Special Report: Reconciliation Centers in Southernmost Provinces

[Lite Beer]

Special Report: Reconciliation Centers in Southernmost Provinces

BANGKOK, 8 June 2014 (NNT) – Solution to the southern unrest is a priority of every government in Thailand even when the country encountered a political crisis which led to the army’s takeover of government power in May 2014.

Army Commander-in-Chief Gen.Prayuth Chan-ocha, in his capacity as head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), has instructed the Internal Security Operation Command (ISOC) to urgently tackle the southern unrest and bring peace back to the region by setting up reconciliation centers.

Initiated by the NCPO to deal with political conflicts nationwide, the reconciliation centers in the deep south will be collaboration between the ISOC and the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center (SBPAC). Together they will implement policies and strategies aimed at resolving the southern unrest with deployment of personnel from the ISOC. The opening of the reconciliation centers depends on the readiness of each area.

Provincial governors are government officials who will play an important role in the reconciliation centers in the deep southern provinces. They will cooperate with relevant units in all sectors to unify people with different political ideologies since unity is a way to peace and happiness in the country.

The ISOC, especially the ISOC Region 4, will be the main government unit working for the reconciliation centers. Apart from providing security for the locals, the ISOC will continue its work in terms of economic development, revival of the locals’ cultural identities and religious support. The reconciliation centers are hoped to complement the ISOC’s work on the southern unrest by helping the command deal with separatism and bring the locals and officers closer.

Many people believe the reconciliation centers will give new hope to the southern border provinces and the whole country. They are an assurance that peace and unity are within reach if all sectors work together and put the nation’s interests before themselves.

-- NNT 2014-06-08

[DonThaiToMe]

As far as I know, the muslim insurgents in the deep south want their own state, or to be part of Malaysia. But i could bewrong.

Anyway I think that this "war" in the deep south is a too good "money-cow" for the military to really want to end it.

Lastly, I have to confess the millitary (coup) have started out in a really good way. Let´s hope it continues like that!

[kmj]

If only it could be ended so easily, not a chance in hell or jahannam

[thumper101]

It won't work... These are crazy and brainwashed Islamic fundamentalists with no regard for the life of their own let alone the lives of others.

Anyone walking into a reconciliation center in the south will be an instant target and will likely end up dead on the roadside and on fire.

You can't negotiate with indoctrinated lunatics.

[FangFerang]

This is a good effort that will not accomplish anything.

Good sounds, but no music.

[lomatopo]

Clearly the ISOC have lost that will to do anything, from terrorizing the country to rid it of communism and the leftists who threatened the "status quo", all the way up to trying to assassinate a sitting PM.

Back in the good old days, the CSOC (ISOC's predecessor) was implicated in several atrocities in its 1970s war against leftist groups. This included the murder of southern Thai activists by putting them into drums of boiling oil.

Now they're settling for creating rec. centers.

[simple1]

It won't work... These are crazy and brainwashed Islamic fundamentalists with no regard for the life of their own let alone the lives of others.

Anyone walking into a reconciliation center in the south will be an instant target and will likely end up dead on the roadside and on fire.

You can't negotiate with indoctrinated lunatics.

There are nine different insurgency groups, allegedly with little consensus between them, including disagreement on one groups' objective to implement Sharia Criminal law. A bit of a heads up at URL below that also discusses suggestions for decentralisation of government decision making for the region.

http://asiancorrespondent.com/42874/would-autonomy-satisfy-the-insurgents-in-thailands-deep-south/

[Arkady]

It has been going on like this since 1912. Maybe time for a new approach to colonial administration down there.

[Thailand]

Now if the military government can do anything about the problems in the south then I will really be impressed.

A little different to sending little more than armed kids in uniform to police their fellow Thais in the provinces.

[pantareiyingluck]

As far as I know, the muslim insurgents in the deep south want their own state, or to be part of Malaysia. But i could bewrong.

Anyway I think that this "war" in the deep south is a too good "money-cow" for the military to really want to end it.

Lastly, I have to confess the millitary (coup) have started out in a really good way. Let´s hope it continues like that!

All who neglect democracy, are accepting defeat as satisfactory. It won't work.

[wandasloan]

This is a good effort that will not accomplish anything.

Good sounds, but no music.

Huh? Kumbaya is mandatory. The one thing it has is music. 555

But it is the most hilarious error in the far-too-hilarious history of the Royal Thai Army, especially in the far South.

The "reconciliation" necessary is for Isoc to realise it is the most despised entity in the deep South. People aren't fighting people in that area. This is not Udon Thani or Surat Thani. This is EVERYONE in the region opposed to top-down management from the likes of the junta chief (and his predecessors of government for 50 years), and a tiny few taking up arms against him. The people in the deep South are of one mind about the source of the problems and terrorism and violence, and that main source is featured here in a huge photo.

You Muslim haters, please hit another thread. There's nothing for you to see here. Religion has no part to play in this serious, murderous security problem.

Now if the military government can do anything about the problems in the south then I will really be impressed.

Er. The military have been in complete charge of the problems in the South for decades including during junta regimes. Without the military, there might not be problems.

.

[AleG]

It won't work... These are crazy and brainwashed Islamic fundamentalists with no regard for the life of their own let alone the lives of others.

Anyone walking into a reconciliation center in the south will be an instant target and will likely end up dead on the roadside and on fire.

You can't negotiate with indoctrinated lunatics.

These are crazy and brainwashed Islamic fundamentalists

Of course there's too many of those, but the continuing conflict, in my opinion, has moved beyond that by now. I'm not an expert on the issue, but to me it seems that economic reasons are one of the main issues, namely money from illegal activities across the border; like with the FARC in Colombia, that (d)evolved from a marxist guerrilla into a narc operation.

One of the reasons I think so is that the conflict is so localized, if it would be just deranged jihadists we would see them hitting the government elsewhere for greater impact, instead it looks like a particularly nasty turf war.

[AleG]

This is a good effort that will not accomplish anything.

Good sounds, but no music.

Huh? Kumbaya is mandatory. The one thing it has is music. 555

But it is the most hilarious error in the far-too-hilarious history of the Royal Thai Army, especially in the far South.

The "reconciliation" necessary is for Isoc to realise it is the most despised entity in the deep South. People aren't fighting people in that area. This is not Udon Thani or Surat Thani. This is EVERYONE in the region opposed to top-down management from the likes of the junta chief (and his predecessors of government for 50 years), and a tiny few taking up arms against him. The people in the deep South are of one mind about the source of the problems and terrorism and violence, and that main source is featured here in a huge photo.

You Muslim haters, please hit another thread. There's nothing for you to see here. Religion has no part to play in this serious, murderous security problem.

Now if the military government can do anything about the problems in the south then I will really be impressed.

Er. The military have been in complete charge of the problems in the South for decades including during junta regimes. Without the military, there might not be problems.

.

Your last point, the current escalation of violence was the result of Thaksin dismantling the relatively succesful army efforts in the South in order to get the police to step in, it was a disastrous decision stemming from his desire to make political gains in the South.

You may want to search for "Thaksin and the Resurgence of Violence in the Thai South" by Duncan McCargo.

[rickirs]

Trying to win the "hearts and minds" of insurgents through military leadership has historically failed elsewhere in the world. The US military tried such a program in Viet Nam and failed. People's ideology can rarely be bought with niceties; use of violence only suppresses it. The Philippines tried a more political approach and so far succeeded.

In October 2012 the Philippine government of a predominantly Roman Catholic nation and Muslim rebels agreed to a preliminary peace treaty that grants minority Muslims in the southern Philippines broad autonomy in exchange for ending more than 40 years of violence that has killed tens of thousands of people and stifled development. Maybe such a resolution could be considered for the Muslim contested areas in South Thailand.

[simple1]

Trying to win the "hearts and minds" of insurgents through military leadership has historically failed elsewhere in the world. The US military tried such a program in Viet Nam and failed. People's ideology can rarely be bought with niceties; use of violence only suppresses it. The Philippines tried a more political approach and so far succeeded.

In October 2012 the Philippine government of a predominantly Roman Catholic nation and Muslim rebels agreed to a preliminary peace treaty that grants minority Muslims in the southern Philippines broad autonomy in exchange for ending more than 40 years of violence that has killed tens of thousands of people and stifled development. Maybe such a resolution could be considered for the Muslim contested areas in South Thailand.

True, but very different to the insurgency situation in the deep South, in that the Philippine government were able to negotiate with the largest groups' political leaders who had command authority over the armed members; apparently not the case in Thailand. The more radicalised such as Abu Sayyaf have not agreed to lay down their arms. Hopefully, the incorporation of the main insurgency groups' fighters into the Philippine armed forces will be enable them to tackle the 'holdouts'.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/world/asia/philippines-and-rebels-agree-on-peace-accord-to-end-insurgency.html?_r=0