The governance of F.M. Sarit is marked by the rapid demarcation and
definition of forests as national resources, but also by opium reduction policies
and concern over national sovereignty at a time of communist insurgency in
Indochina. This agenda had very specific implications for the ethnic minority
residents of Northern Thailand. Numerous highland groups reside within Thai
territory, some having migrated in over the past 100 years (e.g. Hmong, Lisu,
Lahu and Akha) and others being long-term residents of the mountainous
region between Burma and Thailand (e.g. Karen, Lua and Htin). The highland
groups are characterised as practising long and short swidden cultivation with
those residing at higher elevations also growing opium poppy