Thai Barred by U.S. Given Post in New Government

Thailand’s government on Friday named as a deputy prime minister a politician accused by the United States of having connections with the illegal narcotics trade.

Radio Thailand said Narong Wongwan was appointed one of five deputy prime ministers in a decree issued by the country’s monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Narong heads the Samakkhi Tham party, which won the most seats in the March 22 elections for a new Parliament. He had been a candidate for the top job of prime minister but was forced to bow out when the State Department announced that he had been denied a U.S. visa because of allegations that he had undisclosed links to the drug trade.

The prime minister’s job went eventually to Suchinda Kraprayoon, who until he accepted the post had served as the commander in chief of Thailand’s military. Last year, Suchinda was the prime mover in a military coup that ousted the elected government.

Although he resigned his military rank, Suchinda was not elected to Parliament, and opposition members have been wearing black as a gesture of defiance over his selection.

Narong, a millionaire businessman with large timber and tobacco interests in northern Thailand near the border with Myanmar, had previously served in the government as a minister of agriculture.

But it was not until Narong appeared likely to secure the prime minister’s job that the United States publicly confirmed the rumors that had circulated about him for some time.

Narong vehemently denied the accusations, saying his family is so rich that it does not require illegal drug income. He demanded that the United States produce evidence to support its allegations, and when none was produced, threatened to sue Washington for defamation.

But by that time, many Thais had stopped supporting Narong because he was holding Thailand up to international humiliation.

An associate of Narong is currently serving a life sentence in Australia on drug charges, and the brother of his secretary was sentenced to death in Thailand on similar charges.

Narong, whose business interests adjoin the opium-producing area of the Golden Triangle, a region that sprawls across Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, has said that he cannot force all of his employees to be law-abiding.

The Narong controversy focused unusual worldwide attention on relations among Thai leaders, particularly in the military, and on international drug organizations that use Thailand as a conduit to reach world markets.

The State Department’s “1992 International Narcotics Control Strategy” report estimated that Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, produced 2,350 metric tons of opium in 1991, the largest such crop of any country.

On the question of Thai government officials quietly cooperating with the business, the report said: “Thai security and commercial relationships with Burmese ethnic insurgents--many of whom are drug traffickers--have had the side effect of facilitating drug trafficking. Narcotics-related corruption continues to be a major factor hampering Thai narcotics suppression.” Two years ago, a top-ranking Thai police officer indicted in the United States on drug-trafficking charges was allowed to quietly retire rather than face extradition.