Islamic Rebellion In The South

[udon]

Thailand - Islamic Rebellion

Reporter: Evan Williams

Southern Thailand is in the grip of a Muslim rebellion . In the past year the insurgency has claimed the lives of over 850 people, as Muslim extremists attack government buildings and Buddhist temples in their fight for their own state..

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has recently brought in emergency laws in an attempt to crush the uprising, although some fear they could just create a new front for global jihad.

But just who leads the militants is still a mystery to many - even to Thai army intelligence. In this report, Evan Williams gains a rare insight into the conflict as he talks to people with first-hand knowledge of how the attacks are planned.

Synopsis

“I hugged his body, then I fired my gun in the sky because I felt so overwhelmed, so angry. It’s hard to explain.”

The father of Thai policeman Manob Dindeang, was recently shot dead.

“I am angry. I want revenge. I have a weapon”, he told reporter Evan Williams, “If I knew who shot my father I would shoot them back.”

Manob’s father is a victim of an increasingly vicious guerrilla war in remote Southern Thailand, a place where journalists find it difficult to work.

Led by a small minority of Islamic radicals, the insurgents want to secede from Thailand. In response, the Thai Government has cracked down on their activities, killing many of them. The region is now in the grip of a cycle of revenge and payback.

In the past eighteen months, Muslim extremists have stepped up attacks on Army posts, police stations, state schools and Buddhist monks. In October last year, the Thai Army put down a Muslim-led demonstration by arresting hundreds, and then stacking them six-deep like logs onto trucks. During a six-hour journey, 85 Muslims died of asphyxiation.

The roots of the conflict go back a century or more, to when Buddhist Thailand annexed this predominantly Muslim region populated by ethnic Malays.

“There is hate and prejudice between the government and the people”, respected religious scholar Abdul Rahman Abdul told Williams.

The crisis is undermining relations between Thailand and its neighbour Malaysia – but most concerning of all, could be giving Al Qaeda a foothold in Thailand.

Foreign Correspomdent.....

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I watched this prog last night.

Look for the Thai Polly who is on the Foreign Relations Committee.

He seems to have a good handle on this bloodshed.

[Pepe']

I demonstrated against the war in Vietnam after my tour of duty. I thought we were wrong to be there.

Now I feel all muslim extremist/terrorists must die.

It's a sad state of affairs...

[udon]

I've started a new party : DAMP.

Deport All Muslims Party.

They put their religion & crazy ideas before the country who allowed them the freedoms they couldn't have in a Islamic one.