02.00
START LOGO ANTENNE
02.20
START
(Soldiers training)
02.33 LINTNER
When you're talking about Khun Sa. He's not
really a wanted man at all Nobody really
wants him. He's friends with everybody. He
is the most unwanted , wanted man I everheard of
02.49 KHUN SA
They can arrest me anytime ! but that 'rvillnot be the end of Oplum. They can kill me ,
that also will not be the end of opium. It
would just mean they have to find an new
king of opium.
03.05 TITLE
03.16 February 1994 Bangkok : the economic
wonder of South-East Asia. Bangkok is the
engine of the fast growing development in
Thailand. A city of banks and big money, but
also of corruption, prostitution and drugs.
03.43 Bangkok is also the trading centre for
heroine from the so called Golden Triangle.
This drug heul just represents a small part
of the still growing quantities of heroine
flooding the world from South-East Asia.
04.06 BERTIL LINTNER.
Since the mid 1980 's up to now the
production has increased from 300 , 400 tons, 500 the most to more than 2500 tons in less
than 10 Years. Very obviously the approach has been a wrong one. I mean , if you reallywant to solve this problem, if you want tolook at the roots of the drugproblem from the
Golden Triangle You need a completely new
approach. Not the traditional law inforcement
method of the police-agencies or neither the
traditional crop substitution programs of the
United Nations which have proven to be
largely counterproductive .
04.41 Bertil Lintner has lived in Bangkok for more
than 25 years He's a leading expert on the
Golden Triangle.
The Golden Triangle is responsable for more
than 2/3 of the world's production of opium.
04.57 BERTIL LINTNER
The Golden triangle is roughly this area. It's
the southern part of Hunan province in China,
it's North Eastern Burma , It's NorthernThailand and North Western Laos.
05.17 The north of Thailand, close to tourist spots
like Chang Mai and May Hong Son is where
the Golden triangle begins.
Most of the opium production is in Burma on
the other side of these hills.
05.53 Southern Burma is ruled by rebel burmese
groups. They're fighting against the military
junta in Burma and use the proceeds of
opium to finance their war.
06.05 DANGER ZONE
06.09 But according to the American Drug
Enforcement Agency it's the other way
around. They say the rebels are rather
fighting only to control the opium production.
06.27
Number one on the DEA's black list is Khun
Sa. The biggest drugking of the golden
triangle. After Pablo Escobar and Noriega ,
Khun Sa is the new target of the DEA.
06.54
HO MONG
Despite years of pursuit Khun Sa's empire
still grows. A few thousand recrutes train at
his headquarters in Ho Mong.
07.16
The front line with the Burmese army IS not
more than a 3 hours walk from here. Ho
Mong is always prepared for a Burmese air
attack.
07.50
KHUN SA
The American drug enforcers are putting
Thailand under pressure. They've put a
price on my head. Nobody is allowed to visit
me. Not even you. If I'm really such a devil,
why can't they come and verify it for
themselves?
08.13
The Thai government doesn't give journalists
permission to cross the border to Khun Sa's
area. On the other hand there are no
limitations for Thai commercial contacts with
him. There is a lot of money to be earned
with opium and Khun Sa likes to spend it.
That is why Ho Mong doesn't look like the
usual hideout.
08.41
From Ho Mong Khun Sa's Mong Tai army
controles the surrounding area.
09.04
Here in these hills live the so called Hill Tribe
people. They are isolated from the rest of
the world. Only opium connects them with
the people of the lowland.
09.20
WOMAN IN THE VILLAGE
Q : Show me.
09.32
Q : Why do you cultivate opium ?
A : If we don't cultivate opium, we will haveno money to buy rice.
09.40
Q : How do you sell it ?
A : We don't sell it. They come and get it.Q : You know that they will come ?
A : yes. We have opium and then there issomebody who ask : Do you have opium ?
And he buys it.
Q : Where did you get the seeds ?
A : From my grandparents
.
10.07
The family of this woman has cultivated
opium for many generations. Nobody forces
these people to cultivate it.
10.23
Far from the daily struggle of these simple
hill tribe people th~ real power struggle
happens. Whoever is the boss of the lowland
decides who buys opium.
10.37
WOMAN IN THE VILLAGE
Q : Who buys the opium? A : When they come they speek Shan, but Idon't know if they Shan, Burmese or Chinese
10.50
The Shan-people are Khun Sa's people. In
this part of Burma they represent the
majority. They live in the lowlands. Since
Khun Sa came to power in Ho mong it's he
who decides who can buy the opium.
11.22
LINTNER
Merchands would buy the raw opium from
the farmers. But a merchant is just a
merchant and he is transporting a valuable
commodity, like opium. He needs protection.
So then , Khun sa has an army. Khun sa'sarmy will move in , provide protection forthe merchants. The merchants will go with
him and they will pay fee to Khun Sa. Then
the opium moves from hills in the Northern
Shan state near the chinese Hunan frontier to
the Thai' border , where the refineries arelocated. Again these refineries are not
necessarily owned by Khun Sa. , not even runby him. These refineries mostly belong to
very powerful syndicates , most of thembased in Hong Kong and Macao. And again
these refineries need protection. Khun Sa has
an army and gives protection for a fee. And
that is how Khun Sa makes his money.
12.18
Khun Sa doen't look upon himself as a drug
king. He uses taxes from the opium to give
the Shan people an independent state.
December 1993 he proclaimed independency
of this state. For the moment his parliament
lookes a litlle improvised .
12.51
KHUNSA
Burma and Shan are not the same. Gur
houses were taken by the English. We threw
them out. After the British went the
Burmese. started acting the same way. It'>
about time the world helps us to fight the
Burmese. Then there will be peace and the
people themselves will tear out the poppies.
13.14
In 1977 Khun Sa first promised to stop the
opium production if the world would support
the independency of Mong Thai, the Shan
land. Khun Sa recently sent a lettre to
President Clinton.
13.31
KHUN SA
In the lettre I've asked President Clinton to
send a commitee here. They must go to the
hills for themselves. They must speak to the
people themselves. Then they'll say why our
people must cultivate opium. And they'll also
see that when an independent Shan State
exists, then the cultivation of opium can be
stopped.
14.18
The fact that the golden triangle is the
biggest opium producer in the world is
connected to the political instability which
has occured for decades in this area.
14.31
WOMAN IN VILLAGE
We lived at the westbank of the river on the
side that is controled by the burmese. One
day the Burmese army came and took all the
chickens away and all our other animals. The
who didn't give them voluntarily were
beaten. And our men were taken to be
porters for the burmese at their battle front.
15.08
LINTNER
The reason why the opium production in
Burma has increased from 30 tons to 2500tons is fairly simple. There has been a civil
war there for forty years and in a war
economy , opium is the only viable cash-crop.If a farmer grows tea or coffee he has to
carry the tea or the coffee from his hilltribe
village to the market town down in the plains
, sell it , get cash, carry the cash back to hisvillage. You don't do that in war zone. If you
grow opium , the merchants , the traders willcome to your village , buy your opium and goto the next village. You don't have to leave
your own village. So if you want to solve the
problem locally , you have to look into thepolitical problems of Shan state. What caused
the civil war to break out in the first place.
What caused the fighting between the
different tribal groups in Shan state and the
central gouvernment in Rangoon. Unless you
adress this issue , you're never going to getpeace in the area. Without peace you'll never
subsitute opium for any other crop.
16.24
Khun Sa tries hard to show the world that
he's a partner who can be trusted. With
approximately 20 000 men in his army he
says he wants to bring stability in the
Southern part of Burma.
16.43
In Ho Mong Khun Sa is experimeting with
alternative industries. His people are
working on the development of alternatives
which could replace opium. These
mushroom-farms are just one crop which
might serve as an alternative income for
Khun sa's people.
17.19
They also working on their own traditional
products. The garmenst that are made here
are to be sold to the tourists in the future.
17.37
Most investment is put in the work with
precious stones. The Shan State is rich on
mineral well. Next to opium it already
represents a big part of their income.
18.10
The use of opium in Khun Sa's Ho Mong is
strictly forbidden. In a corner of the city
there is a drug rehabilitation center where
drug addicts fight their addiction, the hard
way
18.27
The addicts go to this withdrawal for 5 days
in a pit on water and rice.
18.50
Despite all these measures, Khun Sa gets little
sympathy from the drug enforcers. From
Khun Sa's empire in Southern Burma, more
and more heroine still hits out to the world.
19.08
This is why Ho Mong is a fortress prepared
for a long term assault. A complex network
of bunkers give protection from air attacks.
19.29
The regional headquarters of the DEA is
located here in Bangkok. Despite repeated
they didn't want to speak about Khun Sa.
19.42
LINTNER
Khun sa because he has an army fits into this
hollywood image of a gun weilding warlord
in the hills war so long there are thousand of
soldiers were waiting this aughty war against
all the combined policeforces of the univers.The DEA is under fire in washington for being
totaly inefficient, for almost nothing after 20
years of war on drugs. And the DEA has to be
seen as doing something. They've seen that
very clearly with Pablo Escobar in Colombia.
Nothing changed off course. But still they
managed to say: "Look here to what we have
achieved." And I think now they've turned
their attention to Khun Sa as well. Because
Khun Sa's capture or the killing of Khun Sa
would give the DEA the PR , they need inorder to justify their budgets and; overseas
jobs and so on ..
20.33
Fifty percent of the heroine from the golden
triangle is sent to the world through
Thailand. For decades the Thai politicians
and the military have benefitted from the
opium money. The battle against drugs has
been just a formality.
20.54
But times change. More and more drugs are
staying in Thailand. Heroine is causing heavy
damage in the slum areas of Bangkok City.
21. 07
WOMAN IN THE SLUM AREA
The parents give money to their childen to go
to school. They are supposed to use it to buy
books and pencils. But instead , the childrenare using it to buy drugs. The parents are out
working, they don't have any control on the
situation. We are very poor, we have to work.
The children start with marijuana and then
they move to heroine. By the time the
parents find out it's usually too late.
22.21
In Wat Tam Krabok, the temple of the last
chance, Buddist monks commiserate of the
plight of young Thai drug addicts. A herb
drink purifies their body. It makes them
throw up.
22.44
MONK GORDEN
These 14 patients have come in today. They
are now taking their first religious vows in
sanskriet in which vows they are saying they
will refrain from taking all kinds of drugs for
the rest of their lives. The average age is 18.
with the majority being on heroine, only
three on glew or thinner. They will take
these vows, our sacred vows. After the vows
they will go into the hospital area where they
will drink the first medicine which will
initiate the process.
23.28
The therapy is focused on the mental trammg
of the young drug addicts. To help finance
the project it has grown into a tourist and
media attraction.
22.43
~IONK GORDONHe has already received the peace prize from
the Filliphines which is the equivilent of the
Nobel peace prize. He has to take care of over
thirteen thousand people in this monastery.
So we're working on it
24.09
In the mean time the temple draws the
attention of foreign drug addicts.
24.16
AUSTRALIAN
If you are in the army and you disobey an
order, you get punished. If you work for
somebody and you disobey, you get the sack.
Somebody who is on drugs has no discipline
in their life. I sold my house everything, my
house, my car, everything I own. Just to keep
my habit going. Every morning I wake up, I
swear to God I would not use. So, these
people take your life in their hands when
you go in there. And they will make you sure
that when you go out you are not addicted to
drugs .It is hard and severe, but it is a long
and hard road. There is no room for second
best. These people, particulary the Thai
people, are using the best drugs in the world
and it comes cheap as dirt. The average age
in there is about 20 , 22. I mean these kidscould be my son. There is no room for
messing around. These kids start out and
think this is good fun , and the next thing they are addicted , there goes their wholelife.
25.23
The abbot of Wat Tam Krabok doesn't only
commiserate with drug addicts. He sees that
the problem is growing and wants to attack it
from it's roots. He focussed on the Hill Tribe
people who, for decades, have produced the
opIUm.
At the invit'ltion of the abbot , about 15 000
Mong, an Hill Tribe people from Northern
Thailand and Laos came down to the south of
Thailand and settled down beside the
monas tery.
25.55
Q : Is this the solution ?
A : This is my way to help people quit opmm.
One group comes. They learn a new way of
living , they go and the next group comes.
26.18
The Thai government has reacted angrily to
the abbot's initiative. Nobody knows how
many people live in the hills, but there are
certainly a few million. Thailand want's the
Hill Tribe people to stay in the hills.
LINTNER
It makes perfect sense because either the
hilltribe stay in the hills and grow opium or
they come down to the valley and grow
something else. They can not stay up in the
hills and grow rice. It's out of the question.
26.44
The abbot of Wat Tam Krapok gets more and
more attention for his work. Khun Sa has
heard of him and asked him to mediate
between him and the authorities.
26.54
ABBOT
Everybody is accusing Khun Sa of being a
criminal , but nobody tries to find a way outfor him. For example. Khun Sa told America: I
have 3 tons of opium. Why don 't you buy it?But they don't because they are afraid he 'll
use it to fight the Burmese government.
27.28
In South-East Asia international politics
comes first. The drug problem a distant
second. Traditionally nobody made it too
hard for Khun Sa because of his military
opposition to the Burmese dictatorship. But
recognition of Khun Sa's Shan state would not
only provoke Burma. It may as well
antagonise her powerfull ally China , which
nobody wants. Not even if it means a solution
to the drugproblem.
28.05
For the moment Khun Sa will have to
celebrate his birthday in an out-of-the-way
place in the Burmese jungle. All the
ingredients are here though, all imported
from Thailand.
28.18
The Hill Tribepeople represent Khun Sa's
power-base. At the birthday party they
come to him pay their respect. For them
Khun Sa is just the next leader in a history of
au tocratic foreign rulers.
28.36
LINTNER
He fits in this stereoptype of the traditional
chinese warlord who is very ruthless ,
autocratic , who looks after his people hisfollowers as long as they are subservant to
him. That is what he is doing up there. He has
all this social welfare , he builds monastries, churches ,temples , hospitals . But at thesame time it's a very ruthless regime
29.02
Khun Sa's army is mainly Hill Tribe people
who are now fighting for a Shan State. It's a
country where they'll form the minority
again.
29.13
Q: When will you go home?
A: I don't know
A: Why didn't you instead say, we'll go when
we have a Shan state?
29.44
LINTNER
99% of the soldiers of Khun Sa's army are
forcibly recruited from Hill Tribe villages.
They are taken from their homes by force
and if they defect they are executed. If they
can't find the defecter they kill a fnember of
the family. It's a very ruthless regime. There
have been exterely very little volunteers
coming to join Khun Sa'. But then on the other
hand once you have been forcebly recruited
he looks after you in a way. Because most of
these Hill Tribe boys we are talking about. In
the villages they don't even have shoes.
There they get a uniform , chinese army slippers, a rifle. , some status ,someimportance.
30.32
The Golden Triangle has been envelopped III
40 years of civil war. Khun Sa's child soldiers
are the next in line to be sacrificed.
30.57
Whether or not this war is about the controll
of opium production or an independent Shanstate
is of little concern to the fate of these
press-ganged child soldiers. Khun Sa, a man
who claims to speak on their behalf, has
made a proposition to the world. But linking
independence with drugeradication leaves
little hope for these Hill Tribe children .
END