Govt Clueless About The Spike In South Violence

[Lite Beer]

Govt clueless about the spike in South violence

EDITORIAL By The Nation.

If not the militants, blame it on the smugglers seems to be the new policy

This past Monday a car bomb exploded in a business area in Yala, killing a paramilitary ranger and injuring seven of his colleagues, all from Ranger Unit 47. The culprit waited until the pickup truck carrying the eight rangers came as close as possible before setting off the explosive. About 18 pedestrians suffered minor injuries but the surviving rangers were said to have been seriously burnt from the gasoline placed next to the bomb to give the combustion a bigger and deadlier bang.

The use of gasoline in carrying out such a hit was employed in the February 13 car bombing - also in the heart of Yala not far from Monday's attack - which set off a blaze that gutted 12 mostly wooden shophouses with it.

Like the latest car bomb this past Monday on Sirorot Street in Yala's Muang district, the police were quick to come up with a list of names of Malay Muslim insurgents.

Often it is the same names of some suspects that they have been tossing around over the years immediately after an incident but could never track down the militants. One wonders if there are actually such people around. Perhaps it is a way of saving face, but police often say they had prior information about the incident but were unable to prevent it from happening.

But the series of car bombs, as well as a spike in violence on hard targets in recent months, has everybody scratching their heads, especially after a public statement from a member of the army's top brass.

Lt-General Udomchai Thammasarorat, commander of the Fourth Army, blamed the incident on gasoline smugglers who have seen a severe clampdown from the authorities over their illicit activities. The car bombing of a soft target such as last Monday's attack as well as the February 13 attack that took out an entire block, according to a number of officials, was a way of hitting back at the authorities.

But from the public perspective, it seems that the two conflicting interpretations of the incidents suggest that the police and the Army are reading from two different sheets of music.

While inter-agency rivalry is nothing new in Thailand's bureaucratic system, one would think that the Army and the police should at least try to put a lid on their differences when they enter the public domain. After all, billions of baht from tax revenues have been spent tackling the ongoing insurgency, and the security agencies can't afford to look incompetent.

Blaming the insurgents for the violence ensures less public scrutiny, while blaming it on a petrol-smuggling gang could open a new can of worms for the government and security agencies in the deep South. After all, with 60,000 security forces in the area, how can these smugglers get away with their activities, one would ask.

But then again, this is Thailand and on every Thai border there are always shady deals going on. In this respect, the South is no different, unless, of course, somebody wants to make it different.

Perhaps the truth is somewhere between the two opposite poles - committed insurgents driven by a desire to carve out a separate homeland for the Malay Muslims and petrol smugglers looking to discredit the authorities for cracking down on their illicit activities.

After all, sources in the exile community, including members of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional-Coordinate, have been reported as saying they are concerned over the "criminalisation of the movement" in which members of the new generation of militants on the ground sell their skills to local crime syndicates for money.

Udomchai is suggesting that recent car bombs in Yala are cases in which the insurgent and criminal elements overlapped. While this explanation is no music to the public ears - because to the average man and woman on the street, disturbances are still disturbances.

Nevertheless, the Fourth Army commander should be given credit for being honest about the complex nature of the problem in the deep South. While it may not do much in terms of getting all agencies on the same page, at least it is a start. Honesty is always the best policy. And it's never too late to start.

-- The Nation 2011-04-24

[stepenwolf1958]

It is now more than clear that the reasons that several members of the TV is so spasmodic in their struggling and trying to defend here the Democrats and the current government and against those who are criticize the government.

Such intentions are now clear and probably the reason for their writing so much in favor of the government against the opposition.

Here no any of them, defenders of Democrats and actual Government has reacted to this thread by comments and clearly indicate their intention and the reasons for such a large number of posts on other threads about position-opposition.

This is the right question of the survival of Thailand, as Muslims on South will NOT stop just about this as their goal is to separate South of Thailand and even birds know that! This is an introduction in separatism.

Anyone who really wants good to Thailand, would take part in this thread of Lite Beer.

Lite Beer has set this topic early in the morning, and NOBODY here has not found it necessary to comment on this but they sent dozens of their comments in other threads to everyone who has criticized this current government and the Democrats.

This is a REAL question of survival of Thailand and is untrue that the government has no idea who is behind all of this in the South.

So many competent people, officers in Intelligence service in the Army but also in Police makes this statement of Government a monstrous LIE!

Mr. Suthep, as he is in charge in Cabinet about National security HAS the answer or he should say in public that he is not supplied by valid expertise and opinion from Intelligence service in the Army and Police.

That is a lie and just avoiding to look the truth in eyes.

[JusMe]

Let's see: violent incidents go down, and it's the result of government (military) policy working well.

Violent incidents go up, and it's the result of government (military) policy working so well that the insurgents are reacting against it.

Now toss in some drug/gasoline/palm oil/whatever you like smugglers, and more excuses.

But they'll never really look at the underlying causes of the problems there.

[animatic]

The spike in violence is directly tied to the election coming up,

in hopes that they can make themselves relevant in the election.

Regardless of how inept or time strapped Abhisits government has been about dealing with the south, Thaksin's is the administration that put the violence into high gear and grew a generation of young zealots with hundreds of martyrs to look at for inspiration.

The problem is 'national face', makes it imposible to consider losing territory, look at this weeks fun and gamesmanship in Cambo.... SO the idea of letting them go to Malaysia is a non-starter, if the best idea for the southern provinces. They see it as a slippery slope and a lose of face for nationalists and army.

Rather than go into other threads and castigate others to come to this one... why not state your solution.... Believe me the election is a pressing issue and the southern violence is a very long term issue. The insurgents just want it on the table this month. Better to be discussed than ignored.

I live in the south, and I don't see one that 'practically will get done', not with ANY existing set of politicians in place, and least likely with PTP Thaksin Inc in charge.

And to be honest I just didn't SEE this thread till now.

Edited April 24, 2011 by animatic

[elshaheen]

Just look west. The momentum building up throughout the Middle East is getting closer and closer to South East Asia. This includes government in Burma, Thailand. Give it a matter of time before Southern Thai rise up and say no more.

[whybother]

Just look west. The momentum building up throughout the Middle East is getting closer and closer to South East Asia. This includes government in Burma, Thailand. Give it a matter of time before Southern Thai rise up and say no more.

What momentum is building up in the Middle East? Are you talking about North Africa (uprisings), or Muslim extremism?

I don't think there are enough Thais in the south that want to rise up. There are a lot of Muslims that are happy being Thai. And I'm pretty sure most of the Buddhists are happy being Thai.

Those who do want to rise up won't be trying to overthrow the government (who ever it happens to be). It will just continue to be extremists blowing innocent people up until ... I don't know ... until they get what they want, or eventually get sick of blowing things up.

[zzaa09]

Just look west. The momentum building up throughout the Middle East is getting closer and closer to South East Asia. This includes government in Burma, Thailand. Give it a matter of time before Southern Thai rise up and say no more.

100-years of unfair policies come back to bite the Thais in the backside. Few, if any, recall or know how this "partition" of the south has any affect on today's disputes.