The Thai Foreign Ministry last week told the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that “the time is not appropriate” for sending a special representative to Thailand, as Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai would be “tied up with something else.”

Such is the language with which the Thai government is increasingly responding to queries by the media and others regarding its policies. Last year, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra — a telecommunications tycoon and prior to his bid for the premiership the biggest investor at the Thai stock exchange (a position now held by his 23-year-old son) — flew to India on a state visit that was linked by many to the interests of his business empire. He responded irritably that the visit was in the national interest but declined to elaborate further.

With an overwhelming majority in Parliament, and coalition parties now subsumed into his oddly named Thai Rak Thai (Thais love Thais) party, it seems the prime minister can get away with anything. When he threatened to expel two journalists for a reference to Thailand’s Royal family in the Asian Wall Street Journal, many attributed the decision to the fact that the two had been critical of his style of government, and it took an international outcry and a public apology by the journalists for the expulsion order to be rescinded.

It was at this time that the anti-money-laundering commission unexpectedly turned its attention to the owners and editors of national newspapers critical of the government.

Criticism of Thaksin’s government has focused on two aspects. Thaksin himself has come under fire for his impatience and irascibility. The self-styled “CEO” of Thailand has repeatedly appointed himself the head of various task forces and commissions to deal with problems. He was, however, unable to meet a deadline he had set himself last year — to deliver his decision on the route of a controversial pipeline — when his doctors forbade him to speak because of a throat infection.

The other aspect that has come under scrutiny is the haste with which policies are implemented — often before sufficient groundwork has been carried out. Thus a sweeping public health scheme providing all hospital services at THB30 per visit is increasingly embattled, while the “One village, One product” scheme to revive local economies has thrown up some very peculiar merchandise. These two aspects have come together in Thaksin’s grandiose plan to make “every square inch” of the country drug-free by 9 p.m. on April 30 this year, a plan whose achievement would make or break, Thaksin said, the careers of those in charge of implementing it.

The drug suppression campaign began on Feb. 1, and in the first ten days, police admitted killing 87 drug suspects, while the deaths of another 96 alleged drug suspects were attributed to rivalries among criminals. Drug-related killings reached 319 on Tuesday, though unofficial estimates range from 400 to 600, according to AFP.

Rumor — an indispensable source of news in a country where pressure on the media is increasing — quickly asserted that the police had been given blanket permission to shoot suspected drug dealers on sight. This caused no great surprise as, some months earlier, the province of Kalasin near the Laotian border had declared itself drug-free amid official admissions that an average of two drug dealers in every village in the province had been killed.

However, the issue was not reported in the media until opposition leader Chuan Leekpai asked questions in Parliament, which in turn led to protests by Thai human rights activists, and finally to the intervention of the UNHCR.

Thaksin’s response was characteristically waspish and baffling. “To boycott us they (the UN) have to vote. But they cannot vote against us because we are innocent,” he was reported as saying. Instead, he argued, he had done Europe and the US a service, as drug trafficking to these countries would be disrupted. “They should show us their appreciation and thank us for dealing with the problem seriously,” he advised.

Meanwhile, more than 2,000 drug users and dealers abjured drugs in oath-taking ceremonies in the northern province of Phrae, while 4,470 were reported to have turned themselves in to police in Ubon Ratchathani in the northeast, with the total number of arrests in excess of 15,000.

These success stories come amid a storm of criticism, including comments from the opposition and community leaders in Bangkok’s slums that the policy failed to make any real impact.

While many small-time dealers had died, police had yet to arrest any major traders, one senator said. The National Human Rights Commission is now demanding that the Interior Ministry explain its blacklisting process.

Perhaps the most sensible response to the deadline came from police in the southern province of Trang. After drug raids at the downtown Hollywood and New York pubs, officers reported they had found nothing.

Or it seemed the most sensible response. The next day, however, Interior Minister Wan Muhamad Nor Matha warned that far from being assessed on the last day of the campaign, officials seen to be dragging their feet would find themselves in trouble straight away. It is unclear whether there is a specific arrest quota to be met. The minister, in any case, commended police for stepping up their efforts. While 2,000 dealers had been arrested in the first fifteen days of the campaign, 1,500 had been nabbed in the two following days alone.

And whereas the fate of those arrested may be uncertain, the ministry has already set aside 6,000 “inactive” posts for lackadaisical officials.

Arab News Opinion 22 February 2003