MONTHLY REPORT--BANGKOK BUREAU--FEBRUARY 1988

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-01355R000400050011-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 26, 2013
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: March 2, 1988
• Content Type: MEMO

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ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET
SUBJECT: (Optional) I 1 tOS's
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Monthly Report -- Bangkok Bureau . 11
FROM:
Chief, Operations Group
EXTENSION
NO.
DATE
February 1988
TO: (Officer designation, room number, and
building)
DATE
OFFICER'S
INITIALS
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.)
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FORM 61 0 USE PREVIOUS
1-79 EDITIONS
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+
02 March 1988
FBIS-3208188
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, Foreign Broadcast Information Service
THROUGH: Chief, Operations Group
SUBJECT: Monthly Report--Bangkok Bureau--February 1988
I. GENERAL
1. The Thai-Lao border dispute, which many earlier feared
would escalate into a major confrontation, appeared to be well on
the way to a peaceful settlement by month's end after the Thai
military dropped its demand for Lao troops to vacate Thai
territory before it would enter into negotiations. The sudden
turnabout was said to be at least partially attributable to
the two recent visits to Laos by former Thai Prime Minister
Kriangsak Chamanan, signer of the 1979 Thai-Lao joint communique
and associate of Lao Premier Kaysone Phomvihan. In any event,
Kaysone's cease-fire proposal and the resulting peace talks
followed shortly thereafter, catching many by surprise. This led
to a number of calls from the Embassy Political Section, USIS,
and VOA seeking copies of various items that had already been
sent to them via the ponyline, leading the bureau to wonder just
what had happened to their internal distribution systems. On the
lighter side, a foreign correspondent eager to get his story out
requested the name of the Lao interior minister after Lao Embassy
personnel had told him that they did not know it. The bureau
obliged.
Also on the Thai scene, the bureau must have certainly bored
Daily Report editors but kept a number of embassy consumers happy
by extensively reporting on the case of the reappearing lintel, a
stone carving that-once went over the entrance to a centuries-old
Khmer Temple but now makes it's home in the Chicago Institute
of Art. According to the latest report the institute may be
willing to return the carving provided it receives a
reproduction.
II. OPERATIONS
A. Monitorial/Editorial
1. A program has been introduced to periodically review
the monitors' raw copy and provide them with continuing feedback
with the intention of further improving the bureau product. This
has already begun to pay off on such easily correctable matters
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as inserting articles in sentences, capitalizing where necessary,
and handling numbers. Senior Editor has been
assigned the duty of working directly with the monitors in
resolving more complex translation problems.
2. To reduce the editors' workload, consolidate media
coverage in the units concerned, and make their selection
process more efficient, the press agency printers have been
relocated to the hallways right outside the booths of the various
units. For instance, the South Asian unit now has direct
responsibility for ISI and Lanka Puwath, while the Indonesia,
Burma, and Malaysia Unit has the OANA/Bernama circuit. The
editors can still call the various circuits up on their PC
screens for backstop purposes if necessary.
3. The Thai section sampled the Vientiane Thai casts for a
week for additional reports on the conflict during the height of the
border fighting, but their efforts were for naught as they simply
repeated reportage carried earlier on the regular Lao newscasts
4. A 200-minute 33-take speech by Lao Premier Kaysone
Phomvihan to the Supreme People's Council, coupled with reportage
and commentary on the Thai border war, kept the Lao section
exceptionally busy. When the embassy in Vientiane was informed of
the length of Kaysone's speech, it urgently requested that it be
pouched to spare its small commo unit. The bureau obliged.
B. Lateral Services
1. A military consumer's request for Delhi TV's
coverage of the Soviet nuclear-powered submarine leased to India
was passed to headquarters since the bureau had already forwarded
the videotape.
2. The bureau received a number of requests for items,
the great majority of which had already been filed to them, from
such embassy consumers as the DCN, the political section, USIS, VOA,
Refugee and Migration Affairs, the Orderly Departure Program (ODP),
and the Narcotics Assistance Unit (NAU). One ODP request was for a
September 1985 JPRS translation of the SRV penal code, which the
Vietnamese unit was able to provide. One of ODP's calls was to ask
what "BK" stood for on the bureau's items.
3. Two embassy consumer requests were passed to
headquarters, one for a JPRS Vietnam Fact Book for use in-house,
and the other for a subscription to the East Asia Daily Report
for forwarding via the Political Section to the PRC Embassy.
C. Technical
L. Cleaning and painting of the HF antennas at Bang Ping
started this reporting period. The job is expected to take
approximately 6 months.
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2. Installation of the new bureau telephone system was
completed this month. The system replaces the old one, which
consisted of three subsystems.
3. In an effort to improve the efficiency of bureau
operations, press services printers have been moved from their
previous locations in the editorial area to the appropriate
monitoring units.
4. The ROSET analysis antenna continues to have problems.
In addition to the elevation malfunction which occurred in November
87 (parts are on order), the braking system in the azimuth
function of the antenna has now developed a problem. All
indicators seem to point to a microswitch in the brake mechanism.
Efforts to repair it are continuing and hopefully the problem
will be resolved in the next few days.
D. Cruising
1. In coordination with the Okinawa staff cruiser, a
program has been introduced to further improve the bureau's HF
cruising methods and procedures. The daily cruising logs are mailed
weekly to the staff cruiser, who provides feedback on ways to improve
the log and offers suggestions on specific areas to concentrate on.
A significant improvement has been noticed already.
2. The Palapa 77E satellite, which had been in
continuous operation since 1977, was apparently removed from
orbit on 30 January as promised by Indonesia's Antara news
agency, as no trace of it has been observed since that date.
With 10 years in orbit, this first-generation satellite exceeded
its life expectancy by more than 3 years.
3. The (Clandestine) Voice of the People of Burma,
which had not been heard since 10 February, returned to the air
on its regular frequency of 5110 khz on 26 February. The station
gave no explanation for its 16-day downtime.
III. ADMINISTRATION
A. Personnel
1. Editor
effective 14 Februa
y?
2. Lao/Thai monitor
effective 28 February.
3.
on duty 14 F
was promoted to GS-11/5
received a QSI
, the new Cambodian monitor, entered
STAT
STAT
STAT
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,
B. Buildinq_and_Grounds
? 1. The second portion of the retaining wall at Bang Ping
has been completed. The retaining wall not only improves the
physical appearance of the receiver site, but will also make more
land available for future expansion, such as the installation of
small (2-7 meters) ROSET antennas which can be dedicated to a
particular satellite, thereby freeing the larger antennas for
other operational needs.
C. Visits
1. Mr. Henry Schneider of FBO/State Dept. visited the bureau
on 17 February to discuss bureau requirements for the new chancery
building.
2. The auditors visited the bureau 29 February-01 March.
uniet, Bangkok Bureau
STAT
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BANGKOK BUREAU PRODUCTION REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 1988
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:
II. INPUT OF REGULAR COVERAGE:
(minutes or issues per week)
III. OUTPUT FROM ROSET SOURCES:
(publishable words per month)
INDIA
Delhi General Overseas Service in
English
Delhi Domestic Service in
English
Delhi Doordarshan Television Network in
English
INDONESIA
Jakarta TVRI Television Network in
Indonesian
Jakarta ANTARA in
English
MALAYSIA
Kuala Lumpur RIM Television Network 1 in
Malay
Kuala Lumpur BERNAMA in
English ,
PHILIPPINES
Quezon City RPN 9 Television in
English
Manila PNA in
English
SRI LANKA
757,130
212,980
1,580
BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
20,637 22,035
min. min.
2,720,-
41,760
2,770
-120
1,980
10,500
18,610
7,640
Colombo LANKA PUWATH in
English 13,430
336.46
issues
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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
Dhaka Overseas Service in
English
Dhaka Domestic Service in
English
Dhaka Domestic Service in
Bengali
Dhaka THE BANGLADESH OBSERVER in
English
Dhaka SANGBAD in
Bengali
BRUNEI
Page 2
BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
14,590
980
6,450
. 230
0
0
1,680
1,540
Kuala Belait THE BORNEO BULLETIN in
English 0
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
English
Phnom Penh SPK in
French to KPL Vientiane
Phnom Penh SPK in
French -
9,970
18,470
9,900
6,950
2,080
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CHINA
BROAD-
CASTS
PRESS
AGENCIES
Page 3
PUBLI-
CATION
Beijing International Service in
Bengali
0
Beijing International Service in
Burmese
0
Beijing International Service in
Indonesian
0
Beijing International Service i
-n
Lao
0
Beijing International Service in
Thai
0
Beijing International Service in
Vietnamese
260
Beijing in
Cambodian to Cambodia
3,040
Beijing in
Hindi to India
0
Beijing in
Malay to Malaysia
0
Beijing in
Urdu to India and Pakistan
0
CLANDESTINE
in
(Clandestine) Voice of Democratic Kampuchea
Cambodian
8,260
(Clandestine) Voice of Malayan Democracy in
Malay
3,620
-(Clandestine) Voice of the Khmer in
Cambodian
9,990
,(Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of
Democratic Kampuchea in
Cambodian
(Clandestine) Voice of the People of Burma
in
2,380
Burmese
2,550
HONG KONG
Hong Kong AFP in
English
61,950
INDIA
Delhi General Overseas Service in
English
2,720
Delhi Domestic Service in
English
41,760
Delhi Doordarshan Television Network in
English
2,770
Delhi ISI Diplomatic Information Service in
English
1,000
Delhi INDIAN EXPRESS in
English
0
Delhi PATRIOT in
English
3,600
Delhi THE HINDUSTAN TIMES in
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INDIA (continued)
Madras DINAMALAR in
Tarnil
Bombay NAVBHARAT TIMES in
Hindi
Calcutta ANANDA BAZAR PATRIKA in
Bengali
INDONESIA
Jakarta International Service in
English
Jakarta Domestic Service in
Indonesian
Jakarta TVRI Television Network 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
LAOS
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BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
500
7,130
120
0
0
760
1,230
1,620
0
820
50
1,020
970
Vientiane Domestic Service in
Lao 80,270
Vientiane KPL in
English 33,940
Vientiane KPL in
English to SPK Phnom Penh 0
Vientiane KPL in
French to SPK Phnom Penh 0
Vientiane SPK in
French to SPK Phnom Penh 0
Vientiane PASASON in
Lao 0
Vientiane VIENTIANE MAI in
Lao 0
MALAYSIA
Kuala Lumpur International Service in
English
Kuala Lumpur Domestic Service in
Pnnli,mh
5 36n
-
0
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MALAYSIA (continued)
BROAD-
CASTS
PRESS
AGENCIES
PUBLI-
CATION
300
in
1,980
Kuala Lumpur Domestic Service in
Malay
Kuala Lumpur RTM Television Network 1
Malay
Kuala Lumpur BERNAMA in
English
18,610
Kuala Lumpur NEW STRAITS TIMES in
English
0
Kuala Lumpur NEW SUNDAY TIMES in
English
0
Kuala Lumpur BERITA HARIAN in
Malay
0
Kuala Lumpur BERITA MINGGU in
Malay
0
Kuala Lumpur MINGGUAN MALAYSIA in
Malay
0
Kuala Lumpur UTUSAN MALAYSIA in
Malay
0
NEPAL
Kathmandu External Service in
English
0
Kathmandu THE RISING NEPAL in
English
260
NEW ZEALAND
Auckland THE NEW ZEALAND HERALD in
English
810
Wellington THE EVENING POST in
English
0
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
1,870
5,440
14,820
0
5,940
2,510
820
250
790
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PHILIPPINES
Quezon City RPN 9 Television in
English
Manila PNA in
English
SINGAPORE
Singapore Domestic Service 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 VIRAKESARI in
Tamil
THAILAND
BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
2,110
1,900
?1,840
0
0
7,640
13,430
Bangkok Voice of Free Asia in
English
960
Bangkok Voice of Free Asia in
Cambodian
0
Bangkok Voice of Free Asia in
Thai
5,820
Bangkok Domestic Service in
English
1,240
Bangkok Domestic Service in
Thai
13,890
Bangkok First Army Division Radio in
Thai
1,980
Bangkok Army Television Channel 5 in
Thai
3,080
Bangkok Thai Color Television Channel
3
in
Thai
310
Bangkok Thai Color Television Channel
9
in
Thai
1,000
Bangkok Army Television Channel 7 in
Thai
- 440
0
190
0
2,100
0
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BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
THAILAND (continued)
Bangkok TNA in
English
Bangkok BANGKOK POST in
English
Bangkok THE NATION in
English
Bangkok KHAO PHISET in
Thai
Bangkok LAK THAI in
Thai
Bangkok MATICHON in
Thai
Bangkok MATICHON SUT SAPDA in
Thai
Bangkok NAEO NA in
Thai
Bangkok SIAM RAT in
Thai
Bangkok SIAM RAT SAPDA WICHAN in
Thai
Bangkok SU ANAKHOT in
Thai
Bangkok THAI RAT in
Thai
Bangkok ZHONG HUA RIBAO in
Chinese
Bangkok XING XIAN RIBAO in
Chinese
Bangkok XIN ZHONG YUAN RIBAO in
Chinese
UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
Moscow International Service in
Tamil 0
Moscow International Service in
Vietnamese ? 1,970
Moscow in
Bengali to Bangladesh 0 ?
Moscow in
Burmese to Burma 0
Moscow in
Cambodian to Cambodia 610
Moscow in
Hindi to India 0
Moscow in
Indonesian to Indonesia 2,280
Moscow in
Lao to Laos 1,160
?Moscow in
Thai to Thailand 0
Moscow in
Urdu to India 0
Moscow in
Urdu to Pakistan 0
890
59,000
47,060
0
0
3,450
0
2,730
4,930
0
0
2,550
520
0
280
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Page
BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS (continued)
MOSCOW Radio Peace and Progress in
Indonesian 0
UNITED KINGDOM
London BBC World Service in
English 7,590
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 [MAN DOI NHAN DAN in
Vietnamese
Hanoi TAP CHI CONG SAN in
Vietnamese
Hanoi TAP CHI OUAN DOI NHAN DAN in
Vietnamese
Ho Chi Minh City SAIGON GIAI PHONG in
Vietnamese
3,850
0
360
50,590
60,190
22,880
9,490
0
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0