Southern Teachers Seek Greater Protection; Officer Shot Dead In Narathiwat

[Lite Beer]

Southern teachers seek greater protection; officer shot dead in Narathiwat

The Nation on Sunday

The Teachers Confederation in Thailand's three insurgency-plagued southernmost provinces called yesterday for clear safety measures from the government as the targeting of teachers continues.

Some 148 teachers have been killed in the South since January 2004, the latest on Thursday.

Confederation chairman Boonsom Thongsiplai said yesterday the government must come up with clear measures to tackle the unrest, and urged the Education Ministry to take steps to protect teachers serving in the region, saying they were vulnerable and had become prime targets for the insurgents.

Boonsom spoke following a meeting yesterday with Narathiwat Governor Thanon Vechakornkanont, which took place on the heels of Thursday's shooting death of Saowarun Thong-eiad, a teacher at Romklao School in the province. Her husband, school director Sakul Thong-eiad, was injured in the attack.

Boonsom said soldiers were needed at schools in the region, despite some groups' argument that a military presence in schools violated international standards.

He said that ultimately it should be up to individual schools, with local communities, deciding if they require soldiers' protection. If the government couldn't provide clear security measures, the confederation would continue to push for its demands peacefully, he said.

Boonsom, Thanon and other officials attended Saowarun's funeral at Wat Chol Chalermkhet in Sungai Kolok district yesterday. Thanon gave Bt500,000 in assistance money to Saowarun's family.

Narathiwat Teachers Confederation chief Sanguan Intharak said he had asked about the status of the previous government's promise to implement six measures including a Bt3,500 allowance for teachers serving and risking their lives in the three southernmost provinces.

Yi-ngor district police station superintendent Pol Colonel Arkhom Buathong said police were seeking an arrest warrant for the shooter of Saowarun and Sakul. The suspect, who was captured by a security camera, is said to be insurgent sympathiser associated with Nuradin Baeroh, a leading member of the RKK group.

The gunman used an Uzi submachine gun reportedly stolen from the R15121 military base on January 19, Arkhom said.

The insurgency claimed another victim yesterday morning when Pol Sergeant Jirapan Leeyanon, 26, was shot dead on Joh I Rong-Pa Phai Road in Narathiwat's Joh I Rong district by two men on a motorcycle, who fled with the victim's pistol.

And in Yala's Muang district, resident Doloh Waedeuloh, 37, was shot and wounded in the leg by a person riding a motorcycle as he rode a motorcycle to his rubber-tapping job at 6.20am yesterday.

Police suspect an insurgent was involved, as Doloh also works as a guard at Ban Thungkha School under the military's urgent employment project.

-- The Nation 2011-10-09

[OzMick]

Teachers are an obvious target as religion's biggest enemy is (non-religious) education.