Former Thai senator and champion of the arts Kraisak Choonhavan successfully lobbied the Thaksin government  in 2002 to create the Ministry of Culture (MoC) and its ancillary Office of Contemporary Culture (OCAC).   Mr. Kraisak now calls MoC a censorship bureau and views Thai contemporary culture as a victim of shrinking budgets and expanding censorship.   While there have been successful contemporary projects, such as the launching of the Bangkok International Film Festival in 2003 by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (tat), the festival is plagued by budgetary problems.  The proposed Bangkok International Arts Festival (BIAF)  in essence failed.  Founded in 2004, The Office of Knowledge Development  opened the 4,490-square-meter Thailand Creative and Design Centre (TCDC) which houses a design library and two exhibition spaces, only to have TCDC's budget slashed  by 70% after the 2006 military coup.

This article was accessed on 25 Mar 2008 at <http://www.feer.com/jaunt-through-asia/2007/may/thai-culture-clashes>.