Thai stock market rumour case unfolds, breeds even more rumours
By Jon Fernquest
Last
month rumours allegedly caused a two-day crash on
Thailand's stock market. Two arrests have been made in the case.
One arrest was made apparently for translating parts of a Bloomberg article into Thai and posting the translation on a Thai website, the small web-based newspaper Prachathai.com (Read posting cached by Google, see photo of arrest on right).
No one seems to understand what the police are doing in arresting suspects in the stock market rumour case.
@Bangkokpundit has written an excellent dissection of the case (Read article).
Meanwhile, rumours have bred more rumours about who spread the first rumours (Read article).
Will the tangled web of rumours ever be unwound?
Today's article, the Bangkok Post editorial, takes a sceptical view of the whole affair.
At least it is not against the law (yet?) to write about the original rumours and the rumours of who spread those rumours, all the while not, hopefully....creating even more rumours.
Could a quixotic Keystone Cops-like search for the font of all rumours tarnish the national image more than the original rumour itself?
rumour - a piece of
information or claim that passes from person to person (word-of-mouth)
without evidence to prove it (See Wikipedia)
spread rumours - tell rumours to other people, who will tell to even more people, and so on....
allegedly - claimed but not yet proven
Bloomberg - a financial news company based in New York (See Wikipedia)
Prachathai.com - "an independent, non-profit, daily web newspaper established in June 2004 to provide reliable and relevant news and information to the Thai public during an era of serious curbs on the freedom and independence of Thai news media" (From website)
cached - an extra copy saved by Google (in case the original disappears)
breed - create more
tangled web - many things mixed up in complicated ways, difficult to know what is going on (like a spider's web)
unwind tangled web - finding out how complicated thing works
sceptical - not believing easily, tending to not believe
quixotic - highly imaginative but unrealistic (based on the character of Don Quixote)
Don Quixote - a classic Spanish novel published in 1605-1615 that satirizes many things (orthodoxy, truth, veracity, and even nationalism) through the imaginary wanderings of an old knight and his servant (See Wikipedia)
Keystone Cops - "a series of silent film comedies about a totally incompetent group of policemen produced from 1912 to 1917" (See Wikipedia)
font of - the origin of
tarnish - make dirty
national image - the picture that people have of a country in their minds
spread rumours - tell rumours to other people, who will tell to even more people, and so on....
allegedly - claimed but not yet proven
Bloomberg - a financial news company based in New York (See Wikipedia)
Prachathai.com - "an independent, non-profit, daily web newspaper established in June 2004 to provide reliable and relevant news and information to the Thai public during an era of serious curbs on the freedom and independence of Thai news media" (From website)
cached - an extra copy saved by Google (in case the original disappears)
breed - create more
tangled web - many things mixed up in complicated ways, difficult to know what is going on (like a spider's web)
unwind tangled web - finding out how complicated thing works
sceptical - not believing easily, tending to not believe
quixotic - highly imaginative but unrealistic (based on the character of Don Quixote)
Don Quixote - a classic Spanish novel published in 1605-1615 that satirizes many things (orthodoxy, truth, veracity, and even nationalism) through the imaginary wanderings of an old knight and his servant (See Wikipedia)
Keystone Cops - "a series of silent film comedies about a totally incompetent group of policemen produced from 1912 to 1917" (See Wikipedia)
font of - the origin of
tarnish - make dirty
national image - the picture that people have of a country in their minds
Opinion
EDITORIAL Criminals or scapegoats?
3/11/2009Police investigators plan to round up at least two more suspects after they arrested two accused rumour-mongers over the weekend for of the alleged violationsComputer Offence Act.
Their crime? Allegedly disseminating false information that contributed to the two-day crash on the Stock Exchange of Thailand last month.
scapegoats - people
punished for something not their fault (See Wikipedia)
round up - gather together, collect together
rumour-mongers - bad people who have habit of creating rumours
accused rumour-mongers - people claimed to be bad rumour spreaders (but not proven yet)
alleged - claimed but not yet proven
alleged violations - claimed that people broke the law but not yet proven
Computer Offence Act - Thailand's new 2007 law on cyber crime (See translation and summary)
disseminate - spread
disseminate information - spread information, tell other people about something
allegedly disseminating false information - claimed to have spread information that was not true, but not yet proven
round up - gather together, collect together
rumour-mongers - bad people who have habit of creating rumours
accused rumour-mongers - people claimed to be bad rumour spreaders (but not proven yet)
alleged - claimed but not yet proven
alleged violations - claimed that people broke the law but not yet proven
Computer Offence Act - Thailand's new 2007 law on cyber crime (See translation and summary)
disseminate - spread
disseminate information - spread information, tell other people about something
allegedly disseminating false information - claimed to have spread information that was not true, but not yet proven
The arrests are troubling on a number of grounds. Securities regulators have taken pains to say that no clear evidence exists of share manipulation or insider trading. An investor intent on profiting from a rapid decline in the market can most easily do so through a technique known as short-selling. But activity in the securities borrowing and lending market was quite normal for the week in question. Indeed, many analysts would argue that a decline is long overdue, considering that the year-long rally in global share prices has pushed valuations well beyond both fundamental and historical levels.
troubling on a number of grounds - troubling
for many reasons
securities regulators - stock market police, government agencies that make sure that buying and selling of stocks and bonds follows the law
taken pains to... - have been very careful to..., have tried very hard to...
manipulation - controlling or influencing something for personal gain (illegal or immoral)
share manipulation - controlling stock prices for personal gain
insider trading - trading stocks with special information that other people don't have for personal gain (See Wikipedia)
X intent on Y - X wants to do Y (not accident, intentional)
a decline is long overdue - a decline should have happened a long time ago
rally in global share prices - stock market prices around the world start rising
valuations - the value given to traded stocks and bonds
securities regulators - stock market police, government agencies that make sure that buying and selling of stocks and bonds follows the law
taken pains to... - have been very careful to..., have tried very hard to...
manipulation - controlling or influencing something for personal gain (illegal or immoral)
share manipulation - controlling stock prices for personal gain
insider trading - trading stocks with special information that other people don't have for personal gain (See Wikipedia)
X intent on Y - X wants to do Y (not accident, intentional)
a decline is long overdue - a decline should have happened a long time ago
rally in global share prices - stock market prices around the world start rising
valuations - the value given to traded stocks and bonds
Police have yet to say whether Thiranant Wipuchanin and Katha Pajajariyapong, currently free on bail, personally profited from their actions in posting sensitive information on public websites. Ms Thiranant for her part argues that she simply translated foreign news reports into Thai. It appears that their offence has less to do with market manipulation than with falling prey to the catch-all crime of harming national security.
By being charged under the controversial two-year-old Computer Offence Act, they are essentially being accused of using their computers to post "false information" that could cause harm to national security and the public.
bail - property
deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect
from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial
or hand over the bail to the court (See Wikipedia)
free on bail - the suspect has paid the bail and been released from jail until trial date
sensitive information - information that must be dealt with carefully (perhaps keeping it secret or limiting access)
falling prey to - being harmed by
catch-all - includes everything, covers everything
security - all the actions and measures taken to protection a place
national security - the measures taken to protect a whole country
falling prey to the catch-all crime of harming national security -
charged under Y - starting a legal case against someone for breaking law Y
controversial - causing argument and disagreement
free on bail - the suspect has paid the bail and been released from jail until trial date
sensitive information - information that must be dealt with carefully (perhaps keeping it secret or limiting access)
falling prey to - being harmed by
catch-all - includes everything, covers everything
security - all the actions and measures taken to protection a place
national security - the measures taken to protect a whole country
falling prey to the catch-all crime of harming national security -
charged under Y - starting a legal case against someone for breaking law Y
controversial - causing argument and disagreement
Ms Thiranant, a former executive at UBS Securities (Thailand), told the media that covered her high-profile arrest at Suvarnabhumi Airport, that she did post such a report - after the stock market closed for the day - on the news website Prachathai.com.
Police and prosecutors have been economical in the extreme with information on these arrests.
UBS - a global
financial services company with headquarters in Basel and Zürich,
Switzerland, the world's largest manager of private wealth assets, "the
world's biggest manager of other people's money" (See Wikipedia)
Prachathai.com - "an independent, non-profit, daily web newspaper established in June 2004 to provide reliable and relevant news and information to the Thai public during an era of serious curbs on the freedom and independence of Thai news media" (From website)
economical - frugal, not giving very much
economical in the extreme with information - do not give very much information at all
Prachathai.com - "an independent, non-profit, daily web newspaper established in June 2004 to provide reliable and relevant news and information to the Thai public during an era of serious curbs on the freedom and independence of Thai news media" (From website)
economical - frugal, not giving very much
economical in the extreme with information - do not give very much information at all
On the face of available information, the charges under the computer legislation are weak. The rumours at the SET last month spread rapidly, and not only in Thailand. Indeed, technology experts reported well before the police that the first mention of the rumours outside the Stock Exchange itself was made by the Hong Kong bureau of the Bloomberg financial news agency and picked up by other news agencies.
If Ms Thiranant is to be charged with translating and re-sending an existing report, why have investigators made no mention of the original?
The Computer Crimes Act, denounced when it was passed under the military regime, has turned out much like its critics feared - being used as a catch-all law to stifle criticism and to intimidate the media. The Bloomberg report did not speculate about His Majesty's health. It reported the fact, as did hundreds of news outlets, that a sell-off at the SET was the result of ill-intentioned rumours.
If this is in itself a crime, then Ms Thiranant and Mr Katha should expect to be joined with plenty of company within the next several days.
A vital and urgent question is whether Ms Thiranant and Mr Katha are scapegoats. On the evidence released by police, the two neither started nor profited from the rumour.
If authorities expect to rebuild the confidence shattered by the October rumour-mongering, they will have to come up with the party or parties who started the ill-intentioned and criminal reports - not just simple messengers who passed them along.
On the face of available
information,... - using available information (but not
analyzing it deeply)
denounced - criticise strongly and publicly for doing something wrong
stifle - prevent a good thing from continuing
stifle criticism - stop criticism
intimidate - frighten people to make them do what you want
intimidate the media - frighten the media (so that it doesn't write or talk about certain stories or information)
intention - wanting to do something, wanting to achieve a goal
ill-intentioned - wanting to do something bad
ill-intentioned rumours - spreading false information to do something bad (like harm another person)
evidence released by police - evidence made public (given to public) by the police
rebuild the confidence - make people believe in them once again
denounced - criticise strongly and publicly for doing something wrong
stifle - prevent a good thing from continuing
stifle criticism - stop criticism
intimidate - frighten people to make them do what you want
intimidate the media - frighten the media (so that it doesn't write or talk about certain stories or information)
intention - wanting to do something, wanting to achieve a goal
ill-intentioned - wanting to do something bad
ill-intentioned rumours - spreading false information to do something bad (like harm another person)
evidence released by police - evidence made public (given to public) by the police
rebuild the confidence - make people believe in them once again
(Source: Bangkok Post, EDITORIAL Criminals or scapegoats?, 3/11/2009, link)
