Next stop: poor hilltribes

BANGKOK: -- The prime minister plans to spend a night or two at a hill-tribe community in Mae Hong Son to get first-hand information about their problems, a spokesman for his political party said yesterday.

Thaksin Shinawatra will travel to the northern border province in a month or two to meet local villagers and hear them talk about their problems, said Suthin Klangsang, deputy spokesman for the governing Thai Rak Thai party.

Suthin said the party's MP for Mae Hong Son, Somboon Praiwan, had told Thaksin about an land dispute between the villagers and local forestry officials. The prime minister promised the MP that he would go there to get first-hand information about the issue, according to the spokesman.

Thaksin is continuing to arrange meetings at Government House with less fortunate groups of society such as beggars, Suthin said. On Sunday the prime minister hosted thousands of taxi and tuk-tuk drivers for a lunch and talk with him.

--The Nation 2004-05-18

Hey maybe we could get together and get a meeting with the Prime Minister also. There we could let him know how we feel we could aid Thailand as a whole by being allowed to be more productive residents rather than having our abilities and capabilities bound by laws that benefit no one.

There is a farang that works at the highest levels of Thai Government, advising the Thai Government on many matters. I do not recall his name but I seem to remmebr that he was once a German Diplomat. He would be the person to contact.

Accentuate the positive, the possible and disregard the nagative, that is the way to approach our problems.