A War On Drugs Seems Too Easy For PM Yingluck And Chalerm

[webfact]

EDITORIAL

A war on drugs seems too easy for PM and Chalerm

By The Nation

Another round of extrajudicial killings would put Thailand in an unwanted spotlight; the anti-drugs strategy needs to be reconsidered

A big haul of seized illicit drugs was recently displayed at Government House as part of a campaign to show the public that the Pheu Thai government means business when it comes to the illegal drug trade.

Trying to come across as a voice of reason, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra stressed rehabilitation for drug-users. She said the ruling Pheu Thai Party aims to turn 400,000 of the country's 1.2 million known drug addicts into decent citizens through this process.

If she is playing the part of the "good cop", then the "bad cop" is no one other then her deputy, Chalerm Yoobamrung, who has been appointed to head this daunting mission. He has said he will get tough with drug traffickers and dealers. One wonders if he will dare to remove new police chief Priewpan Damapong if he fails to live up to the mission.

The previous police chief was removed because it was revealed that Bangkok has a number of illegal casinos hidden away in some back alleys. One wonders if there were any illegal casinos, or brothels for that matter, when Chalerm himself was serving with Thailand's finest?

But no matter how hard the Yingluck-Chalerm duo try to convince the public that they mean business, the past will continue to haunt them. When the prime minister's fugitive brother was in power back in 2003, he unleashed a deadly campaign that left about 2,500 alleged drug dealers dead. Most of these deaths were bad guys killing bad guys, the then government said.

Thai society, being largely indifferent to the notion of due legal process, welcomed these extrajudicial killings in spite of the many questions surrounding human rights issues and the complete disregard for the rule of law.

Today, a body count of alleged drug dealers can no longer be regarded as a benchmark for success. Instead we must focus on how many lives the government can turn around, as it says it will do. How the government plans to achieve the target of saving 400,000 addicts is anybody's guess.

But the government has to be reminded that it is not dealing with robots on an assembly line. These addicts are flesh and blood. The authorities cannot simply push them through some warehouse and expect them to come out bright and clean.

What has to be understood are the factors that lead people into drug use and abuse. In 2003 the alleged addicts and dealers were hunted down like dogs. Today, Yingluck says that the addicts are patients. Does she really mean that or is it just something nice and humane to say?

The new campaign will be led by Chalerm. This is not exactly reassuring to many people, given his dubious public image.

Neighbouring countries - Burma in particular - will be asked to assist Thailand in this endeavour. And if they don't, Chalerm is threatening a blame-and-shame tactic; he is going to squeal on them.

But we've heard this before - a decade ago when the then prime minister Thaksin said he would take the case to China to put further pressure on Burma to stop its drugs from pouring over the border into Thailand.

But the Chinese weren't about to let Thaksin take them for a ride just to boost his image in Thailand, and the Burmese junta wasn't about to start a war with its drug armies and opium warlords on the border just because Thai kids picked up bad habits.

That rhetoric was short-lived. And so Thaksin turned around and pushed through a crop substitution project that did more to whitewash the ethnic ceasefire groups, such as the United Wa State Army, than actually improve the situation on the ground. Remember the Thai-funded Yongkha Crop Substitution Project in the Wa-controlled border area and the Burmese-language school that nobody showed up to? Our officials forgot to ask what language the Wa people speak.

Thailand risks looking foolish again if it's anti-drug strategy is not thought through properly. The world shook its head in disbelief during the Thaksin era. Sadly, history risks repeating itself because our elected leaders are too eager to score political points by any means necessary, and our bureaucrats are too afraid to stand up to them.

-- The Nation 2011-09-14

[Buchholz]

Sadly, history risks repeating itself

Comes with the territory what with the double-whammy of Thaksin, ver. 4.0 in power, and Police Captain Chalerm in charge of policing actions.

.

[rametindallas]

They only talk about addicts and dealers. What about all the millions of casual users who are neither dealers nor addicts. What about the kingpins who run and/or control the trade. What about lax border security. It is a widely known fact the the production of the worst drugs is in Burma and it finances anti-government rebel forces wihin Burma. Dry up the supply by even 50% and the number of users will drop because it will be unaffordable to them; they will 'rehab' themselves. Until the government realizes the problem starts wilh poor enforcement and collusion between drug kingpins and law enforcement, they will make zero progress against this acknowledged scourge. Which is easier to correct? 400,000 addicts or 10,000 corrupt cops?

Edited September 14, 2011 by rametindallas

[OzMick]

The pro-Thaksin camp claims that he should be allowed to return because it is the wish of the people, and Thailand is a democracy.

Do they similarly support the wish of the people for extra-judicial killing of those involved in the drug trade?

[RogueExpat]

I have been watching the Thai Visa debate on the new "War on Drugs" and alomost everybody is getting bogged down in the details, not looking at the bigger picture.

Ignoring the fact that certain networks will remain, demand will be the same, prices and profits will be substancially up for the preferred remainder, this war on drugs, and the last one, were/are just a smoke screen to divert attention away from a myriad of other dodgy goings on in Government procurement, transfers of personnel to key positions in both the government, armed forces, and public sector, ramming dodgy policy through parliament with little or no media attention, and starting the revamp of the constitution.

Plans will have been made well in advance, and now the rabbit is being pulled out of the hat, the public will be mesmorised and not see what is going on with the hand behind the back.

[GazR]

I have been watching the Thai Visa debate on the new "War on Drugs" and alomost everybody is getting bogged down in the details, not looking at the bigger picture.

Ignoring the fact that certain networks will remain, demand will be the same, prices and profits will be substancially up for the preferred remainder, this war on drugs, and the last one, were/are just a smoke screen to divert attention away from a myriad of other dodgy goings on in Government procurement, transfers of personnel to key positions in both the government, armed forces, and public sector, ramming dodgy policy through parliament with little or no media attention, and starting the revamp of the constitution.

Plans will have been made well in advance, and now the rabbit is being pulled out of the hat, the public will be mesmorised and not see what is going on with the hand behind the back.

'You know too much.'

[rametindallas]

I have been watching the Thai Visa debate on the new "War on Drugs" and alomost everybody is getting bogged down in the details, not looking at the bigger picture.

Ignoring the fact that certain networks will remain, demand will be the same, prices and profits will be substancially up for the preferred remainder, this war on drugs, and the last one, were/are just a smoke screen to divert attention away from a myriad of other dodgy goings on in Government procurement, transfers of personnel to key positions in both the government, armed forces, and public sector, ramming dodgy policy through parliament with little or no media attention, and starting the revamp of the constitution.

Plans will have been made well in advance, and now the rabbit is being pulled out of the hat, the public will be mesmorised and not see what is going on with the hand behind the back.

I think you make a lot of sense

[siampolee]

I have been watching the Thai Visa debate on the new "War on Drugs" and alomost everybody is getting bogged down in the details, not looking at the bigger picture.

Ignoring the fact that certain networks will remain, demand will be the same, prices and profits will be substancially up for the preferred remainder, this war on drugs, and the last one, were/are just a smoke screen to divert attention away from a myriad of other dodgy goings on in Government procurement, transfers of personnel to key positions in both the government, armed forces, and public sector, ramming dodgy policy through parliament with little or no media attention, and starting the revamp of the constitution.

Plans will have been made well in advance, and now the rabbit is being pulled out of the hat, the public will be mesmorised and not see what is going on with the hand behind the back.

Indeed an astute observation of the tactics being used to divert attention from the true agenda of restoring Thaksin to power and the return of his ill gotten gains along with the furtherance of yet more corrupt practices by Brother No.his family and their brown nosing acolytes.

Edited September 14, 2011 by siampolee

[hanuman2543]

Prices for drugs will go through the roof, drug mafia will pocket even more money but the dealing will go on, only not so obvious like now. The problem of drugtaking is much bigger than the government admit it is and can"t be dealt with through police and army. From my experience they would have to arrest every second Thai between 15 and 35. Try to figure out why people taking drugs, arrest the real big bosses( not one during Thaksins war on drugs) and really sentence them, confiscate the money(not like 2 months before where they have to give back 300 million ), give real help for addiccts or legalize the whole thing. In nearly every country (espacially , the USA) the war on drugs has failed. One time try to learn from other countries.

[hammered]

I have been watching the Thai Visa debate on the new "War on Drugs" and alomost everybody is getting bogged down in the details, not looking at the bigger picture.

Ignoring the fact that certain networks will remain, demand will be the same, prices and profits will be substancially up for the preferred remainder, this war on drugs, and the last one, were/are just a smoke screen to divert attention away from a myriad of other dodgy goings on in Government procurement, transfers of personnel to key positions in both the government, armed forces, and public sector, ramming dodgy policy through parliament with little or no media attention, and starting the revamp of the constitution.

Plans will have been made well in advance, and now the rabbit is being pulled out of the hat, the public will be mesmorised and not see what is going on with the hand behind the back.

Precisely

Edited to add: all popular and populist things are also aimed at not just distracting but also at increasing popularity

Edited September 14, 2011 by hammered

[tlansford]

I have been watching the Thai Visa debate on the new "War on Drugs" and alomost everybody is getting bogged down in the details, not looking at the bigger picture.

Ignoring the fact that certain networks will remain, demand will be the same, prices and profits will be substancially up for the preferred remainder, this war on drugs, and the last one, were/are just a smoke screen to divert attention away from a myriad of other dodgy goings on in Government procurement, transfers of personnel to key positions in both the government, armed forces, and public sector, ramming dodgy policy through parliament with little or no media attention, and starting the revamp of the constitution.

Plans will have been made well in advance, and now the rabbit is being pulled out of the hat, the public will be mesmorised and not see what is going on with the hand behind the back.

Indeed an astute observation of the tactics being used to divert attention from the true agenda of restoring Thaksin to power and the return of his ill gotten gains along with the furtherance of yet more corrupt practices by Brother No.his family and their brown nosing acolytes.

you guys are on that which they will soon "wage war against"

[garrfeild]

They only talk about addicts and dealers. What about all the millions of casual users who are neither dealers nor addicts. What about the kingpins who run and/or control the trade. What about lax border security. It is a widely known fact the the production of the worst drugs is in Burma and it finances anti-government rebel forces wihin Burma. Dry up the supply by even 50% and the number of users will drop because it will be unaffordable to them; they will 'rehab' themselves. Until the government realizes the problem starts wilh poor enforcement and collusion between drug kingpins and law enforcement, they will make zero progress against this acknowledged scourge. Which is easier to correct? 400,000 addicts or 10,000 corrupt cops?

Drug addict don't tend to rehab themselves, they tend to go out and commit crimes so they can afford to buy their drugs.

The idea that they will stop 80% of drug smuggling in one year is not realistic, Show me a country who have achieved this, Would Mexico be an example?

[tlansford]

This editorial doesn't express or propose one single idea or solution.

It is long on criticism of its own strawmen and good at putting words and thoughts into the mouths and minds of others and then indirectly criticizing the people those same words and thoughts.

Not one items says "what should be done is..."

On the other hand, it is good at tying together all of the current "hot-buttons" for The Nation including "Thaskin, the fugitive", political transfers, the police chief, attacks on Chalem, & incompetence of the current gov't through association to Thaskin's gov't.

I guess with a couple more paragraphs, the editor could have worked in amnesty, red-shirt thugs, tablet PCs, and the 300B minimum wage.

Drug abuse and the violence in the drug trade is a serious issue. An article worth its salt could have been proposed something useful, or at least been thought provoking. But this one is not worth the pixels it's written on...

[Thai at Heart]

This policy will be overall very popular with a lot of people. All of what people say about prices going up to profit a smaller group of dealers is true, but the overall perception that I hear from Thai friends of mine was that drugs became more widely available under the last govt, so being perceived to crack down it will win some popularity.

Who knows, if they actually manage to achieve it without arbitrarily killing people, it might be an overwhelming success in making it harder for people to get hold of the stuff.

[rametindallas]

This editorial doesn't express or propose one single idea or solution.

It is long on criticism of its own strawmen and good at putting words and thoughts into the mouths and minds of others and then indirectly criticizing the people those same words and thoughts.

Not one items says "what should be done is..."

On the other hand, it is good at tying together all of the current "hot-buttons" for The Nation including "Thaskin, the fugitive", political transfers, the police chief, attacks on Chalem, & incompetence of the current gov't through association to Thaskin's gov't.

I guess with a couple more paragraphs, the editor could have worked in amnesty, red-shirt thugs, tablet PCs, and the 300B minimum wage.

Drug abuse and the violence in the drug trade is a serious issue. An article worth its salt could have been proposed something useful, or at least been thought provoking. But this one is not worth the pixels it's written on...

The 'other' English daily has an article saying they should go after corruption first if they want to be productive.

[Buchholz]

This policy will be overall very popular with a lot of people.

That will be contingent upon another snow job of the population as was done the last time in 2003.

Thaksin’s near monopoly over state and private broadcast media hid most of the campaign’s worst abuses from public view and allowed the government’s message that all of those killed and targeted were dangerous criminals—and not men, women, and children against whom no charge had been laid—to gain popular acceptance.

- Human Rights Watch

The problem is the internet and media is much less controllable 8 years later and so perhaps it won't be nearly as "popular" as it was purported to be in 2003.

A repeat of the same sort of slaughter as occurred then is not likely to wash with the general population quite as easily as it was manipulated before.

.

[scorecard]

I have been watching the Thai Visa debate on the new "War on Drugs" and alomost everybody is getting bogged down in the details, not looking at the bigger picture.

Ignoring the fact that certain networks will remain, demand will be the same, prices and profits will be substancially up for the preferred remainder, this war on drugs, and the last one, were/are just a smoke screen to divert attention away from a myriad of other dodgy goings on in Government procurement, transfers of personnel to key positions in both the government, armed forces, and public sector, ramming dodgy policy through parliament with little or no media attention, and starting the revamp of the constitution.

Plans will have been made well in advance, and now the rabbit is being pulled out of the hat, the public will be mesmorised and not see what is going on with the hand behind the back.

I think you make a lot of sense

Agree, there is logic in what rametindallas says.

However there is in fact a very serious drug problem.

One factor I will watch seriously, after the campaign starts / progresses, is how many druglords & kingpins and therefore how many scaly politicians and senior police have been both nabbed and seriously punished.

Another point to watch - can the new (connected) national police chief fully control the senior police officers.

There is no doubt whatever that there are many senior and very senior police involved in drugs, prostitution, gambling, mafia operations and more. If a drugs investigation gets too close, how will they react?

Extrajudicial killings with the claim of self defense?

Edited September 14, 2011 by scorecard

[hanuman2543]

The Thai police should contact Gary Lews, the regional representative of UNDOC in BKK for South-East ASIA. He said in an article on spiegel.de from today that at leat 50 gangs are involved in the drug trade between Thailand and Myanmar. When he knows that why the Thai police don"t? Honi soit qui mal y pense ("Shamed be he who thinks evil of it").

[hammered]

The final comment about bureaucrats not standing up to the elected government is weird. Bureaucrats are meant to enact government policy unless of course illegal. However, at the moment there has been nothing illegal about this war on drugs. If that changes then it needs to be addressed at the time although last time it didnt seem to be an issue with hardly anyone.

[scorecard]

The Thai police should contact Gary Lews, the regional representative of UNDOC in BKK for South-East ASIA. He said in an article on spiegel.de from today that at leat 50 gangs are involved in the drug trade between Thailand and Myanmar. When he knows that why the Thai police don"t? Honi soit qui mal y pense ("Shamed be he who thinks evil of it").

Is the der speigel article in English, any chance of sharing a link, please.

[scorecard]

The final comment about bureaucrats not standing up to the elected government is weird. Bureaucrats are meant to enact government policy unless of course illegal. However, at the moment there has been nothing illegal about this war on drugs. If that changes then it needs to be addressed at the time although last time it didnt seem to be an issue with hardly anyone.

I dispute your statement ".....the time although last time it didnt seem to be an issue with hardly anyone.....".

At the time I asked a number of people, who were saying 'good stuff' the following question: "If your son of daughter, wife, etc., happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and got assassinated by the trigger happy police, including children, would you say "never mind, it's all OK, mai phen rai?"

The response, silence, then a quick agreement, "No it would not be ok".

[sharecropper]

This editorial doesn't express or propose one single idea or solution.

It is long on criticism of its own strawmen and good at putting words and thoughts into the mouths and minds of others and then indirectly criticizing the people those same words and thoughts.

Not one items says "what should be done is..."

On the other hand, it is good at tying together all of the current "hot-buttons" for The Nation including "Thaskin, the fugitive", political transfers, the police chief, attacks on Chalem, & incompetence of the current gov't through association to Thaskin's gov't.

I guess with a couple more paragraphs, the editor could have worked in amnesty, red-shirt thugs, tablet PCs, and the 300B minimum wage.

Drug abuse and the violence in the drug trade is a serious issue. An article worth its salt could have been proposed something useful, or at least been thought provoking. But this one is not worth the pixels it's written on...

The 'other' English daily has an article saying they should go after corruption first if they want to be productive.

They could do the double and go after drug dealing police first.

[hanuman2543]

The Thai police should contact Gary Lews, the regional representative of UNDOC in BKK for South-East ASIA. He said in an article on spiegel.de from today that at leat 50 gangs are involved in the drug trade between Thailand and Myanmar. When he knows that why the Thai police don"t? Honi soit qui mal y pense ("Shamed be he who thinks evil of it").

Is the der speigel article in English, any chance of sharing a link, please.

Sorry couldn't find the article in English on spiegel.de. It is about a report from UNDOC about the use and the rise of amphetamines published on Tuesday evening in BKK. Maybe this helps to find an article or the report in English

Here a link to the report: http://www.unodc.org/eastasiaandpacific/index.html

Edited September 14, 2011 by hanuman2543

[Thai at Heart]

This policy will be overall very popular with a lot of people.

That will be contingent upon another snow job of the population as was done the last time in 2003.

Thaksin’s near monopoly over state and private broadcast media hid most of the campaign’s worst abuses from public view and allowed the government’s message that all of those killed and targeted were dangerous criminals—and not men, women, and children against whom no charge had been laid—to gain popular acceptance.

- Human Rights Watch

The problem is the internet and media is much less controllable 8 years later and so perhaps it won't be nearly as "popular" as it was purported to be in 2003.

A repeat of the same sort of slaughter as occurred then is not likely to wash with the general population quite as easily as it was manipulated before.

.

You may be right. I am only relating what I have heard during conversations. Of course the police shouldn't be allowed to round people up and shoot them, but there is an element in Thailand who see it as a price worth paying to control drugs. From the outside looking in, I have had no exposure to the drugs scene in Thailand, but it would appear to be a very serious problem, and I have had several people tell me that they feel drugs have been a more serious issue in recent years and welcome some kind of a crackdown.

I will never forget walking around the factory where I was working at the time of Taksin's crack down, and there was a commotion on the road as police cars surrounded a house about 500m from the office gates. 20 cops, one with a loud hailer were shouting into the house for everyone to come out, the people inside started shooting back first, so the cops shot up the house for a few minutes until it went quiet. No one in the factory, many of whom would have had to live nearby, batted an eyelid about it, only for a few to say they knew that it was a drug house.

Culturally difficult to understand, but that is the way it is.

[Thai at Heart]

This policy will be overall very popular with a lot of people.

That will be contingent upon another snow job of the population as was done the last time in 2003.

Thaksin’s near monopoly over state and private broadcast media hid most of the campaign’s worst abuses from public view and allowed the government’s message that all of those killed and targeted were dangerous criminals—and not men, women, and children against whom no charge had been laid—to gain popular acceptance.

- Human Rights Watch

The problem is the internet and media is much less controllable 8 years later and so perhaps it won't be nearly as "popular" as it was purported to be in 2003.

A repeat of the same sort of slaughter as occurred then is not likely to wash with the general population quite as easily as it was manipulated before.

.

You may be right. I am only relating what I have heard during conversations. Of course the police shouldn't be allowed to round people up and shoot them, but there is an element in Thailand who see it as a price worth paying to control drugs. From the outside looking in, I have had no exposure to the drugs scene in Thailand, but it would appear to be a very serious problem, and I have had several people tell me that they feel drugs have been a more serious issue in recent years and welcome some kind of a crackdown.

I will never forget walking around the factory where I was working at the time of Taksin's crack down, and there was a commotion on the road as police cars surrounded a house about 500m from the office gates. 20 cops, one with a loud hailer were shouting into the house for everyone to come out, the people inside started shooting back first, so the cops shot up the house for a few minutes until it went quiet. No one in the factory, many of whom would have had to live nearby, batted an eyelid about it, only for a few to say they knew that it was a drug house.

Culturally difficult to understand, but that is the way it is.

[Buchholz]

This policy will be overall very popular with a lot of people.

That will be contingent upon another snow job of the population as was done the last time in 2003.

Thaksin’s near monopoly over state and private broadcast media hid most of the campaign’s worst abuses from public view and allowed the government’s message that all of those killed and targeted were dangerous criminals—and not men, women, and children against whom no charge had been laid—to gain popular acceptance.

- Human Rights Watch

The problem is the internet and media is much less controllable 8 years later and so perhaps it won't be nearly as "popular" as it was purported to be in 2003.

A repeat of the same sort of slaughter as occurred then is not likely to wash with the general population quite as easily as it was manipulated before.

.

You may be right. I am only relating what I have heard during conversations. Of course the police shouldn't be allowed to round people up and shoot them, but there is an element in Thailand who see it as a price worth paying to control drugs.

Your experiences are a testament to the effectiveness of what Human Rights Watch was describing.

I, too, had conversations with loads of people at the time and many of them were similarly convinced that it was "a price worth paying" to have the deaths. They bought into the false message that the only ones that were dying were, indeed, confirmed drug dealers and/or that it was the druggies shooting other druggies.

They were oblivious to the reality that, as Human Rights Watch says, "men, women, and children against whom no charge had been laid" were a large contingent of the bodies piling up.

The Thaksin PR BS machine was a well-oiled one at the time.

.

[falangjim]

Lock-n-load, boys. After so many failed attempts by governments to keep the illegal drug market under control, I welcome the draconian methods of prejudicial killings of these thugs. Eff 'em. I'd rather read a headline about a drug dealer getting one through the brain than another effn' story of a guy whacked out on yabba slicing up some innocent kid. Go ahead Yingluck. I'm not Thai, but you have my support.

[GazR]

For the record, I recall HM the King saying on TV (in one of his Birthday Audience speeches) to then-PM Thaksin words to the effect that HM didn't condemn the extra-judicial killings outright as we all know that Thailand is not so civilized yet compared to farang countries - HOWEVER - all the victims had families and loved ones and simple human decency required the government to explain how they died and where their bodily remains were located: to which Thaksin responded with his usual shit-eating grin.

In my opinion, probably the only really effective anti-drug campaign would be a serious and sustained reform effort on a wide front, because then people in the slums would buy into it - thus reducing demand by giving them real hope not just the usual BS propaganda. Of course the big fish in the drug trade wouldn't like that, and as we can safely assume that they couldn't operate without official protection, then logically those officials would stand to lose out unless provided with the right carrots and sticks also.

Unfortunately, Thaksin's political modus operandi as a boorish, belligerent, money-bags bully-boy is far more evident than his acting in accordance with civilized behaviour and accepted democratic norms, so this will ultimately amount to little more than another smoke and mirrors effort which keeps the populace distracted and/or disgusted.

Edited September 15, 2011 by GazR