As the impending end of King Bumibol Adulyadej's reign start to get into the minds of the people, press freedom becomes more and more of a glaring issue in Thailand. The Asian country was ranked 130th out of 175 countries in the 2009 Press Freedom Index released by the group Reporters Without Borders. This was down 6 notches from last year's 144th finish.
The slight drop may be attributed to the national government's increased sensitivity to issues surrounding the King's health. Last January 2009, the information and communications ministry announce that the national government will be spending 500 million baht (~US$15 million) on a public filtering system on websites hosted abroad whose content may be damaging to the monarchy. This implementation of measures against online lese majeste prompted the government to block nearly 5,000 web pages since March 2008.
Unsurprisingly, however, Thailand's rank was still higher than Singapore's (133rd) or China's (168th). The two nations, despite their increasing prosperity and global importance, have been known for their strict approach to the media, giving them low ratings for press freedom.
Of course, these nations defend their low rankings by saying that there is a need for private people to defend themselves from slanderous accusations that some newspapers print out. This is especially true for the case of national governments, which have always been the subject of much accusations from the press.
In comparison to Thailand, the Philippines got a rank of 122nd; Indonesia, 100th; Vietnam, 166th; and the United States, 20th.
Well, I don't know about you, but I most certainly think that I can stay for a while in a country where press freedom is not that popular. That isn't to say I want to be in North Korea, which was surprisingly ranked second to the bottom (Eritrea was at the bottom). It's just that, well, I can do away with a little less freedom in my hands.
