Pride of the Nation

Suthichai Yoon, Nation Multimedia Group editor-in-chief, recently became the 22nd recipient of the Sriburapha Award this year

When Suthichai Yoon, Nation Multimedia Group editor-in-chief, recently became the 22nd recipient of the Sriburapha Award this year, people said the newsman, who co-founded The Nation, has many things in common with the writer-cum-journalist who inspired the prestigious award.

Instituted 22 years ago, the Sriburapha Awards seek to recognise the achievements of one of Thailand's greatest writers Kulap Saipradit, better known by his pseudonym "Sriburapha". A novelist, poet, journalist and essayist, he is remembered for his writings that were critical of Thailand's dictatorial regimes.

The Sriburapha Awards recognise three groups of wordsmiths - writers, poets and journalists. To be selected for Sriburapha Awards, candidates must have been working continuously in their respective fields for more than two decades and their work must be of great value to society and humanity.

Suthichai, 62, is certainly eligible for such an honour. He began his career as a journalist with Bangkok Post in 1968 and, five months later, was promoted as the paper's news editor.

When Lord Thompson of Fleet from England, who then owned the Bangkok Post, took over the other English daily Bangkok World in 1971, the move was seen as the monopolisation of the English-language press in Thailand. Suthichai and his colleagues, Dhammanoon Mahapaoraya, left the paper to establish an English paper of their own called Voice of The Nation (which later became The Nation), the first English newspaper owned and run by Thais. It set its goal as raising the bar for Thai news media.

Now as part of Nation Multimedia Group - owner of radio and television stations as well as popular online news and blogging sites - The Nation has been recognised as Thailand's independent newspaper. The group owns a popular Thai-language business daily Krungthep Turakij, a mass-circulation Thai-language daily Kom Chad Luek and a free sheet Daily Xpress.

In a recent interview, Suthichai shared his views on the Sriburapha Awards, his media organisation and the future of the Thai media.

What do you think of the Sriburapha Awards? 

The awards aim to provide thinkers, writers and journalists with a morale boost. You need to know that throughout his life, Kulap Saipradit was a journalist, writer and thinker. There was no doubt about his stance against dictators and irregularities in politics in his time. He fought hard for freedom of expression at a time a military regime ruled Thailand. Ultimately, he became an idol for many newspaper journalists. He reminded us that we need to speak up for truth and must take a stand and never submit to any influences that are not right, especially the kind that have existed in Thai politics over the past four to five years. In some ways, the state of our politics looks like they were in the age of Sriburapha.

In which aspects do you think you are similar to Sriburapha?

I should not compare myself to the great man. But this award was meant to give a morale boost to the older generations of journalists so that people can see them as the examples of those who take a stand against something unjust and dare to criticise the powers that be, who have no fear of influences and who never serve business or political interests.

But it's clear you've been brave enough in speaking out against the powers all these years? So, you're not very different from Sriburapha.

I did what I thought was right and saw myself as the mouthpiece of the people in politically volatile times. We must mirror the mood of the society.

Are we in some ways living in an age that is similar to Sriburapha's?

It's similar in the way that they had what was called the news-processing department located near the Prime Minister's Office. In Sriburapha's time, the "special branch" police were highly influential because they could revoke the licence and close down any newspaper company deemed anti-government. They could arrest and jail anybody they wanted. The climate is just like that in Sriburapha's time.

What's the future of The Nation?

The Nation must keep up with the pace of technology. It has to finds ways to serve its target groups more effectively. If 10-year-olds need to know about news, entertainment and any other information - through the Internet, cellphones or any other medium - we must adjust to their demand. If 50-year-olds need breaking news, they must get it from the radio, television or the Internet. If they want newspapers, we will still bring out newspapers. If they want fewer newspapers and more new media, we must be able to meet that demand. We must lead the way and experiment. But we must do the right thing.

What are your views of journalists in the age of Suthichai? 

We must evoke the spirit of Sriburapha as the guiding principle in maintaining media ethics, our bravery. We are lucky that we have what was unavailable in his time - the Internet. Through the Internet we can spread his message, making an even wider impact on the society.  If Sriburapha were still alive, I think he would agree that the fight for press freedom must spread to the world of the Internet because it's free of government control. It must be the domain that Sriburapha would enjoy supporting.