Liberal Thai blocked in Thailand

Freedom Against Censorship in Thailand reports that Liberal Thai, a Thai-language blog has joined the long list of sites blocked by the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology. Several other readers have also noticed this blocking.

Liberal Thai has been doing  a great job of translating numerous stories from PPT and many others. PPT has no idea who Liberal Thai are, but their work has been fabulous and important.

This is some of the FACT report (reproduced in some detail here in case they are blocked as well):

We have just discovered free Thai language news site Liberal Thai blocked by a transparent proxy redirecting users to Thailand’s ICT ministry.

Liberal Thai is a new websites which has been translating news articles in English into Thai making them accessible to Thai readers, particularly those from Political Prisoners in Thailand.

The only news article which might be suspect is LT’s Thai translation of “Thailand’s Political Muddle” from October 28’s Asia Sentinel. PPT’s coverage of this article and, indeed the article itself in English, are not blocked.

Might such banal commentary as “feckless heir” (รัชทายาทที่อ่อนแอ) now constitute lèse majesté?

Incidentally, dictionary definitions for “feckless” from Scots Gaelic are weak, feeble, ineffective, incompetent, futile, worthless, careless, irresponsible, indifferent, lazy, having no purpose or worth, unlikely to be successful.

We hardly think that any of these definitions can be applied to Thailand’s succession. The truth is, we simply don’t know because Thailand’s next king has not been tried.

However, suppressing the news by blocking websites does not make the news just go away. Thailand has much to learn in its domestic policies (we have a foreign head of state advising us on the Patani insurgency) and its international relations. No matter how deep Thai government tries to bury our heads in the sand, what others think of us matters.

Liberal Thai is one of the few websites trying to allow Thais access to all opinions so that we can make responsible decisions for ourselves, as a community of peers.

[FACT reproduces the Liberal Thai translation]

Liberal Thai remains available outside Thailand, although its postings have been reduced in recent days.

PPT calls on the MICT to stop this censorship. We condemn the Abhisit Vejjajiva-led government’s continuing repression of free expression in the media.

It is time for the international community to recognize that Abhisit leads a government that is continually restricting the media and to condemn them for this and for ignoring their own laws on blocking web sites and URLs.