| PEMADAM welcomes ASEAN pledge on dadah |
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News Straits Times ( 27 July 1998 )
IPOH, Sun. - Welcoming ASEAN members' pledge to abolish dadah production in the region, National PEMADAM president Datuk Seri Megat Junid Megat Ayob expressed hope that the agreement signed in Manila yesterday would be translated into action. "We hope the agreement will not turn out to be just another agreement but a commitment especially from Laos, Thailand and Myanmar." Megat Junid said this was the first time that all ASEAN member countries, including those which are part of the Golden Triangle, had jointly agreed to abolish dadah production and distribution. " Thailand has taken stern action in combating dadah where all the poppy plantations in Chiangrai have been replaced with cash crops, a move which Myammar and Laos have yet to undertake in a systematic manner." "We hope with the agreement, the two countries will work towards replacing the poppy plants with suitable cash crops," he said after opening an anti dadah and AIDS seminar for students of institutes of higher learning in Perak. About 400 students took part in the one-day seminar at the Perak branch of Universiti Sains Malaysia in Tronoh, about 40km from here. Megat Junid said with the recent agreement, especially that one which involved Myanmar which produced 60 per cent of the world's supply of heroin, Malaysia's struggles to reduce the demand and supply of dadah looked promising
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