'All sides must agree' on south peace talks team

[Lite Beer]

INSURGENCY
'All sides must agree' on peace talks team
Jeerapong Prasertpolkrung
The Nation

Children plough a rice field in the southern border province of Narathiwat yesterday as part of an activity held to promote a simple, local way of life.

BANGKOK: -- Consensus needed on Thai representatives in dialogue in deep South, Prayut says

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha is planning to set up a Thai team to participate in a peace dialogue with Barisan Revolusi Nasional, but only after he has discussed the issue with Malaysia, which has been serving as a facilitator of the talks since last year.

The dialogue between the two sides was kick-started during the previous elected government's term.

"We need to find out if the other two parties will agree with our choices," General Prayut said yesterday, though he refused to confirm whether the Royal Thai Army's chief adviser, General Aksara Kerdphol, would be leading the team.

Prayut said he would only make the team official after all three parties involved in the peace dialogue have reached a consensus.

The peace talks were initiated with the aim of ending violence in Thailand's deep South. Unrest has plagued the country's southernmost region for more than a decade, claiming thousands of lives.

On Thursday, unknown attackers shot two Mathayom 5 students in Pattani's Muang district while they were heading home.

One of the boys, Suttipong Tasuwan, succumbed to his injuries in hospital on Thursday night. He was a policeman's son.

Suttipong's classmate, meanwhile, also sustained serious injuries and was being treated in hospital as of press time.

An investigation revealed that the gunman was a passenger on a motorcycle that chased the boys' vehicle and opened fire. It is believed that the attack is related to the unrest.

In another recent attack, a man was shot while he was walking home on Thursday night in Pattani province.

He died at a local hospital

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/All-sides-must-agree-on-peace-talks-team-30248810.html

-- The Nation 2014-11-29

[FangFerang]

"Shot two Matyom 5 students."

One girl died, the other will never be the same, even if she survives.

These actions are not justified in the tenets of the Muslim faith, nor the Buddhist faith, nor any faith.

How can they ever find peace, with these events happening?

I am not even involved with the two victims or their families, and I am very hard pressed not to be furious.

PS: The BP reported on PM Prayuth's new backdrop for his weekly speech last night. Anyone else notice the doorways are Arabic ( <<<<Foreign language removed >>>> )?

Edited November 29, 2014 by metisdead
English is the only acceptable language anywhere on ThaiVisa including Classifieds, except within the Thai language forum, where of course using Thai is allowed.

[useronthenet]

In my eyes, they are just terrorists, who must be hunted down and brought to justice.

[impulse]

In my eyes, they are just terrorists, who must be hunted down and brought to justice.

Yup, that's working out so well in the Middle East and Afghanistan, too- just like it worked out for the USA in Vietnam.

Unless you're willing to wipe out the entire population, that's a recipe for disaster, and in fact a large reason why it's been going on so long.

Each time there's an "operation", there's collateral damage (politically correct terminology for innocent men, women and children being maimed and killed).

With each instance of collateral damage, more terrorists are created as they seek revenge for the death of their friends and loved ones.

I'd also suggest you read up on the webs of corruption that are making the news down there recently. Making the news recently, but been going on for decades. It's hard for us to know which are the terrorists, which are just criminals, and who are the scapegoats being blamed to hide the criminal activities.

[Baghdad]

The south of Thailand will be a better place. PRAYUT knows exactly what's going on and I am positive he will sort it out .The whole sirnara has absolutely nothing to do with Religion

[Chris Lawrence]

I find it hard to understand what is happening in the south as what is reported has a slant or has a bias. Putting Muslim, radical, killings together in an article conjures up what is done by ISIS. But down south the area is also besieged by conflict between the military and the police. If you believe Dr Ott, then all farming regions of Thailand should be rebelling as the Bangkok Government fails to support most regions economically.

So, what the Thais have been doing down south hasn't worked to date. They need to start listening to the people down that way. But it does sound that the Thai Buddhists want to dominate the Muslim Thai South with a culture that they can’t live with.

Marvin Ott, Ph.D., senior scholar with the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre in Washington, said the rebels in the Deep South also resent the fact that the central government has failed to economically develop the impoverished region. http://www.ibtimes.com/private-little-war-muslim-insurgency-southern-thailand-rages-ignored-outside-world-1560930

How seriously Bangkok now takes the Muslim rebels may be illustrated by human rights groups’ estimates that some 150,000 Thai soldiers patrol the southern region to battle no more than 9,000 Muslim fighters.

Other factors complicate this dirty, dangerous (and almost forgotten) war; one is the rivalry between the Thai military and police; the other is a lack of unified purpose and organization among the rebels. "There is no single great insurgency," Grisada Boonrach, governor of Songkhla and former governor of Yala, told The Atlantic last year. "There are a multitude of tiny insurgencies."

Edited November 29, 2014 by Chris Lawrence

[bangon04]

I find it hard to understand what is happening in the south as what is reported has a slant or has a bias. Putting Muslim, radical, killings together in an article conjures up what is done by ISIS. But down south the area is also besieged by conflict between the military and the police. If you believe Dr Ott, then all farming regions of Thailand should be rebelling as the Bangkok Government fails to support most regions economically.

So, what the Thais have been doing down south hasn't worked to date. They need to start listening to the people down that way. But it does sound that the Thai Buddhists want to dominate the Muslim Thai South with a culture that they can’t live with.

Marvin Ott, Ph.D., senior scholar with the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre in Washington, said the rebels in the Deep South also resent the fact that the central government has failed to economically develop the impoverished region. http://www.ibtimes.com/private-little-war-muslim-insurgency-southern-thailand-rages-ignored-outside-world-1560930

How seriously Bangkok now takes the Muslim rebels may be illustrated by human rights groups’ estimates that some 150,000 Thai soldiers patrol the southern region to battle no more than 9,000 Muslim fighters.

Other factors complicate this dirty, dangerous (and almost forgotten) war; one is the rivalry between the Thai military and police; the other is a lack of unified purpose and organization among the rebels. "There is no single great insurgency," Grisada Boonrach, governor of Songkhla and former governor of Yala, told The Atlantic last year. "There are a multitude of tiny insurgencies."

therefore it is impossible to sit down for talks with all sides, because no-one represents "all sides" of the insurgency.

The criminals and local chieftains are fighting turf wars and the corrupt police / army are joining in.

very little to do with religion, and much more to do with control and development. ie money

Malaysia would not solve the problem either, even though the southern provinces would probably thrive more if returned to them.