Contents
List of plates and tables
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of acronyms and abbreviations
Introduction as the virtual centre of Southeast Asia
1 Singapore, KL and Bangkok as rival communications centres
Communications regionalism and techno-nationalism 8
Singapore the price of being on intelligent island 11
Kuala Lumpur the Malaysian Multimedia Super Corridor 17
Bangkok a capital of consumer desire 22
The limits to techno-nationalism 30
2 Development and democratization the 1997 Asian crisis
Singapore, Malaysia and the crisis 34
The Thai crisis why did it happen who was to blame, what is to be done?40
Regional resource controversies in Thailand's poorer neighbours 45
The media and environmental politics 53
Thaksinomics' and Thai regional ambitions 58
3 The military the media and moral panics
Media control and moral panics in Singapore and Malaysia 62
Thailand 2001 social order and the war on terror 71
2002 muzzling the media - the AMLO affair 79
vi Contents
2003 the war on drugs and the Chuwit sideshow 82
Moral media panics as a moveable feast 87
4 Media reform and civil society in Amazing Thailand
Civil society and Thai print journalism 90
The main media players 93
Media business and the National Broadcasting Commission 98
Commission radio people 's empowerment or political pawn? 104
Remodelling the media by preferential privatization 109
The limits of Thai media reform 114
5 Tourism and terrorism in mainland Southeast Asia
Regional tourism and rivalries 118
Thai tourism take 1 a land of diversity and refinement' 123
Thai tourism take 2 sun, sand and S A R S 130
Terrorism and disorder in Southeast Asia 136
Tourism, terrorism and collective memory 144
6 The Tai movie renaissance
Screening the nation alternative histories 148
Alternative routes to transnationalization 153
Gender the body and the family 156
Ghost movies phii versus phra 164
Defining the self 167
Cultural tensions in Thai movies 172
Afterword the media and cultural politics mainland Southeast Asia
Appendix a sample of Thai movies
Notes
Rotes
Index

Written by an established expert on Thailand, this is one of the first books to fully investigate the Thai media's role during the Thaksin government's first term. Incorporating political economy and media theory, the book provides a unique insight into globalization in Southeast Asia, analyzing the role of communications and media in regional cultural politics.

Examining the period from the mid 1990s, Lewis makes a sustained comparison between Thailand and its neighbouring countries in relation to the media, business, politics and popular culture. Covering issues including business development, tourism, the Thai movie industry and the war on terror, the book argues that globalization as it relates to media, can be patterned on Thai experiences.