Somkiat Tangkitvanij, a research director at the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), yesterday alleged that the government appeared to be providing an "after-sale service" by protecting iTV's interests instead of the public interest.

He said it had been decreasing the pressure against the firm since it was ordered by the Central Administrative Court in May to pay Bt70 billion for breaching its contract with the government.

"Something fishy seems to be taking place," he said, alleging that the government might be trying to help iTV by looking for legal loopholes that would help it to avoid paying the huge sum.

"It's tantamount to using taxpayers' money to serve private interests."

The company was formerly owned by the family of caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose Shin Corp empire was sold in January to Singapore's Temasek Holdings.

Somkiat said the public should keep a close watch on the appeal made to the Supreme Admini-

strative Court in the contract case. A verdict is expected in two months.

Outgoing Senator Jon Ungpakorn said he was also worried about the matter.

"It's a reflection of a country lacking good governance," he said. "If politicians can get away with fraud without any protest, then society is deeply in trouble. Still, I think the middle class can be counted on."

Somkiat and Jon were part of a group of about 20 people who met yesterday to discuss the future of iTV, which was founded 10 years ago to serve as an independent channel free from government or private control.

They concluded that public support was needed to wrestle iTV from what they considered to be foreign private control and turn it into the Kingdom's first public-service TV station.

The group will ask political parties to clearly state their stance on the matter during their campaigns now that the election will proceed in October.

Somkiat said he was leading a team to study the financial modelling of public-service television, including a scenario where iTV would be re-acquired by the state.

Jon said a proposed bill for the re-acquisition of iTV could be launched by seeking 50,000 signatures, as required by the Constitution.

Chulalongkorn University's mass communications lecturer Ubonrat Siriyuwasak said that public-service television was an essential part of a working democratic society but was lacking in Thailand. She said models of public-service broadcasting in Japan and Britain were being studied.

But outgoing Senator Chirmsak Pinthong said that even if the plan to turn iTV into a public-service station failed, attempts to form such a station should not be abandoned.

The first step would be to dissolve the Department of Public Relations, which controls two local television channels, because the department is a propaganda tool and a remnant of a dictatorial era, he said.

"The Department of Public Relations has no place in a democratic society," said Chirmsak, adding that only communist or fascist countries still used such a propaganda tool.

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation