Thai PM vows to keep up controversial drug war

BANGKOK, Dec 3: Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra vowed today to keep up what he calls his successful war on drugs, but critics say the bloody 10-month campaign has not eradicated producers or put off users.

Thaksin, who denies accusations his Government condoned the killings of more than 2,000 suspected traffickers and peddlers, said the scourge of drugs was now under control.

"Some of these evil people are now dead and many others are in prison. We will not allow these people to return," Thaksin told thousands of flag-waving supporters at a rally in Bangkok’s royal Plaza Square.

"Today is a milestone," he said. "More than 90 percent of ordinary thais can now lead an honest daily life free from narcotics in their communities."

Thaksin, a former Police Colonel, had promised a drug-free Thailand in time for revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s birthday on Friday. The King voiced his concern over the growing drug problem last year.

The US state department says almost five percent of the Thailand’s 63 million people use drugs. The most popular is methamphetamines, or "ya ba" (crazy drug), which has displaced heroin.

Metamphetamines are made for as little as 10 baht (25 cents) a pill in jungle laboratories in neighbouring Myanmar and smuggled across the border along remote mountainous trails.

Experts said Thaksin’s crackdown has had an impact on supply, with the Bangkok price of a pill jumping to 300-400 baht from 60-80 baht a year ago.

"It has been a success if you talk about less availability," said yngve danling of the UN office on drugs and crime in Bangkok.

"On the other hand, I’m doubtful that Thailand has been able to reduce the demand. So the question is how sustainable will this be? It needs very strong follow up, not just action that lasts for a year," Danling added.

Ratchanee Pansukhum, 39, a community leader in the Wattana slum in central Bangkok, said higher prices had quashed demand.

"I would say that before the war on drugs, about 30 per cent of young people there were hooked to drugs. Now the percentage is almost zero," Ratchanee told at the rally.

But community leaders in Bangkok’s notorious Klong Toey Slum said dealers were just waiting for a chance to return.

"The current situation seems calm, but it is like a sleeping person who is about to wake up," Sinsamut Prada, who heads a drug rehabilitation Centre, was quoted as saying in the Bangkok post.

"We believe police and officials will let up after the Government’s victory declaration," said Sinsamut.

Thaksin warned police anyone turning a blind eye to drugs would be shirking their responsibility, but rights activists say the extrajudicial methods used by the police have tarnished the mainly Buddhist country’s image.

Thai and foreign human rights groups say the killings included some cases in which suspected dealers were named on blacklists drawn up by local officials.

"If you measure success by killings, that is very bizarre. How can you say the more dead people, the more success you have?," Somsri Hananantasuk of London-based human rights watchdog amnesty international told .

The Government denies the charge, saying most of the deaths resulted from dealers fighting each other.

The killings have not dented Thaksin’s popularity ratings, but Somsri said the war on drugs had failed to tackle the root causes of addiction.

A worrying sign for drug experts is that producers appearto be stockpiling hundreds of millions of pills along the Myanmar-Thailand border — waiting for the pressure to ease.

The golden triangle region, where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet, is the world’s biggest producer of Methamphetamines and still a major source of heroin.

"Traffickers still want to make money. They are scared because of the high risk now, but one could say they are waiting," said Danling. (AGENCIES)

Musharraf Govt stifling press freedom: human rights watch

WASHINGTON, Dec 3: Accusing Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s military Government with becoming increasingly intolerant of press freedom in Pakistan, the US-based international rights group human rights watch has urged the military leader to release journalists arrested on "trumped-up charges".

In a letter addressed to Gen Musharraf, human rights watch pointed to the case of Amir Mir, senior assistant editor of the monthly magazine, Herald, whom he reportedly threatened at a November 20 reception for Pakistani newspaper editors.

Gen Musharraf is reported to have condemned the Herald for being "anti-army" and working against the "national interest," and argued that the time had come for the Herald and Amir Mir to be "dealt with."

Gen Musharraf’s comments reportedly included specific references to stories filed by mr mir for the magazine. Two days later, human rights watch alleged, unidentified persons set Amir Mir’s car ablaze outside his house.

Mr Mir later received a message purporting to be from the Pakistani Intelligence Services (ISI) claiming responsibility for the attack and warning that this was "just the beginning," it claimed.

"Gen Musharraf should publicly disassociate himself from the comments about the herald and order an investigation into the attack on Amir Mir’s car," said Brad Adams, Executive Director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch.

"Instead of creating an environment hostile to the press, it is the responsibility of the Pakistani authorities to protect journalists."

Human rights watch also raised the case of Rasheed Azam, a journalist and political activist from Khuzdar in Balochistan province, who was arrested on charges of sedition in August 2002 for publishing a photograph of Pakistan army personnel beating a crowd of Baloch youth.

The rights group said it has learned that Mr Azam was abused and tortured by members of the Pakistani military, including beatings while hung upside down and sleep deprivation.

He still remains in jail after his bail application was rejected by the District Judge. His coleagues have filed a bail application in the Balochistan High Court that awaits hearing.

Human rights watch said it wrote a letter about Rasheed Azam on October 10 this year, but to date has received no response.

"Since Gen Musharraf’s 1999 coup, the Pakistani Government has systematically violated the fundamental rights of members of the press corps through threats, harassment, and arbitrary arrests," the group said.

Many journalists have been detained without charge, mistreated and tortured, and otherwise denied basic due process rights, it added.

The Government has sought to, and in several cases succeeded in, removing independent journalists from prominent publications.

Meanwhile, the group said, the arrest of editors and reporters from local and regional newspapers on charges of sedition is becoming increasingly commonplace.

The rights group urged Gen Musharraf to "demonstrate a commitment to genuine press freedom by releasing journalists arrested on trumped-up charges, and to bring to an end the use of coercion, intimidation and torture in his dealings with the national and regional Pakistani print media."

"It is time for gen musharraf to show the world whether he is a reformer — or no different from other military rulers," said Mr Adams.

"How he deals with press freedoms is a big test. As of now he and his Government are failing." (UNI)

Malaysian police confine 4,000 Indonesian workers for violent acts

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3: Malaysian Police have ordered the onfinement of more than 4,000 Indonesian immigrants within their places of work following a recent spate of violent fights that have resulted in four deaths, reports said today.

The workers, who are employed at several furniture factories at the eastern Sarawak state, have been ordered not to leave their work quarters for an indefinite period of time, said District Police Chief Ambrose Chung.

"We ordered them not to leave the factories until investigations have been completed. Police have also placed a team of officers there to monitor the situation," he told the Malay-language Berita Harian daily.

"This is a safety measure. We fear there may be more fights... We don’t want it to escalate to be a big riot," he said.

The first fight erupted thursday, when a gathering of some 1,000 Indonesian workers ended in the death of one man following a brawl.

Two other attacks were sparked off on Saturday and Monday by the same group of workers, resulting in the deaths of three more Indonesians.

Chung said seven workers have been detained for questioning.

More than 60,000 Indonesian migrants work at oil palm plantations and construction sites in the state.

In January last year, more than 400 Indonesian immigrants staged a riot at a clothing factory after police arrested one of their fellow workers for drug abuse.

The riot had angered the Malaysian Government, resulting in a ban on the hiring of Indonesian workers for all industries, with the exception of the construction and manufacturing fields. (DPA)

Political party chooses Suharto’s daughter as Presidential candidate

JAKARTA, Dec 3: An Indonesian political party today named the eldest daughter of former Dictator Suharto as its Presidential candidate in next year’s first direct Presidential election.

Concern for the nation functional party (PKPB) leader retired Army General Hartono officially asked Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, Suharto’s eldest daughter, to run as its candidate in the country’s first direct Presidential election scheduled on July 5, 2004.

"I am ready to run if the people want me," said Siti, one of the most flamboyant members of the Suharto clan who acquired a vast fortune through dubious business deals during the 32-year rule of her father.

Siti made her personal fortune off revenues from a tollway road in Jakarta.

The PKPB is one of a score of political parties that have already qualified to contest a general election scheduled on April 4, next year.

Each party must secure more than 3 per cent of the national vote to be eligible to enter candidates in the followup direct presidential and Vice Presidential elections on July 5.

Opinion polls continue to rank current President Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of Indonesia’s founding President Sukarno, as the most likely winner of the Presidential election, although the race is expected to be a close one. (DPA)

Australia tries to outlaw junk e-mail with fines

CANBERRA, Dec 3: Senders of electronic junk mail or spam face fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars in Australia under a new law approved by parliament.

But the law, which was passed late yesterday, is not expected to stop the massive influx of overseas-sourced spam.

Communications Minister Daryl Williams said the legislation, which will see spammers fined up to a1.1 million dollars (803,000 dollars) for each day messages are sent, was a step in the right direction but was not a "silver bullet" that would alone curb global spam.

Spam now accounts for half of all emails sent worldwide. The United States was revealed as the worst offender by a British Parliamentary taskforce report, which showed it was the origin of nine out of 10 Spam messages.

"Spam poses a complex problem for the international community and the solution is not straight-forward," Williams said.

"The Government’s approach to combating spam combines domestic legislation with international negotiation, public education, the development of industry codes of practice and of technical counter-measures."

US President George W Bush is expected to sign into law an anti-Spam bill by the end of the year, which would see senders face jail time and multi-million-dollar fines. Australia’s legislation, which will be enforced by the Australian communications authority, bans the sending of commercial e-mails without the prior consent of end-users, unless there is an existing business relationship.

It also requires commercial electronic messaging to include accurate details of the sender and bans the distribution and use of e-mail "harvesting" or list-generating software.

In September, lawmakers in Britain and Italy banned the delivery of unwanted bulk emails, introducing hefty fines. Britain also flagged the possibility of extraditing offenders. (AGENCIES)

| home | state | national | business | editorial | advertisement | sports
| international | weather | mailbag | suggestions | search | subscribe | send mail |