Thai Army's Insincere Apology Will Not Change Deep South Discontent

[webfact]

EDITORIAL

Insincere apology will not change deep discontent

By The Nation

Published on March 30, 2011

The Army's effort to placate Malay Muslims in the deep South cannot succeed without recognition of fundamental cultural differences

The recent half-hearted apology from Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha for the questionable conduct of security personnel during the Kru Se Mosque standoff and the Tak Bai massacre in 2004, didn't generate much of a response from the Thai public. This is hardly surprising.

The statement was made in front of a gathering of young men and women from the Malay-speaking deep South, who were brought up to Bangkok to take part in a "celebration" to demonstrate what a good job the military is doing in the restive region, which has been plagued by insurgent violence since 2004.

The aim was to tell the Thai public that the trillions of baht in tax money spent in the deep South for military-run social and development projects, as well as for maintaining security, is not going to waste. But the ongoing violence on the ground tells an entirely different story.

Prayuth's "apology" wasn't as heartfelt as that given by Surayud Chulanont who, in 2006, during his term as the country's interim prime minister, apologised to the Malays of the southernmost provinces not just for the Tak Bai and Kru Se incidents but for other atrocities committed by the Thai state against Muslims in the region. He extended his hand and asked the Malay Muslims to walk with him, work with him, as one people, one country united under one destiny. Parents of the Tak Bai victims cried. It was a heartfelt apology.

Surayud also asked for help from Western and neighbouring Muslim countries, and for foreign NGOs to give advice and suggestions on how to end the ongoing violence. Unfortunately, virtually nothing was carried forward by successive governments, including the current administration, which has depended heavily on the bureaucratic system instead of coming up with innovative and creative ideas on how to close this sad chapter in Thai history.

The sad fact is that Thai society and the state apparatus are indifferent to it all. In other countries, a formal apology from the head of state or government to a minority people for past atrocities is usually followed up with reconciliatory gestures - to show that the state actually acknowledges not only past crimes and atrocities but also the underlying political, cultural and social differences that separate them from minority sections of society.

In the United States, for example, streets, parks, towns, cities, states, even military vehicles, are named after people who at one time questioned and challenged the law and social status quo. These include those who took up arms against the state. Their leaders - men and women like Malcolm X, the Reverend Martin Luther King (who were slain) and Rosa Parks, as well as native Americans - continue to be honoured long after their deaths. The words and wisdom of Chief Seattle continue to be felt by not only the people of the city named after him, but Americans all over that country and in all walks of life.

By coming to terms with the past, the US was able to move on as one country. It was only a few decades ago that blacks and whites were not allowed to sit at the same table, drink from the same fountain, or sit on the same seats on public transport. And now the United States has a black president.

But in Thailand we seem unable to move beyond organising a dressed-up ceremony, as if it would make any real difference. We refer to goodwill gestures from the international community as "interference" when the real issue is that our authorities do not want to discuss the problem of the ethnic Malays in the context of Thailand's statehood. Because if we do, we will discover that the Malay Muslims of the deep South, like the minorities in the US, hold an entirely different view from the rest of the country.

Thai authorities are not ready to take part in such a discussion because they still believe they can reconcile differences via handouts that they mistake for empowerment. Good intention is not necessarily good policy. What is needed is creative thinking that goes far beyond bureaucratic norms. If we carry on business as usual in the South, all the money in the world won't make much difference.

-- The Nation 2011-03-30

[asiawatcher]

Let's all put aside the political 'correctness' of what others have done. As described - these are Malay Muslims who are not under threat of persecution in their own country so simply have them all returned to where they belong. Leave Thailand for Thai's and those who want an apology - how about doing some reconcilliation themselves - if they wish to stay, integrate with Thai's, drop the fanatic Imams and get on with peaceful living.

[Briggsy]

Let's all put aside the political 'correctness' of what others have done. As described - these are Malay Muslims who are not under threat of persecution in their own country so simply have them all returned to where they belong. Leave Thailand for Thai's and those who want an apology - how about doing some reconcilliation themselves - if they wish to stay, integrate with Thai's, drop the fanatic Imams and get on with peaceful living.

Urrrmmm.

Perhaps you mistakenly believe these are refugees from Malaysia. If you think that then it shows you don't know the first thing about this. These are the 3 majority Malay provinces of Thailand.

[dunkin2012]

It's always been long b4 2004.... The medium didn't expose this. Cos' they were uncontrolled by after tak bai 2004 massacre... Those people are far too much different from the majority. (Language, Religion, Philosophy) ... Too much to be together... Has less opportunity to get on the top of Thai society plus bein' treated inhumane ...

What would you do if you were them?

[Pi Sek]

Let's all put aside the political 'correctness' of what others have done. As described - these are Malay Muslims who are not under threat of persecution in their own country so simply have them all returned to where they belong. Leave Thailand for Thai's and those who want an apology - how about doing some reconcilliation themselves - if they wish to stay, integrate with Thai's, drop the fanatic Imams and get on with peaceful living.

Urrrmmm.

Perhaps you mistakenly believe these are refugees from Malaysia. If you think that then it shows you don't know the first thing about this. These are the 3 majority Malay provinces of Thailand.

That's not quite correct. The Deep South is presently 60-70% Chinese-Thai Buddhists. But the muslim Thai-Malays have been there for longer than the Chinese-Thai Buddhists, many of whom settled there in the 1960s. The islamic population of the Deep South basically feel like they have been invaded by their own country.

Of course, it's impossible to invade your own country. But it is possible to impose national culture on a demographic that does not follow national culture. Just ask the Chinese why the Tibetans are so unhappy. Of course, there's another side to that one, championed by the charismatic Dalai Lama, who is in turn granted publicity and righteousness by the West. But in essence the situations are not so different - the main one is that the Dalai Lama forbids violence whereas some Imams (certainly not all, but I wouldn't be confident enough to say whether they are the majority or the minority of Imams) and so on in the Deep South call for it.

Yawi (the local lingo) and Malay are almost identical, but the script is different - Malay uses the phonetic alphabet as transcribed by the British when they colonised Malaysia. A lot of Malaysian tourists come to places like Sungai Kolok, because everyone speaks Malay - because of both the Yawi presence and the Malay tourism. And it's a far cry from Kelantar across the border, which is the most boring place I have ever been to.

To be perfectly honest, the biggest problem with dealing with the insurgency in the last 10 years has been the fact that there is noone on the insurgents' side who is able to speak on their behalf - a Gerry Adams-type figure. The leadership is totally anonymous.

[jdinasia]

Let's all put aside the political 'correctness' of what others have done. As described - these are Malay Muslims who are not under threat of persecution in their own country so simply have them all returned to where they belong. Leave Thailand for Thai's and those who want an apology - how about doing some reconcilliation themselves - if they wish to stay, integrate with Thai's, drop the fanatic Imams and get on with peaceful living.

I think you may have missed the part of the script where the people described as Malay Muslims were co-opted into Thailand without their consent, these people are indigenous to the areas where they live and the ethnic Thais are not.