Boy Scouts To The Rescue

From Singapore Straits Times

23 November 2004

Thai nationalists 'hindering peace'

Moderate voices are being marginalised, say liberals

By Nirmal Ghosh

Thailand Correspondent

In Bangkok

THAI liberals and political observers are getting worried about a deep

current of rising Thai nationalism that stands in the way of finding a

solution to the problems in southern Thailand.

Some believe nationalism is being used and manipulated by the state

itself and are concerned that the rising fervour is marginalising the

moderate voices of academics who urge a nuanced approach instead of

the current hardline one.

Thai nationalism, a potent force in the past, seems to be getting

another push now.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's government has altered laws to

allow all Thais to fly the national flag.

Last year, he stood before a large national flag when declaring

'independence' from the International Monetary Fund.

He has also made curt remarks about foreigners commenting on Thailand,

famously saying earlier this year: 'The UN is not my father.'

Now senior government officials have blamed a 'foreign' hand for

playing a role in southern Thailand, without giving details.

'For (Prime Minister) Thaksin Shinawatra, Tak Bai has been a great

political success,' The Nation newspaper's political columnist Chang

Noi wrote yesterday.

'Once again, he is the defender of the nation against external

enemies. Thaksin has again wrapped himself in the flag and you can bet

that this adjusted form of 'new nationalism' will be the undertone in

Thai Rak Thai's election campaign.'

Liberal Senator Jon Ungphakorn also singles out nationalism as his

biggest worry.

'The extreme right-wing patriotic movement is, I believe, being

supported by government itself because it deflects issues from the

Prime Minister and the army,' he told The Straits Times.

'It is extremely dangerous for the whole country.'

For instance, right-wing commentators like former Bangkok governor

Samak Sundaravej have returned to state-run television talk shows,

Senator Jon said.

This is partly a response to events in the south but 'it is also

partly orchestrated', he said. 'Thai nationalism is (being)

manipulated.'

The senator, like dozens of other human rights and pro-democracy

figures, has been inundated with hate mail and calls for his views on

the south.

Liberal Thais have virtually been silenced, he said. They are afraid

of being too open about their feelings because they know they will be

attacked in public, he said.

For this reason, he believes, proposals by liberal academics who

recently met Mr Thaksin and suggested nuanced and non-violent

solutions in the south are unlikely to have any effect.

Liberals have noted with some trepidation a 'rally for peace' being

organised in Bangkok on Sunday, featuring up to 30,000 young 'village

scouts'.

The problem, they say, is the history of the village scouts - who were

used in the 1970s to suppress pro-democracy students.

The concerns are echoed in an article by Professor Chaiwat

Satha-Anand, vice-president of the National Security Council's

Strategic Non-Violence Committee. Writing in The Bangkok Post, he

said: 'One of the most important features of the violence in southern

Thailand is its sustained deadliness and how this engenders the

state's violent responses. The phenomenon is fast becoming the norm.

'Justice needs to be delivered so that they (people in southern

Thailand) will have faith that the system works and the illegal use of

vengeful violence becomes unnecessary and counter-productive.'

But Senator Jon told The Straits Times that while a lot could happen

in Thai politics, the redress of long-felt injustices in the south

through due process of law appeared unlikely at the moment.

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