MONTHLY REPORT - BANGKOK BUREAU - APRIL 1985

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86-00040R000300510016-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2010
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: May 7, 1985
• Content Type: MEMO

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7 May 1985
MBK-5006
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, Foreign Broadcast Information Service
THROUGH: Chief, Operations Group
SUBJECT: Monthly Report - Bangkok Bureau - April 1985
A. An agreement was signed on 3 April between the bureau chief and the
director general of the Thai Department of Aviation authorizing the installa-
tion of a satellite earth station at the Bang Ping receiver site. This capped
an effort of more than a year to obtain such authorization from the Thai
Government. ,O? t ' t n~T
B. The 10th anniversary of the communist victory in Saigon was celebrated
with great fanfare. Vietnam opened its doors to a horde of Western newsmen
who flooded not only Ho Chi Minh City but Bangkok -- the rear support area -- as
well. Vietnam's publicity extravaganza appears to have backfired, however, as
most of the reporting coming out of Vietnam during the month focused on the
failure of the socialist system there. In contrast, the 10th anniversary of
the Khmer Rouge victory in Phnom Penh was marked only with a very subdued
ceremony in Phnom Penh in which the Heng Samrin government representatives
.criticized the Khmer Rouge as much as they did the Western "colonialists."
A. Monitorial/Editorial
1. On the basis of a report appearing in a Thai publication not
monitored by the bureau, MOD on 16 April reported that the clandestine Voice
of the People of Thailand radio of the Thai Communist Party was once more said
to be broadcasting on its old frequencies. The bureau had been maintaining
cruising checks on these frequencies and was able to confirm that VOPT was
not using them.
2. The clandestine Voice of the People of Burma, radio of the Burmese
Communist Party, has been silent since 17 April. Technical difficulties offer
the most likely explanation for this: VOPB did not announce formally that it
was going off the air as two previously discontinued Southeast Asian clandestine
radios had done, and it has had previous outages for technical reasons. However,
the almost simultaneous announcement by Rangoon that Burmese leader Ne Win was
about to visit the PRC -- for the first time in his capacity as ruling party
leader -- has raised the possibility that Beijing has silenced the radio for
political reasons. The bureau and AG are consulting on this development. V
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3. The Malay-language broadcasts of the clandestine Voice of the
People of Malaysia radio of the breakaway Malaysian Communist Party faction,
which had been unheard at the bureau since March, became monitorable.once
more as of 28 April. No explanation was given of why these progran-s became
unmonitorable while the radio's broadcasts in other languages continued to
be heard.
4. Four small PAL color TV sets have been purchased and will be
modified to provide a video array for the Thai section to help cope with
the unannounced live military and civilian leader addresses that have occasionally
been carried on one or more Bangkok TV stations.
B. Communications
bureau's primary communications circuit was rehomed to Clark
on 4 April. This had the unexpected effect of cutting off our
a trout which was, however, recovered by early
May. The Clark circuit has thus far been shown to be less stable than the
primary circuit had been.
C. Technical
Associate Editor has been training other editors and
the chief monitor to use the IBM-PC located in the editorial room. Editor
has already created a file on the bureau's library holdings,
while Chief Monitor has created a publications subscription file
and Senior Editor has begun to input the editorial SOP book.
III. ADMINISTRATION
Buid/in sand Grounds
Antenna field maintenance at Bang Ping is almost completed after the
setting and guying of four new concrete poles and the restringing of trans-
mission lines. As usual, several large deadly snakes were killed in the
antenna field. The bureau chief was presented with the skin of a viper (it
has been left to AG to analyze the meaning). Both concrete air conditioner
pads adjacent to the Bang Ping building had sunk and had to be replaced. A
cluster of piles was used to retard the inevitable sinking of the new pads.
A. State Department health and safety inspectors Larry McGintz and Mark
Miktavage surveyed the bureau on 2 April.
B. Engineering Staff's
onducted a
survey of the Bang Ping receiver site and held meetings with-local contractors
and with the embassy's Customs and Shipping office 29 April - 4 May in anticipa-
tion of the delivery and installation of the ROSET equipment.
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C. The bureau chief was in Headquarters for the Bureau Chiefs' Conference
15-24 April and observed Panama Bureau's ROSET, 29 April - 1 May, returning
to the bureau on 4 May.
Deputy Chiefl spearheaded a semiofficial American Community-Bangkok
Community Theatre-Bangkok Music Society full-scale production of the Broadway
musical "Fiddler on the Roof" at the American University Association Auditorium
18 - 20 April. The opening night charity performance, presided over by 1st
Army Region Commander Lt Gen Pichit Kullavanich (a major figure in Thailand)
and by American Ambassador John Gunther Dean, raised nearly 100,000 baht for
General Pichit's favorite charity. Joining General Pichit, the Deans, the USIS
director and the 0 in the dignitaries box were Thai DCI Piya Chakkaphak
and various Thai military leaders. In the country team meeting following the
financially and critically successful production, the Ambassador remarked
favorably on the timely melding of the cultural event with embassy goals.
Chief, Bangkok Bureau
RAW:lf
Attachment:
Monthly Production Report
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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:
II. INPUT OF REGULAR COVERAGE:
(minutes or issues per week)
III. 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
690,590
280,060.
1,605
BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
19,685 20,450 251.00
'min. min. issues
20,410
1,690
1,260
0
Dhaka
Domestic
Bengali
Service in
350
Dhaka
Domestic
English
Service in
1,350
Dhaka
Overseas
Bengali
Service in
1,800
Dhaka
Overseas
English
Service in
Dhaka BSS in
English
Dhaka SANGBAD in
Bengali
Dhaka THE BANGLADESH OBSERVER in
English
BRUNEI
Kuala Belait THE BORNEO BULLETIN in
English
BURMA
Rangoon Domestic Service in
Burmese
3,600
1,030
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BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
Rangoon BOTATAUNG in
Burmese
Rangoon LOKTHA PYEITHU NEZIN in
Burmese.
Rangoon MYANMA ALIN in
Burmese
Rangoon WORKING PEOPLE'S DAILY in
English
CHINA
Beijing International Service in
Bengali
0
Beijing International Service in
Burmese
860
Beijing International Service in
Indonesian
Beijing International Service in
2,540
Indonesian
Beijing International Service in
Lao
Beijing International Service in
650
280
Thai
Beijing in
0
Cambodian to Kampuchea
7,980
Beijing in
Hindi to India
0
Beijing in
Malay to Malaysia
Beijing in
Urdu to India and Pakistan
CLANDESTINE
(Clandestine) Vietnam Resistance Radio in
Vietnamese
0
(Clandestine)
Cambodian
Voice of Democratic Kampuchea in
35,430
(Clandestine)
Malay
Voice of Malayan Democracy in
5,690
(Clandestine)
Cambodian
Voice of The National Army Democratic Kampuchea in
14,960
(Clandestine)
Burmese
Voice of The People of Burma in
1,110
(Clandestine)
Malay
Voice of The People of Malaysia in
0
HONG KONG
Hong Kong AFP in
English
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BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
INDIA
Delhi Domestic Service in
English 60,410
Delhi General Overseas Service in
English 4,610
Delhi ISI Diplomatic Information Service in
English 1,230
Delhi PTI in
English 2,870
Bombay THE TIMES OF INDIA in
English
1,520
Calcutta ANANDA BAZAR PATRIKA in
Bengali
0
Calcutta THE STATESMAN in
English
1,690
Delhi
INDIA TODAY in
English
0
Delhi
INDIAN EXPRESS in
English
3,770
Delhi
NATIONAL HERALD in
English
460
Delhi
PATRIOT in
English
0
Delhi THE HINDUSTAN TIMES in
English
2,980
Madras THE HINDU in
English
INDONESIA
Jakarta Domestic Service in
Indonesian 27,690
Jakarta International Service in
English 5,150
Jakarta BERITA BUANA in
Indonesian
Jakarta JAKARTA POST in
English
Jakarta KOMPAS in
Indonesian
Jakarta MERDEKA in
Indonesian
Jakarta SINAR HARAPAN in
Indonesian
Jakarta TEMPO in
Indonesian
Jakarta THE INDONESIA TIMES in
English
KAMPUCHEA
Phnom Penh Domestic Service in
Cambodian 47,860
U
0
2,200
0
3,110
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Phnom Penh SPK in
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BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
English
20,560
Phnom
Penh
SPK in
7,070
French
Phnom
Penh
French
SPK
to
in
KPL
Vientiane
0
Phnom
Penh
VNA
in
Vietnamese
to
VNA Hanoi
Vientiane Domestic Service in
Lao
Vientiane KPL in
English
Vientiane KPL in
English/French to SPK Phnom Penh
Vientiane SPK in
French to SPK Phnom Penh
Vientiane VNA in
Vietnamese to VNA Hanoi
Vientiane PASASON in
Lao
MALAYSIA
42,890
Kuala
Lumpur
English
Domestic Service in
8,700
Kuala
Lumpur
Malay
5,060
Kuala
Lumpur
English
International Service
16,160
Kuala
Kuala
Lumpur
Malay
Lumpur
Malay
International Service
BERITA HARIAN in
2,180
Kuala
Lumpur
English
6,630
Kuala
Lumpur
English
0
Kuala
NEPAL
Lumpur
Malay
Katmandu External Service in
English
Katmandu THE RISING NEPAL in
English
PAKISTAN
Karachi Domestic Service in
English
14,250
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Karachi Domestic Service in
Urdu
Karachi Overseas Service in
Urdu
SINGAPORE
Singapore Domestic Service in
English
Singapore THE STRAITS TIMES in
English
Singapore THE SUNDAY TIMES in
English
SRI LANKA
Colombo Domestic Service in
English
Colombo Domestic Service in
Tamil
Colombo International Service in
English
Colombo International Service in
Hindi
Colombo DAILY NEWS in
English
Colombo SUN in
English
Colombo WEEKEND in
English
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BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
14,090
4,050
U
190
9,240
480
THAILAND
Bangkok Domestic Service in
English
Bangkok Domestic Service in
Thai
Bangkok First Army Division Radio in
Thai
Bangkok Voice of Free Asia in
Cambodian
Bangkok Voice of Free Asia in
English
Bangkok Voice of Free Asia in
Lao
Bangkok Voice of Free Asia in
Thai
Bangkok Voice of Free Asia in
Vietnamese
Bangkok BAN MUANG in
Thai
Bangkok BANGKOK POST in
English
Bangkok BANGKOK WORLD in
English
2 430
6,300
1,380
3,150
0
2,970
420
2,360
1,940
320
34,070
15,030
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Bangkok LAK THAI in
Thai
Bangkok MATICHON SUT SAPDA in
Thai
Bangkok MATICHON in
Thai
Bangkok MATUPHUM in
Thai
Bangkok PATINYA in
Thai
Bangkok SIAM RAT SAPDA WICHAN in
Thai
Bangkok SIAM RAT in
Thai
Bangkok SU ANAKHOT in
Thai
Bangkok THAI RAT in
Thai
Bangkok THE NATION REVIEW in
English
Bangkok WIWAT in
Thai
UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
Moscow International Service in
Tamil
Moscow Radio Peace and Progress in
Indonesian
Moscow in
Bengali to Bangladesh
Moscow in
Burmese to Burma
Moscow in
Cambodian to Kampuchea
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
0
0
7,950
3,240
2,800
3,840
UNITED KINGDOM
London BBC World Service in
. English
3,020
BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
0
950
2,090
1,790
1,830
33,580
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VIETNAM
Hanoi Domestic Service in
Vietnamese
Hanoi International Service in
Cambodian
Hanoi International Service in
English
Hanoi International Service in
Thai
Hanoi NHAN DAN in
Vietnamese to NHAN DAN Ho Chi Minh City
Hanoi VNA in
English
Hanoi NHAN DAN in
Vietnamese
Hanoi QUAN DOI NHAN DAN in
Vietnamese
Hanoi TAP CHI CONG SAN in
Vietnamese
BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATION
75,800
8,370
2,190
1,860
7,600
11,900
0
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