Naming and shaming in Samut Prakan, Thailand

The Samut Prakan police station is holding its monthly Naming and Shaming Event!

Friday December 14th 2007.

     At the back, the Police Chief (standing and
lecturing everyone on the evils of theft).  Alongside him, his
trusted  police officers.



    In front on the table:  all the stuff that
had been stolen.  Money, a knife, mobile phones, etc.  And of
course a pile of blue plastic bags containing the methamphetamine
Ya Baa.

     In front of the table,
the thirty or so men in their twenties arrested for
these petty thefts.  Chained to each other, looking
dejected and made to sit on the three rows, some with leg
chains.  More than half of them are migrants from
Cambodia or Burma, probably working as fishermen or in the fish
processing factories in the town.

     The crowd of local people gathered
around to gawp and photograph are probably pleased with the police
results.  Many in Samut Prakan believe the stereotypes
of migrants all being criminals.



     According to the bystanders, anyone found
dealing in ya baa could get up to five years in Khlong Dan Central
Prison, the local prison in Samut Prakan. 

     Although it is a good prison, it is
overcrowded.  Richard Barrow, a Samut Prakan English teacher who
blogs, says that a cell with 23 bedmats will sleep over 50 inmates
somehow.



        According to Bangkok police
statistics, five per cent of the Thai population regularly take the
pink tablets.  Long distance lorry drivers, motor-bike taxis
drivers and other manual workers all get encouraged to use ya baa to
help them through their arduous work.  Local migrant
fishermen, too, use it to keep going at night, hauling in the
nets. 

     People in Thailand lived with this. Ya baa was
produced in huge quantities in both Burma and Laos.  The UN
estimates that each day, 25,000 pills get sold in Bangkok.  In the
year 2000, 800 million were consumed in Thailand.  It was OK as
long as only the unskilled workers used it.

    But then, the middle-class bright
young things in Bangkok's Siam Square began to use ya baa as a
lifestyle drug.  And people began to worry.

    So in 2003 Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's then Prime
Minister,  promised to wipe out ya baa drug use within three
months.  And he closed all entertainment places in Bangkok by
1.00am each night. 

     The (corrupt) Thai police
were told to get results, whatever it took, according to the Thai
press.  Police statistics show that 2,275 people (many of them
allegedly innocent people) were shot and the drug planted on them.

     On December 2nd Thaksin announced that Thailand was now drug free (from ya baa).

    Many Thais were pleased, especially the more
conservative country dwellers.  But others were incensed by the
abuse by the police service.  

     The king himself rebuked the Prime Minister
twice in public (something never done before) and asked for a full
report.  He probably got a whitewashed version (see update below).

    Meanwile, use of ya baa is rising
again.  And these young men will need to wait a further three or
four years before they get released.

     Further down the road from the police
station, these children are getting their first taste of
democracy.  Their banners tell the adults in Samut Prakan to vote
in the national elections.  Clearly they are enthusiastic about
democracy and voting.

     Sadly no one is watching but me.

UPDATE:  January 21st.

      The Bangkok Post
today reported that the inquiry into the "extra-judicial" killings
during the three month anti-ya-baa drive from February to April 2003
has just been published.  It found  "no evidence which would
enable the punishment of those involved".

      Did they imagine that the police would keep the evidence "in case it was needed".