Thai military abruptedly stormed into a TV station affiliated with an anti-establishment red shirt to shut down a TV program deemed sensitive to national security.
According Nitchanan Jamduang whose facebook’s username is Nan Nitchanan, a TV program host of Peace TV, a TV station affiliated with the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), a red-shirt group, at least five military and police officers on Wednesday night came to the TV station.
The officials demanded the station to stop broadcasting a TV program title ‘Peace TV Special’ which featured Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, a ex-prime minister of Thailand from 1996-1997, as a guest speaker, reasoning that the program incites conflicts and could damage national stability.
Military and police officer inspect Peace TV’s broadcasting station during the night of 29 April 2015 (Photos from Nitchanan Jamduang)
Nitchanan wrote on her facebook profile that, in the program, the ex-PM talked about the conflicts in the restive Muslim South of Thailand, which he commented that it could lead to partition between the predominantly Muslim Deep South from the Thai state.
Earlier on Monday, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission of Thailand (NBCT)’s Broadcasting Committee announced the decision to suspend Peace TV’s broadcasting license.
Natee Sukonrat, the chair of the NBCT’s Broadcasting Committee, said that the decision was made because the TV station repeatedly broadcast inappropriate programmes, which are sensitive to national security.
According to Khaosod English, key UDD leaders on Wednesday said that they might submit a royal petition to the Thai King to protest the NBTC’s measure.
In early April, the NBTC issued an order to suspend for seven days the broadcasting signals for Peace TV and TV 24, two TV stations affiliated with UDD. Peace TV was barred from going on air from 10 to 16 April while TV 24 faced the same prohibition from 11 to 17 April.
The NBTC claimed that programmes on both stations caused public confusion and divisiveness, and incited conflict.
