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The costs of Thailand's drug war
'victory'
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - In declaring "victory" after a
three-month assault on Thailand's drug trade that ended
last week, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has
confirmed his passion for swift results - even if,
critics say, it comes at the expense of human-rights
principles.
By the week's end, Thaksin was on a
high at the impressive achievements across the nation
during his government's "war on drugs", which ran from
February 1 to April 30.
In all of Thailand's 75
provinces, the crackdown against illegal drugs has gone
beyond the initial target, which was slashing the number
of drug traders by 75 percent in each province, say
government officials.
In 10 provinces,
law-enforcement officials say they have achieved a 100
percent success rate - meaning a decimation of the
entire drug trade. In most other provinces,
anti-narcotics forces are supposed to have netted 80-90
percent of drug dealers.
"We wanted to prove to
the public that it can be done - getting rid of drugs in
Thailand," says Pimuk Simaroj, deputy spokesman for
Thaksin's governing Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thai)
party. "Now the public knows that Thai Rak Thai is
serious about its policies."
Among others,
government officials point to the dramatic escalation in
the price of methamphetamines, or yaba ("crazy
medicine") as the Thai call it, during the anti-drug
drive.
"Today the price of yaba has gone
up by twice or thrice the amount it was being sold when
the campaign against drugs began," said Chatchai
Suthiklom, deputy secretary general of the Narcotics
Control Board (NCB).
In late January, speed
pills were selling for 80-120 baht a tablet (about
US$1.80-$2.80), but the current price is close to 360
baht ($8.40) per pill.
Besides that, the NCB
churns out other numbers to boost the government's claim
of success: some 1,765 major dealers in the drug trade
and some 15,244 minor dealers were caught, they say.
More than 280,000 drug pushers and addicts had given
themselves up to the authorities and were sent for
rehabilitation. Furthermore, the board states that 15.5
million speed pills were seized during the just-finished
three-month period.
The government's anti-drug
crusade arose out of the disturbing reputation Thailand
has gained - in a population of 62 million people - as
many as one in 17, or 5.9 percent, of Thais aged 15
years and above are hooked on yaba. This
Southeast Asian country, according to United Nations
figures, is the world's largest user of
methamphetamines.
Newspapers have reported that
there are more than 600,000 students, from primary
schools to universities, who are drug addicts. This
addiction is fed from neighboring Myanmar, which
annually supplies 500 million to 700 million amphetamine
pills from the drug laboratories located along the
Thailand-Myanmar border.
But while acknowledging
the gravity of Thailand's drug problem, human-rights
activists point to the macabre side of the three-month
campaign - an estimated 2,274 people killed across the
country during the war on drugs. These drug-related
killings, which averaged more than 25 a day, are stark
when set against Thailand's average murder toll per
month, which is about 400, according to available
records. In 2001, close to 300 murders were recorded
every month in Thailand.
Official statistics,
however, offer a different picture - only 42 drug
suspects shot by the police, and even those, in most
instances, are supposed to have been in acts of
self-defense.
"The government did not use too
much force," said Pimuk, who is also a TRT
parliamentarian from Bangkok. "The campaign was
conducted according to the law."
Since early
February, the authorities have maintained that the many
mafia-style murders were largely the work of the dealers
themselves killing one another to avoid being arrested.
"It is troubling when the government knows it
can do anything and get away with it," said Sunai
Phasuk, an analyst at Forum Asia, a Bangkok-based
regional human-rights watchdog. "The government is
asserting that as long as it can deliver quick results,
it can bypass human rights and the rule of law."
What is more, concerns expressed by the
international community about the rights violations
during the anti-drug campaign have been pooh-poohed by
the government, added Sunai.
"The government is
behaving as if it does not need to listen to
international criticism," he said. "At times, in
reaction, the government has turned to nationalist
rhetoric."
Besides that, the human-rights
community here is up against the lack of public outrage
or the absence of civilians wanting to wage a legal
battle over the rights violations carried out during the
drug campaign.
This silence is also manifest
amid the police raids of bars and nightclubs and their
forcing people there to take urine tests to check for
traces of drug use. The police have conducted such tests
in both clubs where Bangkok's rich gather and in venues
that draw citizens living on a tight budget.
"Even the media and the opposition party have
been somewhat quiet, not openly challenging the
government's claims of success," said Sunai. "This is
because the war on drugs became a popular issue with the
public."
For those critics who question
Thailand's "success" - given that similar anti-drug
crackdowns have failed in almost all countries where
they have been launched - the narcotics board's Chatchai
offers a pointed response about the very word "success".
"You have to clarify the definition of success,"
he says. "In Thailand's case, the government pledged to
achieve a target in three months - reducing the number
of drug dealers and users - and it has been done."
(Inter Press Service)
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