Supinya Klangnarong, a petite, very effeminate "David" who is preparing to confront corporate Thailand's champion "Goliath," hasn't been getting much sleep lately.
On Tuesday, the media activist will go on trial for allegedly libelling Shin Corp, Thailand's biggest and most powerful telecommunications conglomerate that happens to be owned by the family of billionaire Prime Minister Thaksin Shinwhich Supinya had the temerity to point out that the telecommunications giant's profits had nearly quadrupled during Thaksin's first three years as prime minister, implying that running the country proved pretty good for the family business.
Shin Corp is suing Supinya and the Thai Post for US$10 million in damages.
PHOTO: EPA
"I will have to work 2,000 years to make 10 million dollars," said Supinya, 32, whose job as secretary general of the Campaign for Popular Media Reform (CPMR) earns her US$500 a month.
Supinya's court case has been billed as not only a classic David vs. Goliath fight but also as a watershed for Thailand's increasingly embattled press freedoms.
Thailand's press, once deemed the freest in Southeast Asia, earned its credentials during the country's long struggle for democracy over a recent history of military dictatorships.
The military's last coup d'etat was staged in 1991.
The armed force's stranglehold on Thai politics only started to loosen in the aftermath of the May 1992 bloody confrontation between pro-democracy demonstrators and armed troops on the streets of Bangkok that left more than 100 dead but succeeded in sweeping appointed Prime Minister General Suchinda Kraprayoon from power.
More than a decade later, Thailand's press is arguably facing a more insidious threat, personified by the current prime minister Thaksin.
"Thaksin represents one of the core problems with the Thai media right now -- the patterns of media ownership," said Roby Alampay, executive director of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA).
"His family controls so much of the media industry through the Shin Corp, from satellites to TV, and through his friends they control so many of the newspapers that it raises the question of independence," he added.
Supinya, in taking on Shin Corp, has become a heroine and potential martyr for Thailand's press freedoms in the new capitalist context.
She is entering the ring with spunk and plenty of local and international support from press organizations.
For instance, representatives from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists and Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers will attend her trial as witnesses on behalf of international press freedom standards.
She has also raised one million baht (US$24,400) from a sympathetic Thai public to help defray her legal expenses.
But the court procedures, which have already dragged on for 20 months, have taken a personal toll.
"I've had to think about this case all day and all night," said Supinya. "It's changed my life, my relationships with people, everything."
And perhaps the most perturbing thought for Supinya is that her case, ultimately, will not change the current media trends in Thailand.
"Many people ask me why I am being so stubborn, because no matter if I win or lose this case, what will it change in terms of press freedom? As you can observe, it's getting worse and worse," said Supinya.
Just last month, Thailand's Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Ministry shut down two websites deemed critical of the government, allegedly for breaches of minor regulations.
It was just the latest example of the government using political or business influence to silence all sources of criticism, to which Thaksin is notoriously thin-skinned.
Supinya, who is first and foremost a media activist, falls back on an old Thai proverb -- "We are running from the tiger but heading towards the crocodile" -- to describe the current status of Thailand's press freedom, caught somewhere between the old-style military crackdowns and the new forms of oppression.
"We have not escaped the tiger yet but we're already facing a new threat, the crocodile, or huge capitalism," noted Supinya.
And does she regret tackling the crocodile?
"No, no regrets," she told reporters. "Instead, I'm just happy to know now how important freedom is for life."
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