THAILAND: Amid Violence, Muslim South Pins Hopes on New Approach

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Prangtip Daorueng

BANGKOK, Apr 7 2004 (IPS) - The graffiti on an abandoned fence in Pattani province in Thailand, near the border of Malaysia, reads, ”Is justice still out there?” The sign is a reflection of the fear and confusion among residents of Thailand’s three southernmost provinces – Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat – and their frustration over the government’s inability to end the violence, arson, bombings and killings that Bangkok blames on separatists, but which critics question.

On Mar. 30, masked men stole a huge amount of explosives – including 1.4 tonnes of ammonium nitrate and 56 sticks of dynamite and 176 detonators – from a quarrying company in Yala, prompting the Thai government to convene emergency meetings.

In January, unidentified men stormed into an army camp in the south and killed four soldiers before taking away 400 machine guns. The government deployed more police and military forces to the area and imposed martial law, a move that heightened tensions between the government and the country’s Muslim minority.

Murders, bomb explosions and kidnappings occur almost daily, and scores of government buildings and schools have been torched. Media regularly calls the region the ”troubled” south, home to the bulk of Thai Muslims who number six million out of the country’s 63 million mainly Buddhist population.

The credibility of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra hit rock bottom when a well-respected Muslim lawyer – who represented people accused of plotting a bombing spree – disappeared in Bangkok on Mar. 12. Polls now say 85 percent of Thais rank the violence in the south as the most damaging issue for Thaksin.

This week, Bangkok-based newspapers pointed to two police colonels as being involved in what the abduction of lawyer Somchai Neelaphajiit. Activists also revealed that in the past four months, more than 100 suspected separatists in the south have been kidnapped.

Public criticism led to the change of the police chief in mid-March, but violence persists.

”Justice is very important in the eye of the Muslims,” said Chaiwat Satha-anand, a peace activist and professor at Thammasat University and deputy chairman of the Strategic Non-violence Committee under the National Security Council.

”The fact that many people have disappeared is a big problem. As for the case of the lawyer, he himself represents justice in the eyes of many. Making him disappear means the erosion of the justice system itself,” he added in an interview.

But the failure of the government’s approach so far has led to a policy shift, one that seeks a non-violent approach as an alternative to tough security measures under the four-month-old martial law. So far, the violence has been treated as a law-and-order and security issue.

In late March, Thaksin appointed his deputy, Chaturon Chaisang, as head of a new team looking for a solution to the southern conflict. The team conducted 10 meetings in the three southern provinces, in which 1,000 community representatives took part.

Many hope this is a step in the right direction and responds to the demands of the southern communities.

Shortly after being appointed, Deputy Prime Minister Chaturon, a former member of the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT), urged government officials to focus on their task: the restoration of peace: ”Authorities must protect the people and establish trust among them. They must support unity among races and religions.”

What Chaturon said reflects what many in the south believe is the root of the problem. While separatist elements may have mild influence in the Muslim-majority provinces – once a part of the Islamic kingdom of Pattani and where separatism arose in the seventies- many have ruled out its involvement in the latest violent incidents.

Instead, they point to the state’s cultural insensitivity and misconduct by the authorities, saying that they helped stir up political and criminal conflicts that now manifest themselves in violence.

Meantime, the fear of violent incidents has driven southerners to change their daily routines. The once-busy streets in the three provinces now go quiet after 7 p.m., and family and friends are busy looking out for one another’s safety.

Buddhist ceremonies such as funerals, or wedding parties that used to be held at night have been moved to the day.

”Nobody knows who is doing this, but people are dying everyday,” said Supat Boonthanom, editor of the ‘Chao Thai’ weekly newspaper in Yala province. ”It’s like in a war zone where police and solders with guns walking around. I have worked as a journalist for 26 years, but now I cannot understand my own region anymore,” she said.

Chaturon’s team is keen to try out a conflict-resolution approach, one based on the inputs of experts that include Chaiwat, who has written papers on state and conflict resolution and security policy for the southern provinces (1999-2003). The documents focus on the acceptance of cultural differences as a means toward peace.

As a part of a seven-point plan to be submitted to the government, Chaturon envisions the lifting of martial rule and an amnesty for accused Muslim separatists. An amnesty was extended in 1980 to neutralise thousands of ex-student activists – among them Chaturon – who joined the Communist Party of Thailand. If approved, a new amnesty now would cover some 10,000 people – the biggest group since 1980.

Chaturon’s plan also includes revising the 12 billion baht (307.7 million dollar) development package, scrapping a planned crackdown on dual nationalities and supporting Islamic schools.

Some also take heart from how the Thai government now appears to view the violence as a domestic issue, after a period of confusion and speculation on terrorist and foreign influences. The talk in the south is that the violence may be linked to drugs, or to feuds between government authorities.

If the new approach takes root, it will not be the first time that Thailand has toned down security measures and applied a political policy to deal with prolonged conflict, given the amnesty it offered to the Communist Party of Thailand in the past.

Indeed, the restiveness in the south has earlier roots than the Communist Party, and has never been completely addressed. But then again, this is also the first time that top political figures have sent a clear signal on a new approach on conflict resolution.

”I believe that majority of the people in the three provinces are practical enough not to demand for something which is not possible,” said Chaiwat. ”What they have asked for is a fair treatment from the state, not special treatment at all,” he pointed out.