Its shutdown political website !

Thailand orders popular political Web forum to shut, in crackdown on Internet

BANGKOK, Thailand: The Thai government continued a crackdown on the Internet by ordering one of the country's most popular chat sites to shut its political forum because of postings deemed insulting to the revered monarch, officials said Monday.

The political chat room of the Web site http://www.pantip.com was closed Sunday after authorities ordered its creators to temporarily pull the forum off-line, said Vissanu Meeyoo, a spokesman for the ministry of information and technology. The chat room carried frequent postings that criticized the leaders of a September coup and the current military-installed government.

YouTube, the popular video-sharing site, has been blocked in Thailand since Wednesday because of videos that mocked King Bhumibol Adulyadej. YouTube's owner, Google Inc., has refused to remove the videos but has said that it is working with the Thai government to resolve the impasse.

Insulting the monarchy in Thailand is a criminal offense known as lese majeste. Last month, a Swiss man was imprisoned for 10 years for vandalizing portraits of the king in northern Thailand.

Pantip.com initially posted a notice saying that its political forum, known as the Rajdamnoen Room, was suspended at the ministry's request for "national security" reasons. But the message was later withdrawn. The forum is named for an area of Bangkok that has historically been the center of pro-democracy protests.

The Web site's founder, Wanchat Padungrat, was quoted by The Nation newspaper Monday as saying he had found no postings that insulted the monarchy and did not understand the reason for the government's ban. He said the ministry did not specify which messages were offensive and implied that the military-installed government might have been offended by anti-coup postings.

The site called on its members Monday to post messages condemning Google for not removing the video clips that mocked the king. More than 1,000 people had posted messages by Monday morning, including one that said Google's reaction had "really hurt the people of Thailand" and showed a lack of respect for the country's culture and traditions.

The YouTube ban has drawn sharp reactions from critics and proponents in Thailand. Some have criticized the ban as a violation of freedom of expression and another sign of censorship by the military-installed government, which took power after a coup ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Blog master said.... It 's gone.... This 's the most popular political website of Thailand , you have to used ID card for registered it before. Its most powerful political oldest website and most natural comment. Many time , politicians , journalists or bureaucrats , even businessman have ever been used information form this website. In Thaksin era , all political website could be open by freedom but he was just accused by opposite group that its not democracy enough , for this case happened , they shut up. Its so stupid , Junta wouldn't be understand the block its make them difficult to control mid-class in Bangkok and push the people to joy with the mobs much more.

for Youtube , they could block the only one clip but they choose to blocked all website because Its have many clip about against the coup in that website , and Thaksin the Ex. PM have been used to inform to his supports.