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Thai PM steps up anti-drugs war despite criticism
By
Trirat Puttajanyawong
BANGKOK, March 3 (Reuters) - Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
promised on Monday to scour every inch of the country for drugs traffickers,
stepping up a campaign that has claimed hundreds of lives and drawn widespread
international criticism.
Thaksin, who launched a 90-day
``eye-for-an-eye'' anti-drugs war on February 1, shrugged off concerns of rights
groups and a top U.N. rights investigator that the crackdown may have involved
excessive use of force and even extrajudicial killings.
A
government human rights official said the United Nations was investigating the
campaign but Thaksin said he did not have to listen to the United Nations.
``The United Nations is not my father,'' Thaksin told reporters.
``Please don't think that this government is so cruel as to hunt down people to
kill them. You must believe that we are tackling the drugs problem.''
``From now on, we will intensify our operations...we will chase
them in every square inch of the country.''
Thaksin said on
Saturday 1,100 people had been killed as a result of the government's new
hardline approach to drugs.
Police figures show 1,035 people died
in homicides in Thailand in February, the first month of the anti-drugs
campaign, compared with a typical number of killings of about 500 a month.
Police said they shot dead 31 people in self-defence during drug
raids and attributed all the other deaths to warfare between drug gangs.
INNOCENT VICTIMS
The death toll has
prompted an outcry from local and international human rights bodies.
Pradit Charoenthaithawee, a member of the government's National
Human Rights Commission, told Reuters on Monday he believed at least 10 percent
of the suspected dealers killed during the campaign were innocent victims.
``The government has taken the law into its own hands in clear
violation of the Thai constitution,'' he said.
``The lack of
transparency in carrying out extrajudicial killings and the failure of police to
conduct proper autopsies of murder victims raises many questions.''
Pradit said the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio
Vieira de Mello, had appointed Asma Jahangir as an envoy to Thailand to
investigate the anti-drugs war.
Jahangir, the U.N. special
rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, last week called
on the Thai government to investigate alleged abuses and ensure security
officials acted in ``strict compliance with national and international human
rights standards.''
U.N. rights officials in Bangkok and Geneva
were not immediately available for comment. Thai officials said they had no
knowledge of the visit.
In an attempt to ease international
concern, the foreign ministry on Monday told a meeting of 70 Bangkok-based
diplomats the anti-drugs war was an urgent priority.
``We told
them that this government needs to intensify its campaign against drugs because
the problem is so severe,'' Foreign Ministry Spokesman Phuangketkeow told a news
conference. ``But the acceleration of the campaign does not mean officers are
allowed to use excessive force. They must do everything within the law.''
Thailand's position drew some sympathy from diplomats:
``You can't lead this war with normal means,'' said Roumen Sabev,
Bulgaria's acting ambassador to Thailand.
Police say about one
billion methamphetamine pills are consumed in Thailand every year. The drug is
produced in secret factories in the Golden Triangle region, where the borders of
Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet. The region is also a major source of opium and
its refined form, heroin.
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ASEAN's new secretary-general pays call on Thai PM
BANGKOK, March 3 (AFP) - ASEAN's new secretary-general Ong Keng Yong
paid a courtesy call on Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra Monday, during
which Ong undertook to continue supporting closer cooperation among ASEAN
members, a government statement said.
"The Thai Prime Minister has
congratulated Ong Keng Yong on his assuming the position (as secretary-general)
and said Thailand will support cooperation among ASEAN nations," a statement
from Government House said.
"Thailand believes that ASEAN should
play a key role in several cooperation blocs, including APEC and ACD," it said.
Thailand is to host the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
forum in October this year, while the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) is a Thai
initiative launched last year aimed at strengthening cooperation among 18 Asian
countries.
The statement said Ong expressed his intention to
support closer cooperation among ASEAN members and "ASEAN plus three" --
referring to China, Japan and South Korea -- during his tenure, which began
January 1.
The ASEAN secretary-general, who is the chief
administrator of the Jakarta-based ASEAN secretariat, has a five-year term. Yong
took over the post from Filipino free-trade campaigner Rodolfo Severino.
ASEAN, formed in 1967, groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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Asian Tribune
Date : 2003-03-03
Dhaka, Yangon to set up taskforce for road
link
Bangladesh and Myanmar yesterday decided to
set up a task force to work out details of the proposed road link between the
two close neighbours.
The decision was taken at a meeting between
Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan and his Myanmar counterpart U Wing Aung
here.
The hour-long meeting focussed on bilateral matters as well
as economic cooperation, Foreign Secretary Shamsher M Chowdhury told
newsmen.
The two foreign ministers, he said, also discussed the
possibility of a tripartite coastal shipping arrangement among Bangladesh,
Myanmar and Thailand.
Besides, they decided on setting up a joint
commission at foreign ministers level, which would meet
annually.
However, the commission will be finalised during the
forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to Myanmer.
The
date of the visit is being worked out between the two countries, the Foreign
Secretary said.
The Myanmar foreign minister, who came to Dhaka at
the invitation of Morshed Khan, handed over a letter of invitation to the Prime
Minister from Than Shew, Chairman of the state peace and development
council.
On repatriation of the remaining Rohingya refugees,
Shamsher said, the Myanmar foreign minister gave full assurance of taking them
back following verification. Both the sides were optimistic that the issue would
be resolved as soon as possible.
Bangladesh, he said, was assured
of full support and cooperation of Myanmar in securing membership of ASEAN
Regional Forum (ARF).
The two sides agreed to work together towards
an eventual Summit of BIMSTEC member countries, he said.
During the
meeting, held in an extremely cordial and friendly atmosphere, the two foreign
ministers favoured enhancement of cooperation in the field of trade, commerce
and business between two neighbors.
They hoped the visit of Prime
Minister Begum Zia would further reinforce the sense of goodwill which was
generated during the Than Shew's visit to Dhaka.
Foreign secretary
Shamsher M Chowdhury and Myanmar ambassador to Bangladesh U Ohn Thwin were
present at the meeting.
- The Daily Star News.Com -
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People's Daily
Monday, March 03, 2003
Myanmar Leader Meets Chinese Delegation
Second Secretary of the Myanmar State Peace and
Development Council Lieutenant-General Soe Win met with visiting delegation of
the Chinese Association for International Understanding (CAIU) Sunday afternoon
in Yangon.
Second Secretary of the Myanmar State Peace and
Development Council Lieutenant-General Soe Win met with visiting delegation of
the Chinese Association for International Understanding (CAIU) Sunday afternoon
in Yangon.
Soe Win said nurtured by leaders of elder generation of
the two countries, the Myanmar-China friendly ties have continuously developed.
He noted China's economy has developed at a high rate with science
and technology advancing.
Head of the delegation and senior
adviser to the CAIU Wang Jiarui said Sino-Myanmar friendly ties have got
consolidated continuously, stressing that this not only conforms to the common
interest of the two countries but is also beneficial to peace and stability of
the region.
The delegation arrived here Sunday on a six-day
visit.
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The Taipei Times
A spellbinding
journey into Burma's heart of darkness
Daniel Mason's
joins the ranks of America's leading young novelists with his remarkably crafted
first book, `The Piano Tuner'
By Bradley
Winterton
CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
Sunday, Mar 02, 2003,Page
18
Was the British Empire a matter of exporting the best of
England to the world, as people back home tended at the time to believe, or was
it, as most people now take for granted, really a matter of exploitation and
profit?
This fine new novel dramatically opposes the two
motivations. It's a historical novel set mostly in Burma in the 1880s. This was
the time the British were consolidating their colonial hold over the country. In
particular, they were trying to subdue the independent-minded Shan peoples,
something the military rulers of modern Burma are still attempting to
do.
Edgar Drake, a London piano tuner, is asked by the British
government to travel to Rangoon and beyond to tune a piano. The explanation of
this bizarre commission is that its owner, Surgeon-Major Anthony Carroll, though
by traditional standards an undoubted eccentric, is the most successful outpost
commander in the entire territory.
He lives in Mae Lwin, a fort
far from the major British settlements. Here, in the middle of the Shan hill
country, Carroll alone encounters no opposition. London, as a result, feels it
must do as he asks and send a tuner, just as it had earlier sent him a grand
piano.
When Drake arrives in Burma he discovers that Carroll, as
well as being a doctor and a musician, is a naturalist and a scholar. He
collects botanical specimens for London's Kew Gardens, is proficient in the Shan
language, and is transcribing Shan music for the Western piano. For their part,
the warlike Shan adore him and will do anything he asks.
The
British back in Mandalay, however, are not so sure. Either boorish soldiers or
narrow-minded socialites, they have nothing in common with this
scholar-aesthete. And openly hostile opinions are circulating. With his adoring
disciples and fluent Shan, could Carroll possibly be less than loyal to the
British crown? Could he be more than a little sympathetic to the aims of its
enemies? From the point of view of a civilizing colonial mission he is, of
course, a jewel in the imperial crown. But from the point of view of conquest
and subjugation, he is at best a potential, and perhaps an actual,
embarrassment.
This fine novel is partly a tale of travel and
adventure, but in this dimension it touches on a profound contradiction. The
civilizing and conquering concepts are set one against the other, and the book's
implication is that they cannot co-exist.
Daniel Mason spent a
year in Burma between graduating in biology at Harvard and going on to study
medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He worked on malaria on
the Thai-Burma border, and this is where much of the novel's action takes place.
He wrote most of it while he was there, apparently.
People who can
write as well as this don't let things like an oppressive tropical climate stand
in their way. And this book is indeed marvelously written. In addition, it's a
fabulous tale, wonderfully constructed and imagined, and very intelligently
told. It's almost impossible to believe it's been written by someone so young.
The conclusion must be that it represents the arrival of a
striking new writer and story-teller. As you'd expect, Mason combines the
history he's researched with the Burmese hill-country he's experienced at first
hand. To these he adds imagined elements, and also finds place for his
enthusiasms, the piano presumably being one of them.
This is how
books are made. You piece together what you know, what you find out, and what
you imagine. The reader thinks it's all of a piece, a fine-spun work of pure
imagination. Writers, however, know different.
But The Piano Tuner
has more than structural craft to commend it. It combines public affairs --
imperialism, wars, history -- with a sensitive probing of inner feelings, most
notably Edgar Drake's for his wife, and the ambivalence of his attraction to a
young Burmese woman, Khin Myo.
Yet there's no hint of the cynical
combination of eroticism and violence that the writer of a commercial
blockbuster will routinely arrange to lure his readers (and publisher). This is
the work of a true artist. It's an astonishing book, and in several different
ways at the same time. It contains fascinating detail on the history of the
British wars against the Shan people in the 1880s and their heroic resistance,
on pianos and their tuning, Burmese pwe (performance art), malaria, tiger hunts,
and the plants and animals of eastern Burma.
The plot has a single
narrative thrust rather than being a complex interweaving of the fates of many
characters. It's given depth by means of a peculiar method of rendering dialogue
where the alternating remarks of two people follow each other without
punctuation in the same paragraph. The effect is to make an argument, or a
sequence of questions and answers, feel like an oppressive dream, something
Drake is imagining in his head. The resulting impression is that he is out of
his depth and is somehow being trapped by the encounter.
The book
world, like the music world, is increasingly dominated by big business. These
publishers aren't interested in issuing a large number of new books. Instead,
they want a few books by known names that they can promote energetically. This
is bad news for young writers, as it is for young musicians, but sometimes they
can strike lucky. Even these big publishers need new blood -- after all, if they
don't sign the young artist up, someone else may.
But even though
Daniel Mason is still a student, Pan Macmillan can't have had many doubts about
The Piano Tuner. It's a fine achievement. Macmillan actually have a good track
record in that the excellent Across the Nightingale Floor was from them as well.
They promoted it with enormous application last autumn. Now The Piano Tuner is
their big book for the spring. This may well be the best novel you'll come
across this year. From any point of view it constitutes a remarkable debut.
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