastermind behind the attack that injured more than 60 people on Tuesday.

Fourth Army Area chief Lt-General Piyawat Nakwanich yesterday released a list of the car-bomb suspects.

The list is based on information from Su-ai-mee Sama-ae, who has been interrogated at a military base in Pattani province since his arrest on Thursday night.

According to Su-ai-mee, Annungwa Kazor is the alleged mastermind, while Maolana Samoh and Abdul-aze Japakeeya are responsible for finding others to actually carry out the attack.

He said that Isma-ae Morzu was in charge of getting the vehicle that would be used as the car bomb. Manasay Zyredee was tasked with assembling explosives and concealing them in the vehicle, alongside Muhammad Kazor. All along, Ruslan Baimor and Bukhori Lamzoh served as lookouts.

To get the vehicle for the plot, the gang allegedly lured Nuson Kajornkam, a tent-service provider from Yala province, to Pattani and killed him on Tuesday morning, according to Su-ai-mee. About five hours later, his pickup truck was packed with explosive-filled cylinders and parked in front of the Big C Pattani.

Nuson left behind his wife, who is a nurse, and their two children.

His widow, Sawitree Kachornkham, said yesterday that she did not want to live in Yala anymore because it was not safe, even in broad daylight.

The death of her husband was a big blow. “I hope such a thing will never happen to anyone else. I really would like to ask the killer whether they have ever loved someone,” she said.

Pattani Governor Weeranan Pengchan said all eight suspects implicated by Su-ai-mee had criminal records.

“They are wanted for many other crimes in Pattani and Yala,” he said.

He added that the ongoing investigation suggested that the eight suspects had already fled to the neighbouring Yala province.

Pattani Special Taskforce’s chief Maj-General Jatuporn Klampasut said that the chief executive of the Tambon Nong Chik Administrative Organisation and a local imam had been aware of Nuson’s killing.

“At this point, there is no evidence that they directly took part in the robbery. So, we have just interviewed them for information. We have also questioned five locals for the same purpose,” Jatuporn said.

Suspicious activities

Colonel Yuttanam Petchmuang, a deputy spokesman for the Forward Command of the Internal Security Operations Command Region 4, said Piyawat had already asked relevant authorities to gather evidence fast to bring all the culprits to justice.

Following the explosion, an arrest warrant was issued for Makorseng Ma-ae, 25. But authorities are still searching for him.

Yuttanam urged people to alert authorities if they detected any suspicious activities.

HM King Maha Vajiralongkorn has assigned a delegate to provide flowers and gifts of support to victims at hospitals.

Unrest has raged in Thailand’s deep South for more than a decade. Bloody incidents have taken place on almost a daily basis.

Yesterday afternoon, more than 100 religious leaders, community leaders and locals joined a prayer in front of Big C Pattani to ask for peace. They condemned the use of violence, including the blast that hit the area a few days ago.

Meanwhile, the Sheikhul Islam Office has released a letter condemning the incidents in Pattani province that injured 61 innocent people when two bombs were detonated on Tuesday afternoon at a Big C store in Muang Pattani district.

The office said that the vicious act had been designed to take innocent lives and thus violated the teachings of Islam, which clearly forbids such a crime.

The Sheikhul Islam Office urged the perpetrators to refrain from engaging in further violence against local residents.

The office also implored the government to do everything in its power to prevent such incidents from occurring, while providing assistance to victims and bringing the culprits to justice.

The letter ends with a plea to the |administration to find peaceful solutions to end the violence that is plaguing the South, especially by means of promoting public |participation.