Thailand To Maintain Policy of Patience Towards BurmaForeign Ministry Representative

Thailand To Maintain Policy of Patience Towards BurmaForeign Ministry Representative

A foreign ministry representative spoke yesterday to a seminar on drugs in Chiangmai that the ministry saw no better option than to continue treating Rangoon patiently. 

Laksana Janthorn, speaking for the foreign ministry spokesman, asked her audience, "Should losing patience with Burma be the way out for us?" 

The participants, who included top officials from the military, police and civilian sectors,were lamenting the inability of Thailand's anti-drug forces to do anything about the drug refineries just across the border in Burma's Shan State. "It's a so-near-yet-so-faraway situation for us," one of the military officers told S.H.A.N..

According to Thamnu Sirisingh, Director of the Office of Narcotic Control Board (Northern), more than 660,000 students out of the total 5.3 million have been found using drugs. "That's about 1 out of every 8," said a monk. "What's happening to our youth, the hope of our future?" 

The seminar will continue until Friday at Chiangmai Hills Hotel.