Thai editorial: A bad start to the battle for hearts and minds

[webfact]

EDITORIAL
A bad start to the battle for hearts and minds
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- A culture of impunity in the deep South continues to pose a major obstacle for meaningful reconciliation between the state and the Malay-speaking region

The government of Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha has allocated a development budget of Bt7.79 billion for the strife-torn deep South.

The Army says the money will help win the hearts and minds of the predominantly Muslim populace and thus aid its battle against Malay separatists.

The budget is huge, but it isn't clear how much will actually go to improving citizens' lives.

The spending is being be supervised by Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan and will involve 55 government agencies working in the South.

However, experience suggests a rocky road ahead. In the past 10 years development work overseen by the military has made little headway in terms of quelling insurgency violence. It is not clear how the government is going to achieve its stated goal this time.

Prawit has told military units in the southernmost provinces that they are there to serve and protect the residents, not to fight them.

If he meant those words, he should examine the conduct of the region's security agencies. A culture of impunity among them continues to pose a major obstacle for meaningful reconciliation between the state and the Malay-speaking citizens.

Killings by "rogue" soldiers and credible reports of cover-ups have also played into the hands of the insurgents, who cite them to justify their violent attacks.

A spike in tit-for-tat attacks over recent months is taking a toll. Narathiwat has witnessed the killing of a young girl in Bacho and a teenage boy in Si Sakhon at the hands of marines and paramilitary rangers. The shooting deaths set the stage for a spate of retaliation by insurgents who, according to official sources, murdered a young student in Narathiwat this week.

Unlawful violence must be condemned whether carried out by state forces or non-state actors, but government security officials have a duty to admit and apologise for their "mistakes".

When it is obvious that one of their own people has violated the law, the military must not hesitate to punish the culprit. Such as was the case when a ranger was found to have planted a weapon on the body of the teenage boy he had just shot in Si Sakhon to suggest he was an insurgent.

The government can talk about peace and reconciliation all it wants, but only action counts in forging a peaceful future for the deep South.

Of late, the talk among policymakers and leaders in Bangkok has focused on setting up more military units and pouring in more money for newer weapons to solve this problem - like 2,700 Heckler & Koch assault rifles for the Defence Volunteers.

Instead of addressing the root cause of the violence, which is the deep-seated mistrust between the state and the Malay-speaking people, the government is hitting the wrong note, even on matters with which it is supposed to be familiar.

Defence Minister Prawit said the recent spike in violence might stem from the militants' desire to push for a new round of peace talks. Wagging his finger at such a tactic, he said the militants should cease their attacks. But wishful thinking and flawed logic won't get him anywhere.

Unfortunately, he neglected to say anything about the need to stamp out lawlessness among his own men.

As long as the leader's words fail to reflect on the actions of officers, Prawit can forget about winning hearts and minds.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/A-bad-start-to-the-battle-for-hearts-and-minds-30247160.html


-- The Nation 2014-11-07

[Boxclever]

The only "hearts & minds" this Junta has won are the Bangkok elite's!

[JOC]

Time for the ironfist!!

No negotiations with terrorists!!

[JOC]

The only "hearts & minds" this Junta has won are the Bangkok elite's!

So the Bangkok elite is growing!! It now stands at 93,3% of the population!!(sarcasm)

[KarenBravo]

Time for the ironfist!!

No negotiations with terrorists!!

What a totally ignorant statement from a totally ignorant poster.

You should read up on the causes of this conflict and you may change your mind about exactly who are the terrorists.

[Thai at Heart]

A culture of impunity nationwide is a bigger issue.

[tonbridgebrit]

I think what the government needs to do is, is to close down the Nation newspaper.

Let's get real here, whether you love Thaksin or the junta, you're still going to reckon that the Nation is not a good newspaper. And it needs closing down.

If you are a newspaper, and you have a pop at both sides in poltics, well, what do you expect ? Surely, you don't reckon that BOTH sides are going to cheer you on ??

[Crazy chef 1]

the only thing what Thailand needs is a change of mind in the Thai peoples heads-in many aspects and not just in the "deep south crisis"...

[chainarong]

Total waste of time, effort and not to mention money , Thailand needs to adopt a complete different conciliatory approach to this problem if they wish to win hearts and minds.

[ChrisY1]

In 2006, after their last coup, the army declared that peace would be achieved in the south by 2008........they spent vast amounts of money....much of which was wasted and there was, in fact, a surge in the violence which has continued up until today.

2014 and the army now declares that peace will be achieved in 12 months.......again...Thb 7.9 billion will be spent.......my guess is that much of this will be wasted again.........

It seems reasonable to suggest, that whilst some efforts are being taken to quell the violence, much of the talk is to appease the international audience.

[KarenBravo]

Don't forget the air drop over the South of one million origami "birds of peace" during the Thaksin era.

Didn't work.

Edited November 7, 2014 by KarenBravo

[rickirs]

Nothing changes.

“General Prayut Chan-o-cha has allocated a development budget of Bt7.79 billion for the strife-torn deep South.”

“The spending is being be supervised by Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan …”

Wongsuwan is one of Prayuth's retired former bosses. The budget is clearly intended with military discretion in mind. Its disbursement was pointedly not going to be coordinated by the more civilian-oriented ministries (albeit some headed by active military flag officers) such as Education, Commerce, Agriculture, Public Health, Economic Affairs, etc. This means the military mind set to solutions (defense!) will continue to dominate the government’s policies for the South and, as history has shown, to fail bringing peace between Thailand and the South.

[The stuttering parrot]

Extremists don't negotiate .

And now the world has IS to contend with.

At least 100 more years for the war on terrorism.

[JOC]

Time for the ironfist!!

No negotiations with terrorists!!

What a totally ignorant statement from a totally ignorant poster.

You should read up on the causes of this conflict and you may change your mind about exactly who are the terrorists.

Then please inform this totally ignorant poster, how is the murder of a female 20 year young student justifiable for any cause??

[KarenBravo]

Time for the ironfist!!

No negotiations with terrorists!!

What a totally ignorant statement from a totally ignorant poster.

You should read up on the causes of this conflict and you may change your mind about exactly who are the terrorists.

Then please inform this totally ignorant poster, how is the murder of a female 20 year young student justifiable for any cause??

Google is your friend. Find out when the southern provinces joined Thailand and how it happened. That will give you the background.

Next, Google Tak Bai, that's about how 84 protesters that were already subdued lost their lives at the hands of the army.

[Thailand]

And how much of that huge budget is likely to be mislaid after being shared amongst 55 govt agencies.

Google Wikipedia Thai coup 2006, you would think the current incumbents are following step by step.

And, getting the same results.

[soalbundy]

The only "hearts & minds" this Junta has won are the Bangkok elite's!

America had a lot of experience with winning over hearts and minds, didn't work very well but the body count went up nicely.

[EnglishJohn]

The focus is on 'hearts and minds' because the real issue - religion - cannot be solved.

The liberals will tell us that it is not about religion and for the very root cause with the real religious hypocrites they might be right. But a muslim villager will never turn in any other muslim to a non-muslim. If they did, their life in their community would be ruined - not to mention they would likely be executed by the other gang members.

Add the this the general incompetence of Thai army officials promoted through time rather than ability, or politicians given positions solely because of cronyism and you have a recipe for the total shambles we have been witnessing. God help the country if any serious terrorists come here.

[noitom]

When you have them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.

[baboon]

Pi$$ed up soldiers taking pot shots at one another isn't doing much for the cause either, I'll wager..

[fab4]

Don't forget the air drop over the South of one million origami "birds of peace" during the Thaksin era.

Didn't work.

Yes who can forget, certainly not the those who choose to ignore the idea behind it in their urge to critcise Thaksin. It was obviously one of those ideas that sounded good at the time but there was a modicum of thinking behind it. Millions of people all over Thailand participated in the folding of these symbolic "birds of peace" and at the very least it raised the conciousness of the Thai citizens to the insurgency in the South and attempted to foster a sense of solidarity with the plight of the southerners. On a side note it was also meant to honour the King's 77th birthday.

Better this than raising the military budget and handing out 2,500 weapons to civilian militia, one would have thought.

Of course it's far easier to be cynical and say that the air-drop of paper birds "didn't work". It takes a special kind of intellect to believe that the Thaksin government thought that it would bring peace to the region..........................

[kjun12]

Time for the ironfist!!

No negotiations with terrorists!!

Oh yea. You're a real diplomat. Is your family name Bush or Chaney by chance?

[iReason]

Winning the hearts and minds of reactionary, religious zealots?

Absurd.

[JOC]

Time for the ironfist!!

No negotiations with terrorists!!

What a totally ignorant statement from a totally ignorant poster.

You should read up on the causes of this conflict and you may change your mind about exactly who are the terrorists.

Then please inform this totally ignorant poster, how is the murder of a female 20 year young student justifiable for any cause??

Google is your friend. Find out when the southern provinces joined Thailand and how it happened. That will give you the background.

Next, Google Tak Bai, that's about how 84 protesters that were already subdued lost their lives at the hands of the army.

I know the history of the Thai South very well. As for Tak Bai, tragic and inhumane as it was, please inform me how revencekillings of students and teachers 10 years later, are going to improve the situation??

Come to the negotiation-table or fight the army!!

Stop killing innocent civilians, on both sides of the divide!!

[Dogmatix]

Killings by "rogue" soldiers and credible reports of cover-ups....

If you dig into archives of newspaper reports from the late 40s, you will find exactly the same sort of stuff which had already been going for decades then. This has been going on under the current leadership. So what is going to change?

Of late, the talk among policymakers and leaders in Bangkok has focused on setting up more military units and pouring in more money for newer weapons to solve this problem - like 2,700 Heckler & Koch assault rifles for the Defence Volunteers.

Oh yes, this is going to change. Another 2,700 assault rifles in the hands of untrained LDV recruits which can be used against alleged insurgents but will gradually find their way into the hands of the insurgents themselves and will make the LDV prime targets. An assault rifle doesn't offer much protection if you are shot in the back of the head when you least expect it.

Edited November 7, 2014 by Dogmatix

[Petchou]

Time for the ironfist!!

No negotiations with terrorists!!

Oh yea. You're a real diplomat. Is your family name Bush or Chaney by chance?

Complete name kjun12 bush Cheney lolllll

Envoy of America to Thailand

[maidee]

give every southener an ak 47 and the problem will solve itself

[Spock]

Time for the ironfist!!

No negotiations with terrorists!!

What a totally ignorant statement from a totally ignorant poster.

You should read up on the causes of this conflict and you may change your mind about exactly who are the terrorists.

Then please inform this totally ignorant poster, how is the murder of a female 20 year young student justifiable for any cause??

Google is your friend. Find out when the southern provinces joined Thailand and how it happened. That will give you the background.

Next, Google Tak Bai, that's about how 84 protesters that were already subdued lost their lives at the hands of the army.

The men were loaded into the rear of trucks stifling with oppressive heat and transported 5 hours stacked like produce in rows. The military did nothing wrong according to Thaksin despite 78 young men dying en route. This and the killing of 2500 small time drug users and assorted others by the 'licence to kill' anti drug squad let loose by Thaksin are the biggest black marks on his period in politics. Free medical treatment for the masses was a positive and welcome contribution to the Thai populace, but he blotted his copybook with his heavy handed approach to drugs and the southern problem.

[Jonmarleesco]

'A spike in tit-for-tat attacks over recent months is taking a toll. '... the killing of a young girl in Bacho and a teenage boy in Si Sakhon, at the hands of marines and paramilitary rangers ... set the stage for a spate of retaliation by insurgents who ... murdered a young student in Narathiwat this week.' The common theme would seem to be the deaths of innocent citizens.

[tbthailand]

In 2006, after their last coup, the army declared that peace would be achieved in the south by 2008........they spent vast amounts of money....much of which was wasted and there was, in fact, a surge in the violence which has continued up until today.

2014 and the army now declares that peace will be achieved in 12 months.......again...Thb 7.9 billion will be spent.......my guess is that much of this will be wasted again.........

It seems reasonable to suggest, that whilst some efforts are being taken to quell the violence, much of the talk is to appease the international audience.

is 'wasted' the right word?