Royal Message: King Wants Drug Toll Explained

[george]

ROYAL MESSAGE: King wants drug toll explained

BANGKOK: Monarch endorses anti-narcotics campaign but asks govt to clarify causes of the 2,500 deaths

His Majesty the King called on the government yesterday to provide a detailed accounting of the estimated 2,500 people who died in the "war on drugs", saying the exact number of deaths should be ascertained and the circumstances surrounding the killings clarified.

"It is said the prime minister's war on drugs killed about 2,500 people. That is not correct. Most of them were killed by their accomplices and others by the government crackdown," the King said.

HM the King was speaking at Chitralada Palace on the eve of his 76th birthday to an audience that included Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, cabinet members and other high-ranking government officials.

The speech was broadcast live on radio and to people waiting outside the palace, as well as taped for television transmission later in the day.

The police chief should be assigned to investigate the matter and identify who was responsible for the killings in every single case, the King said.

"If the matter is not clarified, many people will blame the prime minister. The findings should be made available to the public and to the international community," he said.

The Thaksin government's war on drugs has been widely criticised both domestically and abroad, especially for the poorly explained killings of hundreds of people labelled as drug traffickers. Some UN representatives have accused the police of conducting summary executions.

Amnesty International has also called on the government to investigate each killing.

The King said that for now, no one in the government, even the prime minister, seemed to have taken responsibility for the killings.

"If this continues, in the end, the people will blame the King. This would breach the Constitution which stipulates that the King should not have to take responsibility for anything," he said.

"In this country, who is going to shoulder the responsibility?" the King said, adding that "in the end, the prime minister must take responsibility."

The figure of 2,500 killed in the crackdown on drugs seemed a small issue compared to the number of people who died from drugs, which was much greater, the King said.

"If the prime minister had not taken this action, there would be more than 2,500 deaths, including addicts, and that number would grow every year," he said.

In a lighter tone, the King urged Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, who is responsible for drug suppression and was present at the speech, to relax.

"I would like to tell the deputy prime minister not to be so serious. Every time I see him on television, he is wearing a stern face. If I had to take responsibility for everything, I would have a similar face. However, now he is relaxing more and smiling. It is good for him to smile more," the King said. His Majesty's comments drew loud laughter.

-- The Nation 2003-12-05

[mraloha]

if there was such a thing as the clear light of pure anylitical objectivity and balance that could be shead on the executions of the suspect drug dealers, it might be seen as a double edged sword, everybody envolved in this thing is a victom in one way or another. the dealers, the users, the cops, the executioners, the politicians, the farangs(laugh).

as for the pure light and vision of street talk, most people i talked to thought it was one of the most practical (why make more lawyers rich when you only have to spend money on thai cop salaries and bullets?) the corpses of the innocent could of course be seen as collateral damage in the war on drugs.

I trully respect His Majesty the Kings highly moral and trully wise approach to this matter and others in Thailand. He is a Treasure and one of the Great Monarchs in world history.

[The_Moog]

Entirely right for him to make this comment.

Such a pity that, if he hadn't made it, there would be no enquiry.

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Edited December 8, 2003 by george