Village guard system in Deep South to be revamped after Tuesday’s attack

 

Cr. photo Yala ToDay’s FB

 

The current village guard system, in the restive Deep South of Thailand, will be completely overhauled or replaced by a mobile system, under which village defence volunteer units will be on regular patrol to seek insurgents, instead of being a “sitting duck” target for attacks.

 

The overhaul of the security system was announced yesterday by Lt-Gen Pornsak Poonsawat, commander of the Fourth Army Region, following a deadly raid by insurgents on the Ban Thung Sadao village defence unit in Tambon Lam Phaya in Muang district of Yala province on Tuesday night, killing 15 volunteers and villagers.  A number of others were also seriously injured.

 

After inspecting the makeshift roadside outpost where the attack took place, Lt-Gen Pornsak told the media that the stationary village guard system has made the volunteers an easy target for insurgents and is in need of an immediate revamp to prevent a repeat of Tuesday night’s carnage.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/village-guard-system-in-deep-south-to-be-revamped-after-tuesdays-attack/

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2019-11-07

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3 hours ago, webfact said:

village defence volunteer units will be on regular patrol to seek insurgents, instead of being a “sitting duck” target for attacks.

As opposed to regular ISOC army soldiers who will remain within the protection of their military posts. 

Ironically, I recall that the Army ISOC Region 4 had withdrawn 8,700 troops from the deep South in October 2016 claiming an improvement in the security situation there. That left largely the paramilitary Rangers (like army-trained private contractors) to patrol roads and man outposts while village defense paid "volunteers" stand village guard. They've all since became essentially "cannon fodder" for the insurgents and sources for weapons.

If it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck - it's dead.

So the military and the police make citizens do their work 

9 hours ago, Redline said:

So the military and the police make citizens do their work 

Prior to the Prayut junta government, the insurgents deliberately stopped short of killing Defense Volunteers because the routine work of elected village leaders and village defence volunteers had never posed a threat to insurgency activities. But BRN warned that any government move to arm them and push them into the front line would make them "targets."*

But in circa 2015 the army outsourced security details to local residents in an initiative dubbed "the Thung Yang Daeng Model" via the Chor Ror Bor, village chiefs and Defence Volunteers, all of whom fall under the Interior Ministry's line of command. Apparently, this model originated in concept from the American Village Defence Force initiative used in Vietnam villages during the Vietnam War. But in part as many insurgent Viet Cong were embedded in many of the villages and villagers overall did not support the South Vietnam state, it was a failure.

 

A lesson to be learned but lost. Civilians lives to be saved but ruined.

And yet the Thai military and pro-military supporter continues to lead the peace initiative. 

 

* all comments are from TV article links and/or academic studies.