Trying To Move Forward, But Still Haunted By The Past: Insurgency In Southern Thailand

[webfact]

Trying to move forward, but still haunted by the past

Don Pathan

The Nation

Yala

The newly appointed secretary-general of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre, Thawee Sodsong, recently held an open house that attracted well over 100 community and religious leaders, activists, academics, local politicians and bureaucrats to Yala for a day of debate about the conflict in the deep South.

The idea was to look at the past eight years and think about how to move forward collectively. Interestingly, the date of the gathering was January 4, the eighth anniversary of an arms heist in Narathiwat, a major incident that brought Thawee, then a young police captain, into the heart of the deep South.

He would eventually build his career around this - chasing after militants behind the raid, issuing arrest warrants for religious teachers and a leading spiritual leader, namely Sapae-ing Basor, and other activities that would put him in a bad light with the local Malays. Coming to the deep South was a career boost for the young man who was indeed in a hurry. He would eventually become one of Thaksin Shinawatra's point man for the deep South.

And now he has gone as far as he can go on the bureaucratic ladder, Thawee has once again returned to the deep South. Some believe he is actually trying to make a difference.

The groups at the open house session that day debated with heart and soul about the future of the region, about ways to improve education for future generations, and how this Malay-speaking region fits into the Asean scheme of things.

One police officer from a local academy said he longed for the old days when Muslims and Buddhists co-existed peacefully without current suspicions.He has been in the area long enough to see how the ongoing violence has affected race relations.

Another suggested that the Malay language be used as an official language of Asean, second to English. Not a bad idea, since more than half the people in the Asean region - from Songkhla to Mindanao in the southern Philippines, speak a form of Malay.

Incidentally, it was the Thai government - during the Thaksin administration - that shot down the idea of making Malay a working language in the Malay-speaking South. So the idea of Thailand suggesting that Malay be use as a second Asean language may be somewhat far-fetched. To see the value of the language in a regional setting but not appreciate it at the local level is nothing less than hypocritical.

For the locals, Yawee - Malay written in Arabic text - is much more than a language in the narrow sense of the word. It's about cultural pride and identity. After all, Thailand's deep South is one of the few pockets in the Malay-speaking world where Yawee is still being used. Most has gone to Rumi or the Roman alphabet.

From the workshop, it was quite clear that the local Malays do not want to live in a separate state. They want to be part of this state-constructed entity we call Thailand, but it has to be on their terms. The workshop was in some small way a forum to negotiate these terms.

Few Thais take the time to understand why these terms are a prerequisite for peaceful co-existence. Conflict based on ethno-nationalist sentiment, as seen in the deep South, is not exclusively Thailand, however. In many places around the world, there are such conflicts where the construct of nation-state has created a sense of occupation in an annexed area. The Thais see the unwillingness of the Malays to assimilate as ingratitude for all the things the state has given them. And they are told not to bite the hand that feeds them.

What successive Thai governments don't understand is that handouts are not the same as empowerment. They think that sending a person of good standing to administer over the Malays is good enough. But they don't understand that, to a people who see themselves as colonial subjects, a benevolent colonial master is still a colonial master. Good intention is not policy.

Perhaps the most interesting part came during Thawee's brief closing remarks when he talked about the famous seven points of the late Hajji Sulong Toemeena, a Patani Malay spiritual leader who is widely believed to have been killed by the authorities for daring to spell out the terms needed for peaceful co-existence. That was sixty years ago.

And it wasn't that long ago, said Thawee, that talking about the seven points might be considered treason. How true. But times have changed. More and more people are talking about the need to negotiate with the insurgents, another taboo subject two years ago. Today, government agencies, academics, politicians, police, military top brass, foreign and local NGOs with mediation skills are all looking for a Malay-Muslim separatist leader to talk to.

One young man from Narathiwat stood up and wondered out loud whether the state would be willing to accept a political wing of the insurgents, if one surfaced. What he doesn't know, or pretends not to know, is that there is a series of secret meetings between these so-called mediators and so-called separatist leaders. But none have been able to convince anybody that they can influence the current crop of militants on the ground.

Thawee admitted that he may not be the first choice if locals had their way on who should be head of the SBPAC. But he vowed to do his utmost to change things and give the people of the region the things they ask for but have not been given. It will not be easy, however, as many people here haven't forgiven him for going after Islamic teachers and insurgents in the manner he did back in 2004. Moreover, many officials are quietly saying what the local Malays have believed all along - that the charges against Sapae-ing were fabricated.

Thawee talked about a state-owned Islamic university in the region, and announced that the government has just granted Bt175 million for the construction of a building at the Yala Islamic University.

Angkhana Neelaphaijit, head of the Justice for Peace Foundation, said the government's grant initiative showed that it still doesn't understand the dynamics of the society. It needs to understand a community that questions its legitimacy and takes up arms against it, she said.

Thawee's word may be reconciliatory but Angkhana suggested that people should judge him by his actions, not just by what says. Only time will tell.

Note: For more reading on the insurgency in southern Thailand, please visit Conflict and Insurgency in Southeast Asia at: www.seasiaconflict.com.

-- The Nation 2012-01-10

[Kwasaki]

Quote :- But none have been able to convince anybody that they can influence the current crop of militants on the ground. unquote.

Yes !! And they never will, lets hope the new Islamic university will teach peace as should the Mosques.

Also until the good Muslins help the Thai authorities to stop the militants it sadly will never end.

[sparebox2]

More budget is needed to control the terrorism activity in the South.

[elshaheen]

Let the Southern people who are citizens of Thailand have what they want and for Thailand to back out. Or more people will be getting themselves killed, I hope.

[Mosha]

Let the Southern people who are citizens of Thailand have what they want and for Thailand to back out. Or more people will be getting themselves killed, I hope.

I hope it's because English is not your 1st language, that I misunderstood your post. That last sentence sounds like a threat.

[wxyz]

Thailand should not tolerate these criminals

[OzMick]

As long as it is allowed for young children to be inculcated with bronze age myths, problems like Thailand has in this area will persist.

[cdnski12]

Don't back down Thailand. Go into the south and really stomp hard on the Muslim Insurgents. The Malaysian Govt would probably back you up. I met several Malaysians on golf courses in Thailand. They told me that the Malayasian Govt routinely rounds up radical Pakistani based Muslim Clerics and deports them to back to Pakistan. One guy told me that an imposed Paki Cleric @ his mosque, told the local Malays that they would have to dress like 12 century Afghanis? The ex-Malaysian Army guys told him to F*** Off!! "Can you imagine!" one said, "The Paki Mullah said we could not wear our Salongs to Mosque!". I also heard the same story from a Burmese Businessman, who told me he only started dressing like an Aghanni, after a Paki Mullah took over the local masque. I advised him to kick the bum out. One can not live in the 12th century in 2012. The rest of the world will pass you in it's historic dust!

[wxyz]

this group is NO different than any other criminal subversive organization

intent on the overthrow of your government by ANY MEANS

and replacing it with a totalitarian theocracy