Bombing Greets Abhisit And Najib In The South

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BRIDGE INAUGURATION

Bombing greets Abhisit and Najib in the South

By The Nation

Published on December 10, 2009

Both leaders promise to address grievances

Narathiwat - Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his Malaysian counterpart, Najib Razak, made a historic visit to the southernmost province of Narathiwat to rename a bridge between the two countries.

The visit came amid a flurry of bomb attacks in the restive region where nearly 4,000 people have died since January 2004.

The two leaders arrived in a helicopter in Waeng district to commemorate the Thai-Malay Friendship Bridge over the Sungai Kolok River, a natural boundary that cuts through a Malay-speaking region where most people on either side are related.

"With so many people and goods crossing this bridge every day we are strengthening our bonds," Abhisit said at the ceremony.

"I have no doubt that this Friendship Bridge will serve its noble purpose," Najib added.

The Malaysian premier's three-day visit to Thailand was billed as a model of how the two countries, despite the security challenges along their common border, could cooperate.

One of the subjects both sides agreed upon was eliminating the dual citizenship held by people along the border by first exchanging personal bio-data of residents, such as fingerprints.

The leaders also visited a public school, an Islamic school as well as a handicraft village and a "widows' village" occupied by some 140 families affected by the unrest.

Security forces were mobilised in the thousands in areas visited by the leaders, but the violence-wracked region lived up to its reputation and greeted them with a higher-than-usual spate of violence.

Four bombs went off in Yala's provincial capital yesterday morning, with one killing a forensics police officer and three security officials, while another wounded two soldiers and a policeman assigned to a security detail for teachers.

Earlier in the day, Thai marines were wounded in a bomb and gun attack in Narathiwat as they tried to collect banners criticising Abhisit's policies on the South.

Banners posted throughout the three provinces in both Jawi (Arabic script) and Rumi (Roman script) read "Patani sebahagian daripada Malaysia" or "Patani is part of Malaysia".

"They could have been posted with the intention of annoying the delegations," Pattani Senator Worawit Baru said, pointing out that militants often spray-painted "Patani Merdeka" (Free Patani) on building facades.

On Tuesday a bomb killed two soldiers along a road in Narathiwat that Abhisit and Najib were scheduled to travel through.

In a related development, the Patani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo), a long-established group of separatists, said they welcomed the statement from Najib and Abhisit saying the grievances of Malays in the South would be addressed and that a political solution to the conflict would be sought.

"It is important for the government to speak to the people of Patani, including the Patani Malay movement that has been forced to resort to armed struggle, to ensure that the voice of the people can be heard and their grievances taken into account," Pulo said in a statement yesterday.

-- The Nation 2009/12/10

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[moskito]

I guess its not so easy to make a comment here as an outsider (Farang) but after all what I understood in this since years ongoing scenario of violence, I will not understand why this problem can not be solved.

Bangkok is (too) far away from this part of Thailand and most people there are Malayans, so why Thailand dont ask the people in a referendum or or popular vote, there what THEY really want?

Give that parts around Narathiwat to Malaysia AND send all people from Narathiwat and Pattani which are living and working in Thailand back to that area.

Unfortunately most crimes in Phuket are made by people from Narathiwat. Check the newspapers if you dont belive. Whenever drugdeals, shoot outs and violence is created in Phuket there is mostly somebody from Narathiwat involved, sad but true. If you ask Thais here why, they just say: Blood more hot

[brasseye]

I guess its not so easy to make a comment here as an outsider (Farang) but after all what I understood in this since years ongoing scenario of violence, I will not understand why this problem can not be solved.

Bangkok is (too) far away from this part of Thailand and most people there are Malayans, so why Thailand dont ask the people in a referendum or or popular vote, there what THEY really want?

Give that parts around Narathiwat to Malaysia AND send all people from Narathiwat and Pattani which are living and working in Thailand back to that area.

Unfortunately most crimes in Phuket are made by people from Narathiwat. Check the newspapers if you dont belive. Whenever drugdeals, shoot outs and violence is created in Phuket there is mostly somebody from Narathiwat involved, sad but true. If you ask Thais here why, they just say: Blood more hot

I think you would need to provide more supporting evidence to support your claim, and without it, I choose to disregard what you say as being purely opinion, entitled to it as you are.

Terrorism is a problem world wide and unfortunately Thailand has its share. Ultimately, as we now see amongst the bigger players it is a process of dialogue, re-building and training that is finally accepted as the means forward, i cite Afganistan and Iraq as prime examples. Until that notion is acted upon here then those who feel alienated will continue to use violence as their only means of recourse.

Unfortunately, I believe the wrong kind of leadership model has been adopted here and meeting violence with violence has not helped, Furthermore, the buffer of an international force made up of Islamic forces, say Malays, Burmese, Cambodian may help. Alas, I fear the Thais do not have the vision for such pro-active intervention, nor the humility, due to a nationalistic xenophobia, to invite or accept assistance from others.

Hence the impasse and generally narrow and rather simplistric views expressed on how to move forward.

Great pity Thailand allows itself to get bogged down in what could have been contained as a small local difficulty instead of becoming the uncontrollable multi-headed gorgon that it is.

[Jimmu]

I'm sorry! Simplistic views? Send in Islamic Forces from Cambodia and Burma (Myanmar)? Burma; 89% of its population, Buddhist. 4% Christian. 4% Islam. The remaining are mainly animist and so forth. Oh and 20 Jews. Not 20% just 20! give or take a birth or death or two. Cambodia 95% Buddhist and so on. Where exactly are these Islamist forces? Ah! Malaysia. That bastion of ethnic equality. Great idea. NOT!