Letter From Yala: South Crisis

[webfact]

SOUTH CRISIS

Letter from Yala

Don Pathan

The Nation

YALA: -- It was a mixture of curiosity, appreciation and entertainment, all lumped into one, and the result was a glimpse of hope amid this trying time for the residents of Thailand's southernmost provinces.

Members of civil society, youth and women’s groups, and a handful of government officials came together at Rajabhat Yala University’s performing centre to display their products, exchange views and watch cultural performances by a ramwong klong-yow (long-drum dance) troupe from Pattani’s Wat Chang Hai community, and a young Malay male performing anachid, or Muslim song.

Differences were set aside as smiles and hope returned to the faces of the local residents of this restive region, determined to show the rest of the country that the fabric of their society was still very much intact in spite of the ongoing tit-for-tat violence between government security forces and separatist militants.

Many people who came yesterday had participated in a World Bank-funded community-driven development (CDD) project that provided seed money to selected villages to carry out development projects. The condition was that the villagers must be in charge of the entire process - from planning to implementation.

State officials, such as village chiefs and kamnan, were asked to step aside and function as advisers.

Participants said the CDD approach was very different from the typical top-down government projects that don’t always reflect the needs and desires of local villagers.

Moreover, by coming together, they were hoping they could put something in motion - something meaningful that could contribute towards peace, said Lamai Manakhan, a community activist who facilitated yesterday's discussion with the villagers.

Participants broke off into four groups - women, youth, civil-society organisations, and ordinary villagers - to explore ways to build on the accomplishments from their community-driven development towards lasting peace.

While conversations among the villagers’ group centred on their projects and helped bring Buddhists and Muslims closer together, leaders of civil-society organisations, on the other hand, stressed the need for Thai society to change its attitude towards Patani as a region if the two sides were to co-exist peacefully.

The youth group, meanwhile, stressed the need to understand the root cause of the violence if the conflict were to be resolved.

Much of their conversation was focused on state-minority relations. They maintained that the Malays in the southernmost provinces could live with the Thai state, but the deal had to be on their terms, not that of the state. Yesterday’s activities were focused on identifying those terms.

The Thai government has over the years poured billions of taxpayers' baht into the restive region. Most of the money went to security operations but some was set aside for development projects. Bangkok has consistently hoped the project would bring the local residents closer to the state agencies.

But trust between these agencies and the local residents, particularly among the Malay Muslims, has not changed much.

Millions of baht are being given out to compensate people who have been subjected to abuse by state officials. The government referred to these initiatives as "rehabilitation", as opposed to "compensation", thus opening up opportunity for others, such as teachers, to demand an equal amount of money.

-- The Nation 2012-12-18

[beautifulthailand99]

Having visited Yala last year to see my wifes family and just about to head off to Hat Yai its a crying shame that this one of the most beautiful parts of Thailand and Yala is easily the most beautiful small city I have been to in the LoS is having so much trouble from such small numbers of violent minded individuals. Sadly at the moment I see no end in sight and our game plan is to re-establish her family in safer parts.A legacy of British Empire horse trading Malay land to Thailand in order to secure a railroad from Singapore to Burma and Thaksins ham fisted iron glove approach culminating in the Tak Bai massacre.

Our Empire (I am a Brit) which covered a third of the world was run by just 4000 colonial officers out of Whitehall and used pacts with the ruling elites and divide and rule to great advantage. Deviously and ruthlessly clever and self-serving.

[bigbamboo]

Having visited Yala last year to see my wifes family and just about to head off to Hat Yai its a crying shame that this one of the most beautiful parts of Thailand and Yala is easily the most beautiful small city I have been to in the LoS is having so much trouble from such small numbers of violent minded individuals. Sadly at the moment I see no end in sight and our game plan is to re-establish her family in safer parts.A legacy of British Empire horse trading Malay land to Thailand in order to secure a railroad from Singapore to Burma and Thaksins ham fisted iron glove approach culminating in the Tak Bai massacre.

Our Empire (I am a Brit) which covered a third of the world was run by just 4000 colonial officers out of Whitehall and used pacts with the ruling elites and divide and rule to great advantage. Deviously and ruthlessly clever and self-serving.

It may not have been right but that's how great Empires became great.

[Plastic Brontosaurus]

There's a lot of news about the violence in the South always, however as a relative newbie to LoS I have still not found any resource which tells the story of how things came to be that way, in a reasonably comprehensive and unbiased way.

Does anyone know of a site where the history of this region is properly explained? The majority of troublespots in the world appear to be areas where Muslims clash with others, but rather than simply saying to myself "oh its just another place where Muslims deal with issues in their usual way" I'd like to get a more balanced view on this and understand the situation and its causes better.

Any info/links etc. much appreciated :-)

[simple1]

There's a lot of news about the violence in the South always, however as a relative newbie to LoS I have still not found any resource which tells the story of how things came to be that way, in a reasonably comprehensive and unbiased way.

Does anyone know of a site where the history of this region is properly explained? The majority of troublespots in the world appear to be areas where Muslims clash with others, but rather than simply saying to myself "oh its just another place where Muslims deal with issues in their usual way" I'd like to get a more balanced view on this and understand the situation and its causes better.

Any info/links etc. much appreciated :-)

For your reading:

http://politico.ie/world-politics/special-thailands-forgotten-conflict/8672-at-the-kingdoms-edge-thailands-forgotten-conflict.html

ftp://ftp.cs.utexas.edu/pub/qsim/papers/Kuipers-leef-06.pdf

http://www.defence.g...d_Nurakkate.pdf

http://religionconflictpeace.org/volume-3-issue-2-spring-2010/conflicts-and-peace-initiatives-between-minority-muslims-and-thai

http://www.openbriefing.org/thinktank/publications/prospects-for-peace-in-thailands-deep-south/

http://www.slideshare.net/ikhwanng/history-and-politics-of-the-muslims-in-thailand

[beautifulthailand99]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patani_%28region%29

And this gives a good intro - the Thais are always careful to nuance their never colonised by western European powers mantra as this excludes the fact that the Japanese occupied them during World War 2 .

[ratcatcher]

Having visited Yala last year to see my wifes family and just about to head off to Hat Yai its a crying shame that this one of the most beautiful parts of Thailand and Yala is easily the most beautiful small city I have been to in the LoS is having so much trouble from such small numbers of violent minded individuals. Sadly at the moment I see no end in sight and our game plan is to re-establish her family in safer parts.A legacy of British Empire horse trading Malay land to Thailand in order to secure a railroad from Singapore to Burma and Thaksins ham fisted iron glove approach culminating in the Tak Bai massacre.

Our Empire (I am a Brit) which covered a third of the world was run by just 4000 colonial officers out of Whitehall and used pacts with the ruling elites and divide and rule to great advantage. Deviously and ruthlessly clever and self-serving.

Off topic, but just to make a point, what the British did in the 18th, 19th & 20th centuries in their colonies as "Empire builders", the Chinese are doing today "Deviously and ruthlessly clever and self-serving."

Where the British built railways and infrastructure then, the Chinese will follow today. It's all to do with power.

[hellodolly]

Having visited Yala last year to see my wifes family and just about to head off to Hat Yai its a crying shame that this one of the most beautiful parts of Thailand and Yala is easily the most beautiful small city I have been to in the LoS is having so much trouble from such small numbers of violent minded individuals. Sadly at the moment I see no end in sight and our game plan is to re-establish her family in safer parts.A legacy of British Empire horse trading Malay land to Thailand in order to secure a railroad from Singapore to Burma and Thaksins ham fisted iron glove approach culminating in the Tak Bai massacre.

Our Empire (I am a Brit) which covered a third of the world was run by just 4000 colonial officers out of Whitehall and used pacts with the ruling elites and divide and rule to great advantage. Deviously and ruthlessly clever and self-serving.

It may not have been right but that's how great Empires became great.

I would say rape other countries.

[khunken]

Having visited Yala last year to see my wifes family and just about to head off to Hat Yai its a crying shame that this one of the most beautiful parts of Thailand and Yala is easily the most beautiful small city I have been to in the LoS is having so much trouble from such small numbers of violent minded individuals. Sadly at the moment I see no end in sight and our game plan is to re-establish her family in safer parts.A legacy of British Empire horse trading Malay land to Thailand in order to secure a railroad from Singapore to Burma and Thaksins ham fisted iron glove approach culminating in the Tak Bai massacre.

Our Empire (I am a Brit) which covered a third of the world was run by just 4000 colonial officers out of Whitehall and used pacts with the ruling elites and divide and rule to great advantage. Deviously and ruthlessly clever and self-serving.

Off topic, but just to make a point, what the British did in the 18th, 19th & 20th centuries in their colonies as "Empire builders", the Chinese are doing today "Deviously and ruthlessly clever and self-serving."

Where the British built railways and infrastructure then, the Chinese will follow today. It's all to do with power.

Not quite Ratcatcher. What the empire did was impose their rule over the colonies as well as building infrastructure. The Chinese are building infrastructure without imposing their rule. In fact the Chinese are very scrupulous about not interfering with whoever is in power. Their reasons are of course not charitable but usually because they want some product(s) that the receiving country can offer.

[nokbird]

Dear Santa, please tell Rudolf to drop a Nuclear Red Nose on their mosques and give us peace so we can go to school.

Edited December 18, 2012 by nokbird