Insurgents in Thailand's deep South 'ruled by heart, not head'

[webfact]

Insurgents in Thailand's deep South 'ruled by heart, not head'
Don Pathan
Special to The Nation
YALA


A forensic expert inspects a house after government forces shot and killed suspected insurgents during a raid at the house in southern Pattani province earlier this month. Five suspected insurgents surrendered and two more were shot dead

Fresh wave of attacks: insurgency leaders worried emotion has got the better of their fighters

YALA: -- A hand-written note left at the crime scene where school teacher Issara Chairitchok was shot dead reflects the growing fear among the local population in Thailand's southernmost provinces - that more bad things are coming.

If you "detain indiscriminately", we will "kill indiscriminately", the note read.

Issara became the 179th teacher killed since the current wave of insurgency flared a decade ago. More than 6,000 people, mostly Muslims of Malay ethnicity, have been killed since then.

Issara was shot dead in Pattani's Khok Pho district on November 15, presumably by insurgents who were ticked off over a number of incidents that resulted in the death and wounding of ordinary Malay Muslim villagers, including women and children, at the hands of state security officials.

Beside the shooting death of Issara, November 15 also witnessed a mother and her daughter gunned down at close range on the Than To-Betong road, and a roadside bomb attack that injured two rangers in Narathiwat's Rusoh district.

Publicly, authorities said the shooting death of Issara was a retaliation for the November 14 killing of two suspected insurgents in a gunfight in Pattani's Nong Chik district.

But an exiled separatist source dismissed the claim. He said although the two insurgents were outnumbered and outgunned, the movement could accept the outcome as they deemed the fight a fair one.

Unlike other sub-national conflicts elsewhere, the insurgency in Thailand's deep South does not have an officially designated clearing house or a coherent dialogue process where both sides can confirm or deny their activities.

And without a guarantee of immunity or a recognisable political wing to state their case, there is no reason any of the separatist groups would admit publicly or privately to any of the attacks. Leaflets and banners to remind the authorities of the retaliation is good enough for now.

Besides notes left at the scene of attacks, officials often turn to exiled separatist leaders to help clear things up.

As for the current "spikes", one has to go back to the October 12 arson attacks on five public schools in Pattani's Thung Yang Daeng and one in Ma-Yor district. Police said the arson attacks were a retaliation to the arrest of top insurgent leaders.

But a separatist source said the attacks were in response to officials mistreating eight suspects that had been rounded up in Thung Yang Daeng following a vicious attack on the police outpost in the district in mid-July.

Separatist sources said insurgents operate on a need-to-know basis and the militants behind the July attack are long gone. There was no way the eight detainees would have any prior knowledge of the attack.

Another example of officials "overstepping the line" was the shooting death of a 10-year-old Muslim girl in Narathiwat's Bacho district after the vehicle she was travelling in did not stop when a Marine on the side of the road flashed a flashlight at them.

Her mother, father and older sister survived gunshot wounds. A senior Marines commander in the area expressed regret and provided the family with Bt500,000.

Insurgents hit back a week later on November 1 by attacking a group of Buddhist men drinking in front of a shophouse in Songkhla's Thepha district, killing three and wounding four.

The killers left a sarcastic note that read: "Sorry for the unintentional killings. Just like when you shot at the Malay people in [Hutae] Yalor village [in Bacho]."

The following day, gunmen shot at close range a 20-year-old Buddhist university student in Narathiwat's Tambon. The assassin's gun jammed as he tried to shoot the victim's two friends who were riding pillion on the same motorbike. Police said the victim's father was killed in similar fashion two years ago.

The same day also saw a gangland style attack by men travelling on a pick-up truck who opened fire at a house Tambon Nanak in Tak Bai district. One person died on the spot and three others were wounded. All were Buddhists.

The following day in Pattani's Tambon Taluboh, gunmen in a pickup truck attacked a truck full of local Malay Muslim residents, killing three, all of whom were officials from Tambon Krong Maning in Pattani. Two others suffered bullet wounds.

On November 8, a Sungai Padi Muslim resident was shot dead while four rangers and a civilian were wounded by two separate roadside bombings in Pattani on November 11. An imam was shot dead by hooded men in Yala's Betong district on November 12 and then there was the aforementioned gunfight in Pattani's Nong Chik on November 14 that resulted in the deaths of the two insurgents who refused to surrender.

The third week of November saw several banners erected in various locations that read: "As long as the policy of 'Returning Happiness to the People' is still about aiming gun barrels at religious leaders, communities, Muslim clerics, and innocent Malay brothers and sisters, Buddhist civilians, bureaucrats, and teachers can be certain that they will be the last dead bodies."

Perhaps the most unusual aspect of the recent wave of attacks were the simultaneous attacks on four karaoke bars in remote areas on the outskirts of the Pattani provincial capital on October 31. According to a separatist source, the idea was to teach these establishments, as well as the Muslim clients, a nasty lesson.

There was a suggestion that the insurgents had considered waiting until a Muslim walked into one of these establishment before setting off the explosive. But that would of meant compromising their own security and possibly giving their location away. In the end it was decided that it was best to set off the blasts simultaneously and leave the scene immediately.

However, the attacks against the karaoke bars are not the start of a moral crusade. If anything, it was meant to discredit the state and send a stern warning of their disapproval of Muslims indulging in these outlets.

Among the intelligence and security community, all sorts of explanations were given to explain what appears to be a spike in violence recently. But sources in the separatist movements said making the area ungovernable as much as possible continued to be the aim for the time being.

The recent attacks on soft targets, they said, were part of retaliation against specific actions of security officials.

The fact that these attacks are driven by emotion rather than being part of a strategic calculation has become a point of concern the insurgency leaders.

But this is the nature of the insurgency in Thailand's Malay-speaking South, where the separatist movement's chain of command is very fluid and the command and control is untested. In real terms, this means insurgents on the ground continue to decide who they target, while at the same time keeping in mind the need for self-restraint and staying within the loose guidelines provided by the leaders in exile.

Attacking "soft" targets may humiliate security agencies, but separatist leaders have acknowledged that such tactics play into the hands of the authorities.

Moreover, the fact that the authorities make no serious effort to look into the conduct of their security personnel suggests that they can still tolerate the humiliation of being on the receiving end.

Don Pathan is a member of the Patani Forum

(www.pataniforum.com) and a freelance development and security consultant based in Yala.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Insurgents-in-Thailands-deep-South-ruled-by-heart--30248404.html


-- The Nation 2014-11-24

[soalbundy]

Ruled by heart and not the head, but that is Thainess surely ?

[boomerangutang]

So sad and unnecessary, all the death, destruction and harm. It's almost as senseless as killing a man for stepping on your shoe by mistake. If there's a gene for maturity, Thais got short-changed.

[soalbundy]

I like the bullet holes in the roof,what were they aiming at,helicopters?

[recycled]

And the politicians in the north 'ruled by money, not sincerity.'

[DeepInTheForest]

Ruled by heart and not the head, but that is Thainess surely ?

The headline is referring to the insurgents, not the ethnic Thai military or society. Your comment would seem to imply that the insurgents have adopted Thainess as a meme, or that they are somehow culturally Thai. That seems unlikely for several reasons.

Edited November 24, 2014 by DeepInTheForest

[climbertrev1]

Ruled by heart and not the head, but that is Thainess surely ?

I find your gross generalisation insulting to all the Thai friends that I have.

It is equivalent to me accusing all Farangs living in Thailand of being alcoholic and or sex addicts..and totally ignorant of Thai culture. That accusation is also not accurate although the last bit I sometimes wonder.

Back to the insurgency. Terrorism is not limited to the deep south of Thailand, surely you must have heard about ISIL or ISIS or 9/11 or a million other acts carried out by non Thai people?

[soalbundy]

Ruled by heart and not the head, but that is Thainess surely ?

I find your gross generalisation insulting to all the Thai friends that I have.

It is equivalent to me accusing all Farangs living in Thailand of being alcoholic and or sex addicts..and totally ignorant of Thai culture. That accusation is also not accurate although the last bit I sometimes wonder.

Back to the insurgency. Terrorism is not limited to the deep south of Thailand, surely you must have heard about ISIL or ISIS or 9/11 or a million other acts carried out by non Thai people?

I can't see the insult, i have a Thai wife and a half Thai son as well as two Thai step daughters and i love them all deeply but they are ruled by the heart and not the head, logic isn't their strong point. My comment had nothing to do with terrorism really but the fact that they are not organized and have no political arm ( aims even ) speaks volumes about acting with anger instead of thinking things through how best to achieve their aims,if they have any

[soalbundy]

Ruled by heart and not the head, but that is Thainess surely ?

The headline is referring to the insurgents, not the ethnic Thai military or society. Your comment would seem to imply that the insurgents have adopted Thainess as a meme, or that they are somehow culturally Thai. That seems unlikely for several reasons.

They live in Thailand and have done so since their birth,they have been exposed to ''Thai culture'' so i assume that their Thainess is showing in the disorganized way that they are going about things.

[Bluespunk]

Ruled by heart and not the head, but that is Thainess surely ?

I find your gross generalisation insulting to all the Thai friends that I have.

It is equivalent to me accusing all Farangs living in Thailand of being alcoholic and or sex addicts..and totally ignorant of Thai culture. That accusation is also not accurate although the last bit I sometimes wonder.

Back to the insurgency. Terrorism is not limited to the deep south of Thailand, surely you must have heard about ISIL or ISIS or 9/11 or a million other acts carried out by non Thai people?

I would agree that terrorism is not limited to the south of Thailand.

I would further add it is not limited to one religion alone.

[RustBucket]

So sad and unnecessary, all the death, destruction and harm. It's almost as senseless as killing a man for stepping on your shoe by mistake. If there's a gene for maturity, Thais got short-changed.

But it's all OK.... The Junta said all the problems in the south will be sorted within 12 months.

So everything will be fine and dandy I am sure.

[A1Str8]

If they were ruled by heart they would stop killing.

But you are right. They are not ruled by head. They are ruled by the ego.

[Thai at Heart]

What an incoherent article.

What has ruling by heart got to do with the article?

[Krataiboy]

. . .an exiled separatist source . . . said . . . the movement could accept the outcome as they deemed the fight a fair one

Fair? What a sick joke! This must be one of the dirtiest fights in Thailand's history, with innocents on both sides being slaughtered indiscriminately, with no end in sight to the violence. Yet this appalling conflict, comparable in its brutality to that between ISIS and Syria/Iraq, is largely ignored by the world's media.

Virtually every day the Thai mass media carries accounts of teachers being gunned down, schools being torched, civilians being blown to pieces or randomly shot while going about their everyday lives, without anything tangible being done to stem the tide of death and destruction.

But nobody outside the strife-torn Southern provinces seems to want to know.

The current military regime has talked airily of finding a solution within a year, yet is lamentably short on producing initiatives to turn these good intentions into reality.

With violence escalating to unacceptable levels, Thailand's military leaders need to seize the initiative - not by sporadic and clumsy military action against suspected terrorists who all too often turn out to be nothing of the kind, but by producing a workable formula for a lasting peace and insisting on sitting down with insurgent leaders to discuss its feasibility.

The UN, so quick to act in more "fashionable" conflicts, should get off the fence and instruct the General Secretary to help broker round table talks aimed at finding an acceptable solution to Thailand's Forgotten War.

Edited November 24, 2014 by Krataiboy

[kaobang]

they have so big hearts that they kill little girls

what about ruled by that place where the sun does not shine

[DeepInTheForest]

Ruled by heart and not the head, but that is Thainess surely ?

The headline is referring to the insurgents, not the ethnic Thai military or society. Your comment would seem to imply that the insurgents have adopted Thainess as a meme, or that they are somehow culturally Thai. That seems unlikely for several reasons.

They live in Thailand and have done so since their birth,they have been exposed to ''Thai culture'' so i assume that their Thainess is showing in the disorganized way that they are going about things.

Good grief. That's pretty convoluted reasoning. Mere exposure to Thai culture can make people disorganized, huh? Even if they're not Thais, apparently. If that's the case, you may be in danger yourself-- since your increasing exposure to Thai culture will be demonstrated in the disorganized way you will approach things.

Posters on TV invariably employ "Thainess" as a cultural club to wail on Thai ethnocentrism-- and unfairly tar all Thais with the same brush. Consider: Thais are not the only culture who ascribe lofty and dubious cultural traits to themselves. In fact, most of us do it. Our self-image is often more glossy than reality. You can find plenty of cultural snobbism in the pages of this forum, almost none of it from natives of the country.

Edited November 24, 2014 by DeepInTheForest

[soalbundy]

Ruled by heart and not the head, but that is Thainess surely ?

The headline is referring to the insurgents, not the ethnic Thai military or society. Your comment would seem to imply that the insurgents have adopted Thainess as a meme, or that they are somehow culturally Thai. That seems unlikely for several reasons.

They live in Thailand and have done so since their birth,they have been exposed to ''Thai culture'' so i assume that their Thainess is showing in the disorganized way that they are going about things.

Good grief. That's pretty convoluted reasoning. Mere exposure to Thai culture can make people disorganized, huh? Even if they're not Thais, apparently. If that's the case, you may be in danger yourself-- since your increasing exposure to Thai culture will be demonstrated in the disorganized way you will approach things.

Posters on TV invariably employ "Thainess" as a cultural club to wail on Thai ethnocentrism-- and unfairly tar all Thais with the same brush. Consider: Thais are not the only culture who ascribe lofty and dubious cultural traits to themselves. In fact, most of us do it. Our self-image is often more glossy than reality. You can find plenty of cultural snobbism in the pages of this forum, almost none of it from natives of the country.

i can agree with the last part of your post, i think distance makes the heart grow fonder and we forget what it's really like in farang land.

One certainly adjusts according to the country you live in,providing you speak the language and become a part of society. I lived 40 years in Germany and have long since taken off my English hat to be replaced with a German one. Yes i do find that after 9 years here i have become more complacent, mai pen rai has become part of me and i do tend to let things slide, i think that now i would have trouble adjusting to farang land again.

It is true that you can't paint everybody with the same brush but there are certain national characteristics which can be attributed to the nation as a whole even though not everybody will follow the same pattern. The fact that there is an insurrection in the South without a political arm or a defined leadership is, i would say,typically Thai.