Teacher Shot Dead In Restive Thai South

[webfact]

Teacher shot dead in restive Thai south: police

NARATHIWAT (AFP) - Suspected Islamic militants shot dead two people, including a teacher on his way home after giving a class, in separate attacks in Thailand's restive south on Saturday, police said.

The 38-year-old, who was killed in Pattani province just a day before the country marks a national teachers' day, is the 137th educator to die in attacks in the south since the start of an insurgency in 2004.

His death came as the Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva prepared to visit Pattani on Monday for a function dedicated to teachers killed during the seven-year insurgency in the Muslim-majority region.

More than 4,400 people, both Muslims and Buddhists, have now died in the unrest.

Teachers working in state schools are frequently targeted because they are seen as a symbol of government authority in the south, where Islamic insurgents view the education system as an effort by Bangkok to impose Buddhist culture.

In another attack on Saturday, a 51-year-old Muslim village headman was shot dead as he walked home from a mosque after morning prayers in Narathiwat.

The Thai government recently announced that emergency laws which give broad powers to security forces will be rolled back in Mae Lan district in Pattani, one of the three provinces near the Malaysian border affected by unrest.

Abhisit will visit the district, which is seen as a test case for lifting emergency rule in the region, during his trip to inaugurate a government welfare programme.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2011-01-16

[webfact]

PM to meet teachers after slaying in far South

By SUPITCHA RATANA,

PARES LOHASAN

THE NATION ON SUNDAY

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is due to meet about 4,000 teachers in the far South tomorrow when he will join an event in Pattani to mark National Teachers' Day.

As many as 138 teachers have been killed in insurgent attacks over the past seven years. The latest fatality was a teacher shot dead yesterday in Pattani's Muang district.

It will be Abhisit's first visit to the southern border provinces after the emergency decree was lifted in one part of Pattani and four districts in Songkhla.

Boonsom Thongsriplai, chairman of the Confederation of Teachers in the Three Southern Border Provinces, said the premier would attend a memorial to honour teachers who had been killed.

There would be an exhibition to honour teachers who lost their lives in the violence, as well as merit-making for Buddhists, plus ceremonies for Muslims and Christians.

Abhisit would also visit Mae Lan district in Pattani, which is seen as a test case for lifting emergency rule in the region, to inaugurate a government welfare programme.

"This will be this first time 3,000-4,000 teachers working in the southern border provinces can meet the prime minister. So, they will be able to discuss issues directly with him and talk on educational development matters after previously only having representatives lodge complaints with him on behalf of them," Boonsom said.

Meanwhile, the teacher who was shot dead yesterday was identified as Manote Chadarat, 37. He was a maths teacher at Dechapattanaya-nukul School.

Police said Manote was riding a motorcycle on his way back after teaching students, when a gunman riding behind another assailant on a motorbike opened fired at him.

With concerns over Abhisit's safety and people's morale after the deadly attack on Manote, Pattani Senator Anusart Suwanmongkol urged security authorities to adjust their plan to guard the PM when he visits Pattani to help people, especially teachers, feel confident about their safety.

"The incident in which the teacher was shot dead has affected teachers' morale nationwide ahead of National Teachers' Day," he explained.

-- The Nation 2011-01-16

[asiawatcher]

Another brilliant example of the religion of peace - shot dead because the militants 'think' teachers teach buddhism which is against their thought process and 'religion'. Round em up and build a wall, drop a nuke and turn them to glass - let Allah sort them out. Virgin for you, virgin for me etc. Poor bloody teacher - crap money and gets to wear lead as a reward for his dedication to his profession. I think the next World War will be Islam and the rest of us - just check out their 'progress' in Europe and UK now.

[NMK0789]

Well put, and I can't really add anything further.

Except to ask, why is it wherever in the world the religion of peace exists there is so much violence and unrest?

Once again.. wherever in the world!!

[gemini81]

Another brilliant example of the religion of peace - shot dead because the militants 'think' teachers teach buddhism which is against their thought process and 'religion'. Round em up and build a wall, drop a nuke and turn them to glass - let Allah sort them out. Virgin for you, virgin for me etc. Poor bloody teacher - crap money and gets to wear lead as a reward for his dedication to his profession. I think the next World War will be Islam and the rest of us - just check out their 'progress' in Europe and UK now.

either between islam and the rest of us, or china/russia and the rest of us, not sure what'll come first!

[housepainter]

It's always in the name of religion.

Get rid of that and maybe we'd all be happy ever after. I manage perfectly well not believing in any god and do no one any harm. Neither do i begrudge any way that others live - provided it does no one any harm.

Then you have religion, its wars, its terrorists, its laws that result in stoning to death several thousand years on as if we've never learned anything.

Clearly some haven't.

Religion has so much to answer for and has outgrown any usefullness.

Personally, I think you've got to be pretty thick to go along with it. Ignorant impoverished muslims clearly are. Then you have the good old American red necks and their god, the one they share with GWB.

If you're going to turn one lot to glass then why not the other. They're about as bad as each other, only the Muslims don't have the weaponry of the US.

Are there any lessons in killing teachers?

[PoorSucker]

Another brilliant example of the religion of peace - shot dead because the militants 'think' teachers teach buddhism which is against their thought process and 'religion'. Round em up and build a wall, drop a nuke and turn them to glass - let Allah sort them out. Virgin for you, virgin for me etc. Poor bloody teacher - crap money and gets to wear lead as a reward for his dedication to his profession. I think the next World War will be Islam and the rest of us - just check out their 'progress' in Europe and UK now.

It's not because they think teachers teach Buddhism.

It's because they teach everything.

They only want the Koran to be learned and only to males.

[surangw]

the religious leaders love their power, I bet every time they get one of the dumbass followers to commit an act of violence

they gain face in the eyes of the other followers ( and the leaders are probably laffing their asses off)

[toenail]

--That sad part of this ("Thais reading this can add detail) is that most of these trained teachers are sent to the South because of owing the government service after going to college. I find EXTREME teachings of any religion poisonous/dangerous. In general terms, all religions (Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism) are very similar ; however, it are the fanatics that end up carving up hate and isolation with their beliefs.

-The killing of innocent people in the South is from a twisted, warped fanatic teaching of Islam which use to NOT exist in Thailand 20 years ago. This is an imported "version" from __________ (I will not name the country)