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Global Culture, Local Cultures, and the Internet 309

was shared among the universities, and faculties and students en-
joyed free access. Another permanent connection to the Internet
backbone was set up by the National Electronics and Computer
Technology Center (NECTEC), a government agency responsible for
computer and information technology issues, and more academic or-
ganizations joined. Soon the government decided to open up access
to the general public and dozens of commercial Internet Service
Providers (ISPs) sprang up. Today it is estimated that around
131,000 Thais are enjoying access to the Internet (Phuu Jad Kaan
Raai Wan 1997, 30).

soc.culture.thai - Wild Frontier of Things Thai
For the majority of Thai Net surfers, soc.culture.thai (SCT) is by far
the most popular Usenet newsgroup. It is perhaps the place in cy-
berspace for discussion on all sorts of aspects on Thailand, and it
deals with all aspects of Thai society and culture. Thais form the ma-
1
jority of the nationalities of discussants in the group. The news-
group derives its tremendous popularity among Thais and Thai
watchers from its free-wheeling threads of discussion in a culture
where some topics may not be discussed publicly. Furthermore, the
group also serves as a place where struggles for political freedom
take place, a phenomenon also reported by Andreas Harsono (1997)
in the case of Indonesia. During the May 1992 incident, when sol-
diers opened fire on the Thai people fighting for constitutional re-
form, the newsgroup was one of the means of struggle. The whole
world was kept informed of what actually happened, and many
Thais who were locked out of reliable information due to government
blackout of the national media relied on it to learn what was hap-
pening outside their homes. Now that the political climate is much
freer, the newsgroup still remains politically active. Members of the
newsgroup cherish the freedom to openly discuss forbidden topics
with fellow members. Such topics include the personal character of
the members of the royal family, and criticisms—or in many cases,
invectives—against the politicians.
Since Thais can apparently talk and discuss freely on the Inter-
net without fear of reprisal from the authorities, it is understand-
able that they would want the same amount of freedom outside of
the newsgroup, too. What is emerging from many discussion threads
in the group is that the participants want to see a new Thailand
which is more open and more in tune with the world community—