In a telephone interview with The Nation, ICT minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom said the new PR strategy would use government websites as a "political tool" to counter allegations from the anti-government camp.

Sitthichai said countering these allegations by anti-junta groups through the same medium was better than shutting down their websites. He said improving the content of the state websites was a better solution to defend the government and counter its opponents.

"We are unable to keep up with them. They just open up another website," he said.

Supporters of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra make up a sizeable portion of the anti-government groups.

"Our website will also open a political page for people who want to respond to the enemies of the state," Sitthichai added.

Sitthichai admitted the government's website have been unable to attract people to visit their web pages or to participate in the same manner as the private sector had done with their target group.

Sitthichai said one of the websites that would be renovated was the Council for National Security's page.

Over the past few weeks the government has come under attack over its decision to block various sites, including YouTube, because it contained a film clip deemed offensive to the monarchy.

The government also pulled the plug on the Rajdamnoen Room chat site hosted by the popular pantip.com website, citing national security as the reason.

Sitthichai said the ban on YouTube would continue until the clips were removed. He was also seeking help from Google, the owner of YouTube, to help curb the mushrooming of videos mocking the monarch.

Google has said it would rather see the Thai government block specific video clips, instead of the entire site. The company also offered "to educate" the Thai government on how to achieve such a task.

Sucheera Pinijparakarn

The Nation