EDITORIAL

Govt has neglected commitments to world on South

The Nation

BANGKOK:-- Allowing the OIC visit was a positive step, but Bangkok continues to resist open discussion about the insurgency

Members of civil society organisations (CSOs) working on the conflict in the Muslim-majority South have yet to get over the fact that the Foreign Ministry didn't allocate time for them to meet with the envoy from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) during his recent visit to the country and the restive region.

The request was raised during last week's visit by the OIC delegation led by Sayed Kassem El-Masry, a former Egyptian ambassador.

The Foreign Ministry, the host of the visitors, shunned the request, and the CSOs hit back with a strong statement. Questions over the opening up of space for greater discourse on the conflict in the Malay-speaking South is nothing new and will continue to come up if the government can't decide how to proceed with this very sticky issue.

Ultimately, the idea of permitting the OIC to visit the conflict-torn region is a good thing, if a bit late in coming. At the least it gives the impression that the country is willing to engage the international community on a conflict in its own territory, and perhaps learn a thing or two from foreign organisations, as they have learned from us.

After all, Thailand has contributed to stability in foreign countries, like the peacekeeping operations in Burundi, Indonesia, Iraq and Afghanistan. The Thai government also played a critical role in a series of Jakarta Informal Meeting (JIM) sessions in the late 1980s and early 1990s that helped paved the way for the Paris Peace Agreement and an end to the fighting in Cambodia.

Thailand has also tried to do some facilitation work between Burmese rebels and the military government, although our role was limited by the fact that we were not a neutral bystander.

But when it comes to the conflict in the deep South, which has killed more than 5,000 people, mostly Muslims of Malay ethnicity, since 2004, Thailand has a tendency to get bent out of shape when foreign countries or organisations raise the issue.

Bangkok pays lip service to "getting to the root cause" of the violence, but doesn't seem to want to acknowledge the ethno-nationalist nature of the conflict. It is easier to blame drug-crazed youths who embrace a false teaching of Islam and who distort Thai history.

The idea of engaging in a debate about armed Malay Muslim groups, who are largely supported by the local residents and who question the legitimacy of the Thai state in their historical homeland, scares the living daylights out of just about every Thai government agency.

Perhaps the only administration that was sincere and showed willingness to get to the root cause of the conflict was the government of Surayud Chulanont, who issued a public apology for the atrocities committed against the Malays of Patani by the state.

In 2007, Surayud invited OIC Secretary General Prof Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu to the country. A negotiated text was agreed upon in which Thailand agreed to grant greater cultural space to ethnic Malays, and a bigger say over their natural resources and the governance of their own affairs.

"Both sides reiterated their readiness to expand their constructive cooperation with a view to enabling the people of the Southern Border Provinces to assume the responsibilities over their domestic affairs through a decentralisation process that allows the people to practice their own cultural and linguistic specificity and manage their natural resources in full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Thailand," the 2007 Joint Statement said.

The Thai side, at least in the 2007 statement, assured the OIC of "the importance the government attaches to thorough investigation and the ongoing judicial process in the case of Mr Somchai Neelaphaijit, [missing] former Chairman of the Muslim Lawyers Association."

Last week's visit by the OIC was a way of reminding the Thai government of the commitment it made in 2007. The latest joint statement issued said Thailand still considers the 2007 communique to embody the spirit of cooperation between the Kingdom and the OIC. What that mean in real terms is anybody's guess.

-- The Nation 2012-05-20

The Yingluck administration doesn't care a jot about the South - they have said so many times.

They leave the army to deal with the situation there. The army are the fall guys when things go wrong.

The red shirts dont care - apart from that stupid shed that was burned (how that pales into insignificance with what the reds burned).

I wonder how fast the current Government would crack

down on protesters if the people from the South converged

on Ratchaprasong and took over the area, set up camp and

then refused to vacate for a few months?

Which World are they Talking about? Better they change Thailands to Cronyism than Buddhism.