Asia-Pacific, Development & Aid, Headlines, Human Rights

POLITICS-THAILAND: Border Town Enjoys Peace Amid Insurgency

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BETONG, Thailand, Aug 24 2009 (IPS) - They are not leaving anything to chance in this far-flung southern Thai town that has earned a reputation as an oasis of peace and harmony in a region gripped by a bloody insurgency, now in its sixth year.

Police officers like Saman Basong maintain a watchful eye at night. On a recent Thursday evening, he began a graveyard shift in a small building close to the centre of Betong. In front of him was a wall with 20 television screens, each offering scenes picked up by the close-circuit television cameras that monitor the goings-on about town, which sits 1,900 feet above sea level near the Thai-Malaysian border.

Elsewhere, units of civilians recruited to form an ad-hoc defence corps – called ‘Home Guards’ – man checkpoints along the artery of well-lit roads spread across this border town. These men, in dark blue uniforms, sport shotguns for weapons.

And then there are Betong’s invisible eyes – men and women, mostly civilians – who are armed with walkie-talkies distributed by the military to raise the alarm if anything untoward is noticed on the streets, the food shops, restaurants and markets. They belong to the ‘Pineapple Eye’ community volunteer network, named after the tropical fruit known for its thorny studs, or ‘eyes, on its surface, suggesting watchfulness.

Betong’s success as one of the first towns in the troubled south to have such a civilian- based surveillance system has resulted in this network being emulated in major southern cities like Yala, 140 km to the north, in the grip of the insurgency. Other towns and cities in this southern region, which includes the provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani, are also following this lead.

"This is a very simple and legal tool to ensure security," says Lt Col Yutanam ‘Mike’ Petchmong, who runs the ‘Pineapple Eye’ network in Yala. "The volunteers are constantly in touch with each other and contact us regularly. They feel more responsible for the security of their communities."

Betong’s mayor concurs. "The volunteer programme has been good to defend and protect the city. More than 2,000 people from all the communities have been trained and spread out throughout the area," says Khunawut Mongkhonprajak.

Yet such security measures that complement a military presence here are not the only reasons why this town, nestling in the midst of the Sankalakhiri mountain range, has remained largely unscathed in a conflict between Malay-Muslim rebels and the Thai military, leading to over 3,400 deaths since January 2004. The last shooting incident linked to the insurgency in this town, in the Yala province, was recorded in 2006.

According to the mayor, the historical bonds developed between the Thai-Chinese and Thai-Buddhists, who make up the majority of Betong’s 60,000 population, and the Malay- Muslim minority area are important. Theirs is a harmony reflected in the ease with which the three communities mingle on the streets, in the market and in some neighbourhoods.

"The unity here between all the communities is very strong," says Khunawut, as he takes a puff from his cigarette after finishing a breakfast in a Thai-Chinese food shop in downtown Betong. "I make sure it stays that way so we can avoid what has happened in other parts of the south where there are troubles."

A Malay-Muslim woman also attributes it to the way the Thais and the Malay-Muslims have resolved disputes when they arise. "We have a long history of getting together and solving our problems when they happen," says Betong resident Nuraida bin Harun. "The problems in the other provinces are largely due to misunderstandings at the lowest levels where there are no avenues to solve them."

The fruits of such achievement are evident in Betong. Its outward appearance stands in contrast to the other parts of southern Thailand, where towns exude a dreary and depressed air, having taken the brunt of the Malay-Muslim insurgency that has seen some 8,810 violent incidents, ranging from bombings and shootings to arson attacks on public schools.

The insurgency triggered by a shadowy group of Malay-Muslim rebels is the latest cycle of violence in a conflict going back decades, where the Malay-Muslims, who make up the majority in the south of predominantly Buddhist Thailand, have long complained of a sense of cultural, linguistic and economic discrimination. This sense of marginalisation arose after Siam, as Thailand was then known, annexed the provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, which has been part of the Malay-Muslim kingdom of Pattani.

But here, in Betong, with no hint of the insurgency, there are signs of a boom. The recently opened Grand Mandarin Betong Hotel is just one reminder. The 25-floor, 398- room hotel, which towers above the rest of this town, is a big draw for the Malaysian tourists who come from across the border.

"We had 50 percent occupancy this month. On weekends it goes up to 70 percent," says Bunchong Wong, the general manager of this four-star hotel that opened its door last year. "I run three hotels here and we are doing business."

The Mandarin and the 250-room Garden View, another new hotel, have boosted Betong’s hotel room capacity to 3,800 units. It is a number, officials here say, that is needed to cater to Mayor Khunawut’s plan of welcoming one million tourists annually, twice the number the town currently gets.

The estimated income such tourist numbers will bring – three billion baht (approximately 88 million U.S. dollars) – is equal to the annual income the town makes from its other money spinner, exporting the products from rubber plantations that cover the hills surrounding this town.

Yet what attracts the Malaysian tourists to Betong is of little concern to the hoteliers and officials here. At night, the streets of the town come alive with the neon-lit signs of karaoke bars with names like ‘Seventeen’, ‘Butterfly’ and ‘Jockey Club’ to cater to a steady flow of Malaysian men who cross the border for nights of "red-light entertainment," as one karaoke manager describes it.

The sex workers who cater to the visitors come from China, Russia and from northern Thai cities like Chiang Mai. "Our customers are Malaysian men. There are very few Thais who come here after the problems in the south started," says one 22-year-old female entertainer at a karakoe bar, who comes from Chiang Mai and who identified herself as Em.

Betong is a border town and has been know for being an entertainment spot like other border towns in the south such as Dan Nok and Sadao, says Anusart Suwanmongkol, managing director of the C.S. Pattani Hotel in Pattani. "It is like a town on the (U.S.-) Mexican border. It offers the same kind of entertainment for men."

 
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