economy, society, environment, well-being
and sustainability. MFLF is a school, a living
university. It is a hands-on teacher, one who
talks the talk, and walks the walk, with a good
track record of success as seen with Doi Tung.
RIDF works with these various groups, and
they organise study trips to Doi Tung, where
they become inspired and want to go back to
help develop their own villages. Civil servants
find it eye-opening, but whether they can make
changes or not depends on the circumstances.
Each person is different. They have to totally
reform the way they work, remove their for-
mer framework and make changes. If they are
high-ranking officials, they should not expect a
welcoming committee wherever they go. They
should not trouble others, but rather see the
problems of the villagers as the focal point.”
From this concept of Sustainable Alternative
Livelihood Development, MFLF has become
recognised in the global arena for its track record
in solving drug and crime related problems, all of
which have poverty as the root cause. Each year,
MFLF, led by M.R. Disnadda Diskul, is invited by
the Thai government to join the Thai contingent
at the week-long conference in Vienna.
“At first, many countries at the Vienna con-
ference didn’t agree with our method of using
development—His Majesty the King’s principle—
rather than suppression to solve the problems.
Today, they are all convinced. In the early days,
the authorities used to destroy opium crops but
we never did. What the US does mostly is to take
a plane up and spray herbicide to kill the opium