Editorial State's Deaf To Tak Bai Victims' Cry For Justice

[marshbags]

EDITORIAL

State's deaf to Tak Bai victims' cry for justice

By The Nation

Published on October 25, 2008

Four years since the tragedy no one has been prosecuted for the deaths of scores of southerners

Four years ago on this day, more than 1,000 angry Malay Muslims protested in front of the police station in the southern border town of Tak Bai. They were demanding the release of six village defence volunteers suspected of giving their governmentissued shotguns to the insurgents.

As with other detainees in this restive region where an ongoing insurgency has ripped apart the community and pitted the security forces against the local community, the police did not have much evidence against the accused.

Yet to have let them go would have been an admission of defeat, and that was unacceptable to security forces bent on teaching the local Malays some manners.

And so by the afternoon the security forces thought enough was enough. They fired blanks into the air and live bullets at the unarmed crowd to break up the protest. Hundreds were rounded up, and one by one they were stacked one on top of the other in the back of military transport vehicles.

It has never been made clear why such an unsound method was used. Shortage of transport vehicles, perhaps, or was it just a way of teaching these boys and men the conฌsequence of disobedience?

Whatever the reason behind the action by government security officials, one thing that stands out to keen observers is that pig merchants in Thailand treat their animals in a more humane way than Thai officials treated the Tak Bai demonstrators. The pigs are separated by metal cages as they are transported to the slaughterhouses.

By the time the military transport trucks reached the military camp in Pattani, at least 78 men had died of suffocation. Officials said the young men had died because they were fasting. It all happened during the holy month of Ramadan.

In spite of the overwhelming evidence, no one has been prosecuted for the death of the Tak Bai victims, not to mention the six victims who were gunned down at close range at the demonstration site.

Four years later, humanrights activists and civil society continue with their demands for justice, but to no avail. Besides Tak Bai, there are scores, if not hundreds, of other cases that underline the questionable practices of state officials.

Earlier this year a Narathiwat cleric, Imam Yapa Kaseng, was beaten to death in front of his two sons while in the custody of a military task force. Army chief General Anupong Paochinda vowed to get to the bottom of the case, but so far nothing.

Certain Western countries have quietly expressed concern that the failure to right the wrong in Yapa's case could affect Thailand's international standing, as well as bilateral ties with their respective governments.

But the community and civil society continue to come together, keeping hopes alive, believing that somehow justice will prevail for some of these victims.

Seminars to discuss how far Thailand has come since the tragic events are being held in Thammasat University today. College and university students from this restive region are commemorating the tragic events by sponsoring a public event, including a mass prayer for a peaceful future, at the Yala Central Mosque.

Also in Yala today, civil society is sponsoring a donation drive to collect legal fees for a civil suit against the state on behalf of Asahari Samaae, a local resident who was detained in July 2007 and never heard of since.

The Tak Bai anniversary comes amid a growing demand for justice over the October 7 bloodshed, when police fired teargas canisters into an antigovernment crowd in front of Parliament. Two died, and hundreds were injured. A few lost limbs.

Yet sadly, we don't see the same demand for justice for the Tak Bai victims. Thailand's Malayspeaking South is like a bastard child of the state, said an NGO worker in the region: the same rules just don't apply. And we wonder why the separatists are questioning the legitimacy of the Thai state in the Malay historical homeland they call Patani.

Unquote

They will never be forgotten, especially by those who where here when it happened and watched events leading up to it unfold, along with the very public encouragement from the CEO of the government at the time... Yes it was the infamous THAKSIN

marshbags ened still, by these inhuman acts and the lack of accountablity.

[brahmburgers]

Court clears security officials over Tak Bai deaths

By The Nation

Published on May 30, 2009

In one of the most controversial verdicts passed in decades, a court yesterday cleared security officials of misconduct in the October 2004 Tak Bai incident in which 85 Malay-Muslim protesters died at the hands of the authorities.

The two-member panel in the post-mortem inquest concluded that Army and police officials had acted according to the law, used sound judgement and done their best given the circumstances.

Of the 85 victims, 78 died from suffocation after security officials stacked them on top of each other in the back of military trucks.

Judge Yingyut Tanor-Rachin, who sat with judge Jutarath Santisevee, said the officials had had compelling reasons to transport more than 1,000 detained demonstrators from the protest site to the Ingkhayuthaborihan Army camp in Pattani.

Reading out the ruling in a packed courtroom at the Songkhla Provincial Court, Yingyut said a quick decision had needed to be taken because of security concerns. He pointed to the fact that the demonstration site had been on the Malaysian border and not far from the Taksin Ratchanivej Palace.

On October 25, 2004, more than 1,500 people demonstrated in front of the Tak Bai police station in Narathiwat demanding the release of six village defence volunteers whom the police had accused of collaborating with insurgents by giving them government-issued shotguns.

The police never came up with evidence to support their claims and refused to give in to the demands of the protesters.

After the demonstrators had gathered in front of the police station and clamoured against officialdom for several hours, police, soldiers and rangers moved in and fired tear gas at them. Live ammunition and blank rounds were fired into the crowd, killing seven.

Nearly 1,300 men were then separated from the women and ordered to lie face down on the ground, where many of them were seen being beaten and kicked by security officials before being forced into the back of military trucks.

The National Human Rights Commission said those detained had been beaten with batons, kicked and punched, some whilst lying on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs.

The incident left a big scar in the Malay-speaking South and drove a wedge between the restive region and the predominantly Buddhist state.

It has since been a point of political tension and drawn comment from prime ministers, including Samak Sundaravej, who once attributed the protesters' deaths to the fact that they had been fasting during Ramadan.

During his term in office, Surayud Chulanont apologised to the victims' families for the Tak Bai massacre and other "atrocities committed by the state" against the Malays of Patani.

Family members of the victims appeared shocked at yesterday's verdict and expressed sadness at what they viewed as obviously unfair treatment by government security officials.

- - - - end of Nation article - - - - -

[brahmburgers]

in keeping with the T.Visa policy of not adding personal commentary in same post as news item....

I would like to comment on above news item from Nation newspaper:

It was a two judge panel, and both judges must have been under a lot of pressure to toe the official line.

They dropped the ball, and most injuriously, they added insult to injury to the remaining family members of the boys who were murdered at Tak Bai.

The very bad actions by the top brass at Tak Bai, was ultimately directed by Thaksin himself. After an earlier fracas in the same region, then-PM Thaksin said he would personally take direct charge of any incidents that ensued. Well, Tak Bai was a shining example of an incident that ensued.

Thaksin in particular, and the top brass carrying out his orders (or directing actions) on the scene at Tak Bai that fateful day, should be taken to the World Court to answer for serious criminal charges.

Among other things, the big mistakes at Tak Bai were perpetrated by officials who gained promotions in a system where promotions in rank are based on payments (to higher ups) and favoritism - over skills and intelligence levels of members. The Tak Bai tragedy is what happens when you have inept, biased, scared, unintelligent officers in charge of a dire situation.