Sam Yan Press () is an independent publishing house established in 2017 by student activists, including Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, a prominent Thai student activist. This founding came after Netiwit was dismissed from his position as president of the Chulalongkorn University Student Council in the same year. The publishing house is known for its focus on books and translations that emphasize freedom of expression, human rights, and democracy. This includes critical perspectives on the Chinese government. The establishment aimed to create a space for students to engage in and translate political and societal literature from foreign languages into Thai. The name "

Sam Yan Sam Yan (, ) is the name of an intersection and its nearby neighbourhood in Bangkok, Thailand. It connects Rama IV Road with Phaya Thai and Si Phraya roads, and is located within Pathum Wan District, next to its border with Bang Rak. The neighb ...

" is derived from the local area surrounding

Chulalongkorn University Chulalongkorn University (CU; ; , ) is a public university, public Autonomous university, autonomous research university in Bangkok, Thailand. The university was originally founded during King Chulalongkorn's reign as a school for training ro ...

. The publishing house has produced and translated books on various topics, such as

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

, the

Milk Tea Alliance The Milk Tea Alliance is a democracy and human rights movement consisting of netizens from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, and Myanmar (Burma). It originally started as an internet meme, created in response to the increased presence of Chinese nat ...

, and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

Chinese businessman contacted to close down publishing house in 2022

In May 2022, Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, a Thai activist and founder of Sam Yan Press, received an email from a private investigator in Bangkok seeking to arrange a meeting between the publishing house and a Chinese businessman. Netiwit stated that he and his team ignored the contact, believing it to be a scam. Later, in July, the detective reached out to another member of the executive team, informing them that the Chinese businessman was prepared to offer 4 million baht to shut down the publishing operations. The detective explained that the businessman's objective was to demonstrate to the Chinese government his influence in Thailand. In September, according to a post by the publishing house, the executive team received another email from the investigation company. This time, they were offered 2 million baht if they agreed to sign a “business cessation document” to shut down the company. After consulting with a lawyer, the Sam Yan Press team decided to meet with the investigator in an attempt to learn the identity of the Chinese businessman and the reasons behind his actions. As activists and student leaders, the publishing house firmly rejected all offers, stating that accepting such a proposal would be a betrayal of their principles and the values they stand for. On October 2, the executive team of Sam Yan Press received a follow-up email from the investigation company, clarifying that the businessman in question was not a member of the Chinese government. The email included a copy of his passport as proof of his identity. Despite this additional information, the publishing house once again refused the offer.

References

{{reflist Book publishing companies of Thailand Publishing companies established in 2017 Thai companies established in 2017