MONTHLY REPORT--BANGKOK BUREAU--DECEMBER 1987

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-00733R000100030001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 13, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: January 5, 1988
• Content Type: MEMO

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ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET t_
SUBJECT: (Optional) `-.
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Monthly Report -- Bangkok Bureau
FROM:
EXTENSION
NO.
Chief, Operations Group
DATE
3-5991
December 1987
TO: (Officer designation, room number, and
building)
DATE
OFFICERS
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
RECEIVED
FORWARDED
INITIALS
to whom. Draw a line across column after each. comment.)
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Exec. Reg.
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5 January 1988
FBIS-3200-88
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, Foreign Broadcast Information Service
THROUGH : Chief, Operations Group
SUBJECT : Monthly Report -- Bangkok Bureau -- December 1987
1. The 60th birthday of Thailand's King Phumiphon Adunyadet
on 5 December was marked by a month of spectacular events, the
likes of which will probably never be seen in Thailand again.
Hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country inundated
Bangkok to honor their king, bringing traffic to a standstill for
hours on end in the areas where the military parades, religious
processions, ceremonial events, and banquets were held. All of
the public and most of the private buildings were decked out in
lights, while fantastic fireworks displays lit up the skies on
three different nights, one of which lasted over an hour and was
so magnificent that it made the 4th of July celebrations on the
Mall look like a kid with a sparkler in comparison.
2. At the same time as the genuine outpouring of affection
for the king was taking place, the heir apparent, Crown Prince
Maha Wachiralongkon, and his minor wife were attracting attention
of a different sort. Anonymous leaflets were being distributed
in public places throughout the kingdom denouncing the couple for
their inappropriate behavior, i.e., the crown prince's"minor
family" have been given extensive media publicity for the
first time while his legal wife and child have been
downplayed. By month's end the police and military still were
not certain who was behind the leaflet campaign, although various
reports attributed them to disgruntled university students
unhappy over the awarding of a degree to the minor wife,
anti-monarchists, a monk with mental problems, the Communist
Party of Thailand, former radical students now living abroad, or
any or all of the above.
A. Monitorial/Editorial
1. The long-awaited meeting in France 2,3 December
between Prince Norodom Sihanouk of the Coalition Government of
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Democratic Kampuchea and Premier Hun Sen of the People's Republic
of Kampuchea produced a spate of reportage/reaction from the
Indochina and ASEAN countries. The first meeting between leaders
of the two factions in nearly nine years led to the issuance of a
joint communique and an agreement to hold two more meetings in
the near future. However, as the prince is wont to do, he has
changed his mind a number of times since then, with the latest
word being that the two will meet again the end of January in
France.
2. At the same time, Vietnam was holding the trial of
18 of 77 members of the resistance group, the National United
Front for the Liberation of Vietnam, who had been captured in
Laos in August while on their way to Vietnam to set up a
resistance base. More than 100 others were killed by Lao and
Vietnamese forces. Vietnam chose 1-3 December for the trial so
that reporters covering the troop withdrawal from Cambodia the
end of November would be able to attend the trial as well. Among
other things, it was charged that the United States organized the
resistance group and that Thailand directly supported it by
providing training camps in Thailand and weapons, as well as
allowing a resistance radio to broadcast from Thai soil to incite
rebellion in Vietnam. Thailand denied all of the charges. An
interesting sidelight was that while Vietnam maintained that the
leader of the resistance group, former vice commander of the
South Vietnamese Navy Hoang Co Minh, had been killed in the
fighting in Laos, BBC reported that someone purporting to be
Hoang had called to say that he was alive and well and sipping
orange juice in Florida.
3. The second session of the eighth Vietnamese National
Assembly 23-29 December turned out to be a bust as far as
coverage was concerned. With holiday leaves canceled, the
seven-man Vietnamese Unit was at full strength to deal with the
expected live coverage of the assembly's opening and the lengthy
leadership speeches that would result. Meanwhile, the satellite
cruisers out at Bang Ping were alert to intercept the expected
passfeeds. It was all for naught. Vietnam obviously caught the
Christmas spirit and decided to give the bureau monitors a break
because it broadcast nothing of the assembly session live,
limiting reportage to a few communiques and brief reports on the
days' proceedings. The unit is now standing down until the
newspapers arrive, which are delayed due to the holidays.
4. The bureau's total publishable wordage for the year
was 9,053,060, a 500,000 word increase over the 1986 record.
B. Communications
1. A meeting was held with embassy) _ Ito
discuss the installation of their new microwave. Their request
to install the microwave on the roof of the bureau has been
approved, and installation will begin sometime in February. The
bureau will benefit from this installation in two ways: it will
STAT
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replace the old Farinon microwave unit presently being used
between the b and give the bureau direct access to use as an J`4_'S~NAT'
altroute when it is completed.
2. The bureau's communications circuit has been rerouted
to Clark AFB to facilitate the bureau's future upgrade to 300
baud. We were informed that Odoes not have a circuit
available that will handle our traffic at 300 baud. Since this
changeover, our garbling problems cited in last month's report
have disappeared--at least for the time being.
C. Lateral Services
1. Following an immediate message from the embassy in
Jakarta in which someone thought they had vaguely recalled a
message from the CPSU to the Indonesian Communist Party some time
back that had caused the Soviet Union some embarrassment, the
bureau was able to come up with two items from the Moscow
Indonesian beam--from 1981-82.
2. At the embassy Political Section's request, the
Cambodian unit reviewed four Cambodian documents and selected two
lengthy ones for processing on a time available basis.
3. At AG's request, the Vietnamese Unit began translating
a series of articles marking the 15th anniversary of the
Christmas B-52 raids on Hanoi during the Vietnam war.
4. At the Office of Training's request, Bang Ping
provided six videotapes of such Thai programs as newscasts, panel
discussions, documentaries, quiz shows, and sports.
D. Technical
1. The bureau received eight new Comscribe printers to
replace the Okidata printers, which were not compatible with our
communications circuit. Thus far, performance of the printers
has been encouraging. In fact, a Comscribe printer was used in
place of the laser printer at the editorial position when we ran
out of laser toner. We like it so well we have decided to leave
it there even though the toner has now arrived.
2. New Equipment:
Extel Comscribe printers, 8 each. SNS. 90347, 90366,
90355, 90369, 90348, 90364, 90349, and 90371.
E. Cruising
1. Quezon City TV RPN-9 transmitted live special
STAT
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programs on the ASEAN summit 13-15 December from the 113E Palapa
satellite. The station transmitted its Monday through Friday
newscasts as scheduled, with no indications that broadcasts would
be discontinued in light of an AFP story last month that RPN's
satellite lease would be canceled.
2. Unscheduled TV feeds from Vietnam to Moscow were
intercepted on the 80E Gorizont 23 and 24 December. FYI's and
VS1's were done on the contents, which consisted of the
activities of visiting KGB Chairman Chebrikov.
3. Afghan leader Najibullah's visit to Indochina was
observed on the 80E Gorizont on 25, 29, and 30 December. The
passfeeds originated from Vietnam and Cambodia.
A. Personnel
1. Senior Editor received a 10-year
service pin in recognition of his service with the U.S.
Government.
2. The bureau this month finally received approval
for an FBN pay raise of approximately 3 percent retroactive to 21
June 1987.
Chiet, Bangkok Bureau
STAT
STAT
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I. TOTALS FROM ALL SOURCES:
TOTAL PUBLISHABLE WORDAGE FILED DURING MONTH:
TOTAL NON-PUBLISHABLE WORDAGE FILED DURING MONTH:
TOTAL NUMBER OF PUBLISHABLE ITEMS FILED DURING MONTH:
829,140
2 38 , 050
1,834
BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
I I . INPUT OF REGULAR COVERAGE: 2 0 , 637 22 , 1 35 336.46
(minutes or issues per week) min. min. issues
III. OUTPUT FROM ROSET SOURCES:
(publishable words per month)
INDIA
Delhi General Overseas Service in
English 5,420
Delhi Doordarshan Television Network in
English 2,490
Delhi Domestic Service in
English 40,930
INDONESIA
Jakarta ANTARA in
English
MALAYSIA
Kuala Lumpur RTM Television Network 1 in
Malay
Kuala Lumpur BERNAMA in
English
PHILIPPINES
Quezon City RPN 9 Television in
English
Manila PNA in
English
SINGAPORE
11 , 030
16,030
4,940
13, 700
5.420
Unidentified Television Feed in
English 3,010
SRI LANKA
Colombo LANKA PUWATH in
English
14,410
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Page
IV. OUTPUT FROM ALL SOURCES:
(publishable words per month)
AUSTRALIA
Melbourne Overseas Service in
English
Sydney THE AUSTRALIAN in
English
Sydney THE BULLETIN in
English
Sydney THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN in
English
BANGLADESH
BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
2 0 , 350
Dhaka
Overseas
English
Service in
2,+6C>
Dhaka
Domestic
English
Service in
25, 050
Dhaka
Domestic
Bengali
Service in
1 , 090
Dhaka THE BANGLADESH OBSERVER in
English
Dhaka SANGBAD in
Bengali
BRUNEI
Kuala Belait THE BORNEO BULLETIN in
English
BURMA
Rangoon Domestic Service in
Burmese
Rangoon WORKING PEOPLE'S DAILY in
English
Rangoon BOTATAUNG in
Burmese
Rangoon LOKTHA PYEITHU NEZIN in
Burmese
Rangoon MYANMA ALIN in
Burmese %
CAMBODIA
Phnom Penh Domestic Service in
Cambodian
Phnom Penh SPK in
2, 0 10
1,080
7,530
24,950
English
16,300
Phnom
Phnom
Penh
French
Penh
French
SPK
to
SPK
in
KPL
in
Vientiane
i)
7,530
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BROAD- PRESS PUSLI--
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
CHINA
Beijing International Service in
Bengali 0
Beijing International Service in
Burmese
750
Beijing International Service in
Indonesian
0
Beijing International Service in
L
ao
1,070
Beijing International
Thai
Service in
660
Beijing in
Cambodian to Cambodia
5,530
Beijing in
Hindi to India
0
Beijing in
Malay to Malaysia
0
Beijing in
Urdu to India and Pakistan
0
Beijing International Service in
Vietnamese
340
CLANDESTINE
(Clandestine) Voice of Democratic Kampuchea in
Cambodian
13,810
(Clandestine) Voice of Malayan Democracy in
Malay
0
(Clandestine) Voice of the Khmer in
Cambodian
8,100
(Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of
Democratic Kampuchea in
Cambodian
2,990
(Clandestine) Voice of the People of Burma in
Burmese
3,570
HONG KONG
Hong Kong AFP in
English
65,220
INDIA
Delhi
General Overseas Service in
English
5,420
Delhi
Doordarshan Television Network in
English
2,490
Delhi Domestic Service in
English
40,930
Delhi
ISI Diplomatic Information Service in
Delhi
English
INDIAN
English
EXPRESS in
4, 820
Delhi
PATRIOT
English
in
0
Delhi THE HINDUSTAN TIMES in
English
5,270
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INDIA (continued)
Madras DINAMALAR in
Tamil
Bombay NAVBHARAT TIMES in
Hindi
Calcutta ANANDA BAZAR PATRIKA in
Bengali
INDONESIA
Jakarta International Service in
English
Jakarta Domestic Service in
Indonesian
Jakarta ANTARA in
English
Jakarta JAKARTA POST in
English
Jakarta THE INDONESIA TIMES in
English
Jakarta BERITA BUANA in
Indonesian
Jakarta KOMPAS in
Indonesian
Jakarta MERDEKA in
Indonesian
Jakarta TEMPO in
Indonesian
Jakarta SUARA PEMBARUAN in
Indonesian
9 , 660
1 1, 030
LAOS
Vientiane Domestic Service in
Lao
Vientiane KPL in
English
Vientiane KPL in
English to SPK: Phnom Penh
Vientiane KPL in
French to SPK Phnom Penh
Vientiane SPK:: in
French to SPK Phnom Penh,
Vientiane PASASON in
Lao
Vientiane VIENTIANE MAI in
Lao
MALAYSIA
BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
47 , 3 50
3 , 750
Kuala
Lumpur
Eng 1 i sh
International Service in
7,110
Kuala
Kuala
Lumpur
Eng I i sh
Lumpur
Malay
Domestic Service in
Domestic Service in
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BROAD- PRESS PURL I -
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
MALAYSIA (continued)
Kuala Lumpur
Malay
Kuala Lumpur-
English
Kuala Lumpur
English
Kuala Lumpur
English
Kuala Lumpur
Malay
Kuala Lumpur
Malay
Kual a Lumpur
Malay
Kual a Lumpur
Malay
NEPAL
RTM Television Network
BERNAMA in
NEW STRAITS TIMES in
English
Kathmandu THE
English
NEW ZEALAND
4,940
1,250
2, 2:, 0
Auckland THE NEW ZEALAND HERALD in
English
Wellington THE EVENING POST in
English
PAKISTAN
Islamabad Oversea Service in
English
Islamabad Domestic Service in
English
Islamabad Domestic Service in
Urdu
Islamabad Oversea Service in
Urdu
Islamabad THE MUSLIM in
English
Karachi DAWN in
English
Rawalpindi HAIDER in
Urdu
Lahore JANG in
Urdu
Karachi NAWA-I-WAQT in
Urdu
1,860
6,210
9,230
16,030
5,690
2, 560
620
1 , 22 0
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PHILIPPINES
Quezon City RPN 9 Television in
English
Manila PNA in
English
SINGAPORE
Singapore Domestic Service in
English
Unidentified Television Feed in
English
Singapore THE STRAITS TIMES in
English
Singapore THE SUNDAY TIMES in
English
SRI LANKA
Colombo International Service in
English
Colombo Domestic Service in
English
Colombo Domestic Service in
Tamil
Colombo LANKA PUWATH in
English
Colombo DAILY NEWS in
English
Colombo SUN in
English
Colombo WEEKEND in
English
Colombo V I RAKESAR I in
Tamil
THAILAND
Bangkok Voice of Free Asia in
English
Bangkok Voice of Free Asia in
Cambodian
Bangkok Voice of Free Asia in
Thai
Bangkok Domestic Service in
English
Bangkok Domestic Service in
Thai
Bangkok First Army Division Radio in
Thai
Bangkok Army Television Channel 5 in
Thai
Bangkok TNA in
English
Bangkok BANGKOK; POST in
English
BROAD- PRESS PURL I .-
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
5 , 420
3,320
3,010
1,400
2,340
1,720
14,410
760
3,240
0
270
1,940
0
+, 060
2,670
7,890
1,750
24,220
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BROAD- PRESS
CASTS AGENCIES
PULL I ._
CATION
THAILAND (continued)
Bangkok THE NATION in
English
Bangkok k::HAO PHISET in
Thai
Bangkok LAK THAI in
Thai
Bangkok MATICHON in
32, 22C>
O
c_>
Thai
0
3, 610
Bangkok MATICHON SUT SAPDA in
Thai
G
Bangkok NAEO NA in
Thai
3,720
Bangkok SIAM RAT in
Thai
4,160
Bangkok SIAM RAT SAPDA WICHAN in
Thai
1 , 890
Bangkok SU ANAKHOT in
Thai
C>
Bangkok THAI RAT in
Thai
630
Bangkok ZHONG HUA RIBAO in
Chinese
6, 560
Bangkok XING XIAN RIBAO in
Chinese
1310
Bangkok XIN ZHONG YUAN RIBAO in
Chinese
UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
Moscow International Service in
Tamil
Moscow International Service in
Vietnamese
Moscow in
Bengali to Bangladesh
Moscow in
Burmese to Burma
Moscow in
Cambodian to Cambodia
Moscow in
Hindi to India
Moscow in
Indonesian to Indonesia
Moscow in
Lao to Laos
Moscow in
Thai to Thailand
Moscow in
Urdu to India
Moscow in
Urdu to Pakistan
Moscow Radio Peace and Progress in
Indonesian
1 , 1 00
630
C)
C)
6,940
860
3,200
0
1 , 020
0
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UNITED KINGDOM
English
VIETNAM
Hanoi International Service in
English
Hanoi International Service in
Cambodian
Hanoi International Service in
Thai
Hanoi Domestic Service in
Vietnamese
Hanoi VNA in
English
Hanoi NHAN DAN in
Vietnamese
Hanoi QUAN DOI NHAN DAN in
Vietnamese
Hanoi TAP CHI CONG SAN in
Vietnamese
Hanoi TAP CHI QUAN DOI NHAN DAN in
Vietnamese
Ho Chi Minh City SAIGON GIAI PHONG in
Vietnamese
BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
1,360
9,620
0
960
109,700
76,990
10,700
4, 880
0
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