เมื่อวาน คุณยอนได้มีโอกาสติดเครื่องบินนายกไปหาดใหญ่ และเขียนรายงานการสัมภาษณ์นายกให้ได้อ่านกันค่ะ
ถึงจะเป็นเพียงเสียงหนึ่งที่ไม่ได้มาจากสื่อยักษ์ใหญ่ขนาด CNN Time หรือ BBC แต่ก็สะท้อนภาพที่เขาเห็นให้ชาวต่างชาติได้ทำความเข้าใจเรื่องราวในเมืองไทยให้ถูกต้องมากขึ้น
ในแฟนเพจคุณยอน จะมีทั้งกองเชียร์ และกองแช่ง แต่เขาก็ยังเดินหน้าสะท้อนสิ่งที่เห็นต่อไป
Michael Yon :
Prime Minister Abhisit
Just completed about three hours of talks with high level Thai officials at the Government House. Learned a great deal. Am scheduled to take a trip with Prime Minister Abhisit on Sunday. This is not a press junket. I will be the only writer. Should have about an hour to talk alone with PM Abhisit during the flight. PM Abhisit's staff have placed no restrictions/guidance on what I can ask. That's a very good sign.
Michael Yon :
Prime Minister Abhisit
Took a trip today with Thai Prime Minister Abhisit. The man is very sharp and his English is as good as mine is. Nothing was lost in translation. My instinct is that the Prime Minister was giving honest answers to hard questions.
Bottom line: Prime Minister Abhisit left me with a positive impression.
Will write a dispatch about the conversation.
Michael Yon :
Thailand and Social Media
One of the interesting discoveries during my recent discussions with top Thai officials is their forward-leaning approach to social media. Officials are acutely aware that opposition is using social media with serious results. The fact that they reached out to me speaks volumes. I talked with numerous top officials over a couple days and found the discussions amazingly/refreshingly frank.
I also told Prime Minister Abhisit that despite wild reports, the Thai Army used great restraint during the fighting. Am sure he knows this, but wanted him to hear it from an outsider. I congratulated the PM on showing so much restraint. Difficult to imagine we would have used so much restraint in the United States; protestors were firing grenades and so forth.
The narrative during the fighting is skewed, as we saw in Iraq.
PM has a Twitter page. Unfortunately it's in Thai.
Michael Yon :
Thailand and Media --
Some Thais and farangs warned me about criticizing the government in Thailand. Said you would get killed. Maybe that was true of some former government, but clearly not true with this one. Witness a great amount of very negative media by foreign press here (much of which seemed clueless), yet nothing. Some journalists were killed during the actual fighting but who did it? Also, there were a lot of journalists out there. Somebody was just about bound to get hit. There was much talk among journalists -- that seemed to transcend mere rumor -- that violent opposition might target journalists. In fact, if I get killed covering Thailand, it's far more likely, I believe, to come from opposition or accident. Am simply not worried about this government, even if I were negative. If they had overreacted during the fighting I would be negative.
Am unaware of any journalists disappearing. If it were to happen, seems highly unlikely it would come from any formal government decision. More likely a radical of some sort.
PM Abhisit told me on the jet yesterday that a warrant including terrorism claims will soon be issued for Mr. Thaksin.
My view: If the evidence is sufficient, the United States should support this warrant.
เพิ่มเติมค่ะ พอดีมีคนยังคงยืนยันว่านักข่าวที่กล้าวิจารณ์รัฐบาลจะหายตัวไปอย่างลึกลับและอาจโดนฆ่า คุณยอนแกก็เลยตอบกลับไปว่า
Michael Yon
@Andrew -- interesting that you mentioned cameramen at risk. In the wars, I have often asked Combat Camera (service members who shoot photos/videos) for tips. Have been told on occasions that the most dangerous thing you can do is shoot video because you focus on the camera. During combat have seen this to be true. (And so I shoot a lot less video but am still alive.)
I have not been censured at all in Thailand and sense zero danger from the government. I feel completely free to criticize the government but do sense that I create danger by continuing to point out that opposition was firing grenades and committed arson. In fact, I think it would be completely safe for me to join the Red chorus of journalists/commentators who criticize the government. It takes no courage to criticize the Thai government. They will not hurt you. That's my sense. But I sense you could be killed for going after the militants or Thaksin.
เด๋วเค้าลงบทสัทภาษณ์แล้วจะเอามาแปะอีกทีนะคะ 
