EDITORIAL
Take away the licence to kill

TRIGGER-HAPPY SECURITY OFFICIALS IN THE SOUTH NEED TO REASSESS PROCEDURES THAT FUEL THE ANGER ON WHICH INSURGENCY FEEDS

BANGKOK: -- Thai security forces are in hot water again over their actions in the deep South. This time the controversy is over the shooting to death of four young men in Pattani's Yarang district.

According to the official version, a group of paramilitary rangers were tracking suspected insurgents who had gathered in Pattani's Tung Yang Daeng District to plan attacks against government security agencies. The scene of the gathering was a construction site at a village in the district.

The rangers' actions in storming the gathering and shooting dead four young men has drawn fierce criticism from the rector of Fatoni University, where two of the victims had been studying.

Dr Ismail Lutfi Japakiya has every right to voice his concern, especially now that his students are at the centre of the debate.

Dr Lutfi is proud of his university's reputation as "cleaner than clean" and not involved in the region's ongoing separatist conflict.

Academics and researchers who work in this contested region see the insurgency as part of a nationalist movement.

Meanwhile, Lutfi's brand of Islam places religion above all else, which is why those very same academics and researchers do not talk about his institution in the light of separatism.

Thai authorities, of course, disagree with his claim that none of the students at Fatoni University has embraced separatism as an ideology or has joined the separatist militants.

They claim that just because the university as an institution does not embrace or promote Patani Malay separatism, that doesn't mean its students - including the two shot dead in Tung Yang Daeng - hadn't embraced the ideology.

Lutfi and his university staff have in the past been helpful to the state, often making themselves available to receive foreign dignitaries and reporters invited to the South by the government. To show its appreciation, the Yingluck Shinawatra administration added

another academic building to the Fatoni campus.

That appreciation must now be extended by ensuring justice for the two dead students and their families.

The problem of trigger-happy Thai security officials is nothing new in the deep South, but this latest incident adds weight to arguments that their approach and tactics are in urgent need of an overhaul.

In January 2012, soldiers attached to a ranger unit in Pattani's Nong Chik district, who were reportedly "itching for a fight" after their base had been attacked by militants, gunned down a group of Muslim funeral-goers who happened to be passing, killing four and injuring five.

Expectations that the military would reassess their rules of engagement in response to that debacle came to nothing.

The decade-old emergency decree, coupled with a culture of impunity for security officials, has helped foster a "shoot-to-kill" attitude among security officials. They know that the law - which many locals have dubbed a licence to kill - will protect them. Public indifference in the rest of Thailand towards the plight of Malay Muslims in the southernmost provinces also ensures that whatever controversial measures the government takes in the region will be met with little or no criticism elsewhere.

Dr Lutfi has maintained a good working relationship with the Thai state and, thus, the authorities owe it to him to conduct their investigation into the Tung Yang Daeng shootings honestly and accurately.

If the two students were part of the insurgency, the burden is on the state to convince the public of that fact. Meanwhile, Thai security officials' standard operating procedures in the South must be closely scrutinised and reassessed.

We should not lose sight of the fact that more than 6,000 people - most of them Malay Muslim residents - have been killed in insurgency-related violence in the three southernmost provinces.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Take-away-the-licence-to-kill-30257529.html

-- The Nation 2015-04-07

Good editorial IMO. The existence of a paramilitary force in any country is a sign of dysfunction.

It would appear that no one in Thai officialdom (civilian or military) really cares what happens in the south. And that attitude has prevaled for decades. One has to wonder what it will take to get the attention of Thai officialdom, short of the southern terrorists taking their action to Bangkok. Unfortunately, I think that day will eventually come.

Simple to fix problem If they own the land with legal title offer two choices on live in peace in Thailand or sell your land back to Thai government at fair market value and go to Malaysia who will welcome you with open arms. But if you choose the sell and leave option you can't return to Thailand for 20 years, if you return automatic 20 years in club Thailand hard labor. The others who don't own land offer stay in peace or 10,000 baht to start new life in Maylaysia with same terms for return as land sellers. Cause trouble and locked up for natural life. If they can't be civilized then breed it out of them.

What does this area produce for Thailand, besides bloodshed? Just give it back to Malaysia, easy, problem solved.

Simple to fix problem If they own the land with legal title offer two choices on live in peace in Thailand or sell your land back to Thai government at fair market value and go to Malaysia who will welcome you with open arms. But if you choose the sell and leave option you can't return to Thailand for 20 years, if you return automatic 20 years in club Thailand hard labor. The others who don't own land offer stay in peace or 10,000 baht to start new life in Maylaysia with same terms for return as land sellers. Cause trouble and locked up for natural life. If they can't be civilized then breed it out of them.

And you call yourself civilized with half-baked uninformed comments like this?

These people feel that their country was unfairly taken away from them by Britain and Siam as part of a land deal over 100 years ago. Why should they have to sell or move? Treat them as human beings, respect and encourage their cultural identity, give them the same consideration as people elsewhere in Thailand, and most of all get rid of the thugs in the Thai army who think know that they are above the law and you have a chance of solving the problem.

Simple to fix problem If they own the land with legal title offer two choices on live in peace in Thailand or sell your land back to Thai government at fair market value and go to Malaysia who will welcome you with open arms. But if you choose the sell and leave option you can't return to Thailand for 20 years, if you return automatic 20 years in club Thailand hard labor. The others who don't own land offer stay in peace or 10,000 baht to start new life in Maylaysia with same terms for return as land sellers. Cause trouble and locked up for natural life. If they can't be civilized then breed it out of them.

And you call yourself civilized with half-baked uninformed comments like this?

These people feel that their country was unfairly taken away from them by Britain and Siam as part of a land deal over 100 years ago. Why should they have to sell or move? Treat them as human beings, respect and encourage their cultural identity, give them the same consideration as people elsewhere in Thailand, and most of all get rid of the thugs in the Thai army who think know that they are above the law and you have a chance of solving the problem.

Do you mean the thugs who are shooting teachers and many others dead in cold blood ?. How is that the fault of the Army ?. How many do you think would be dead if the Army was not there ?. Buddhists would have been driven out in fear of their lives long ago.

One thing I have learned is that you cannot trust much that the Muslim's say. One set justify murder by quoting the Karan, another set say the first ones interpreted it too literally and yet another say it doesn't matter what the Karan says : Allah knows the intention in his heart. This pick-and-choose hypocrisy basically allows them to do anything and claim some justification.

Maybe you think the Thai authorities should pull out and let them rule themselves ?. Then maybe we can get a few women stoned to death and people given 100 lashes by their sharia laws.

This religion needs to get out of the 15th century. At the end of the day, this is Thailand. Maybe 100 years ago it wasn't and maybe 1,000 years ago it was something else again. It doesn't matter. Every one of them now was born in Thailand and didn't have anything taken from them. If they want to go back to Malaysia and live is a Muslim country, Thailand should help them do it. At the end of a barrel for some.

I still maintain that the Southern problem will not and cannot be solved at the point of a gun. Give the South a degree of autonomy while still under Thailand's laws of the land. When one so called insurgent is killed, it produces countless sympathizers who would not even have thought about getting involved previously. My country, the UK, learnt these lessons years ago. But, I must say that I sometimes think that with Britain's involvement in various uprisings around the world, we may have forgotten those lessons.

If the students were meeting to plan attacks on the security patrols of that area...then the guards who opened fire on them should get promoted and receive medals...IMHO

This is a good breeding ground for ISIS .

I think it's more a case of ''trigger prone'' than ''trigger happy'' - I'd probably be trigger prone if I worked security in a terrorist ('insurgent', whatever...same same but different) zone. Also, if I were a citizen living in such a zone I would go out of my way to not be seen to be involved in dubious activities. Actually surprisingly easy to do if one's on the straight and narrow.

I have yet to hear an explanation of what 30 young men were doing in the village at that time. The Rangers claim plotting mayhem; what is the alternative explanation?

And why were illegal weapons found? If they didn't belong to these men, who did own them?

I have yet to hear an explanation of what 30 young men were doing in the village at that time. The Rangers claim plotting mayhem; what is the alternative explanation?

And why were illegal weapons found? If they didn't belong to these men, who did own them?

Jesus H Christ, you really are a special case, so never in your life did you hang out with the lads in groups? Your comments are bizzare and so far from reality at times.

Let me think about this, so you judge people without thinking they actually have a live away from the confines of their own home?

So no body in your village doesn't play Paetong where there might be 30-40 people watching and having a good night? No lads play football in your village either?

The problem with you is you treat everuthing as suspicious and gobble down everything the Junta feeds you as truth, you have no ability to think outside the box, yiu do know that the Army have even said if they got this one wrong and there are strong indications are that rhey did, they would own up to their mistake?

Somethjng not reported here but it was in the BP last week.

You jump on the bandwagon and have everyone guilty because that's what you've been told, don't you ever do any research to substantiat your claims?

You did the same last week by stating all Thais would have to pay 10000 baht to recover the loses of the rice scam, but NOBODY in any authority stated that was actually the case, and yet you have the gall to accuse me of having a selective memory!!!!!

Illegal weapons? I bet you're village has shotguns and air rifles and pistols too, I don't suppose it would ever occur to you that weapkns can be planted to incriminate people?

Edited April 7, 201511 yr by Fat Haggis

As usual, you miss the point. If there was a legitimate reason for them being there, why has it not been presented?

There may well have been legal weapons, but there were also illegal weapons, assault rifles and a grenade. (Remember your post about PDRC armed guards?) Is it not a legitimate question to ask who owned them?

I didn't suggest you had a selective memory, I said you had a selective imagination, which is how you turn 2 legitimate questions into bizarre comments, judging of people, and unsubstantiated claims. In particular, you have turned a statement that the rice scam cost the Thai people about B10,000 each into a personal debt of the same amount.

BTW yes weapons can be planted. Have you any evidence this is the case?

Mate, nowhere in that article is there any relation, or mention of weapons, legal or illegal having been found.

The story that was in the BP post based on the logic of the Rangers, that because there were drug users and drug dealers at the gathering, or whatever it was, they had justification to do what they did, I was under the impression the sanction kiling of drug users and dealers was no longer in effect, wasn't this a big issue under the previous PM's?

I have friends and colleagues who take recreational drugs, some even deal in them, so if I was shot dead by the Police for no other reasons, other than I was there, it would be justifiable? Do you not believe in due process?

The difference between you and I Halloween, is I believe in the benefit of the doubt, I also believe in due process, I also believe in accountability too, being a former Military man, and still am to an extent, I also believe in the Rules in the Use of Force, and their implications when they're needed.

I don't believe in gunning down people, just for the sake of it, or simply because they were there at the wrong place and the wrong time, the Army, and the Police DO make mistakes, that's simple human nature, but don't cover it up, don't brush it aside, and earn from it, correct SOP's based on the AAR's.

Prevent/minimise incidents where innocents are killed,I've seen this so so many times in my life, sometimes the killings are justified, and if the inevestigations are done without bias, sometimes they're not.

Mate, nowhere in that article is there any relation, or mention of weapons, legal or illegal having been found.

The story that was in the BP post based on the logic of the Rangers, that because there were drug users and drug dealers at the gathering, or whatever it was, they had justification to do what they did, I was under the impression the sanction kiling of drug users and dealers was no longer in effect, wasn't this a big issue under the previous PM's?

I have friends and colleagues who take recreational drugs, some even deal in them, so if I was shot dead by the Police for no other reasons, other than I was there, it would be justifiable? Do you not believe in due process?

The difference between you and I Halloween, is I believe in the benefit of the doubt, I also believe in due process, I also believe in accountability too, being a former Military man, and still am to an extent, I also believe in the Rules in the Use of Force, and their implications when they're needed.

I don't believe in gunning down people, just for the sake of it, or simply because they were there at the wrong place and the wrong time, the Army, and the Police DO make mistakes, that's simple human nature, but don't cover it up, don't brush it aside, and earn from it, correct SOP's based on the AAR's.

Prevent/minimise incidents where innocents are killed,I've seen this so so many times in my life, sometimes the killings are justified, and if the inevestigations are done without bias, sometimes they're not.

No mention in this article, but mentioned in many others.

How does the asking of 3 legitimate questions lead to your fatuous diatribe?

BTW a new thread says that a panel has cleared those killed of membership of a separatist movement. Which doesn't alter the legitimacy of the questions I asked.

Edited April 7, 201511 yr by halloween

If the students were meeting to plan attacks on the security patrols of that area...then the guards who opened fire on them should get promoted and receive medals...IMHO

IF??? What proof was there? There are many other innocent reasons for them to be there I'm sure.

Simple to fix problem If they own the land with legal title offer two choices on live in peace in Thailand or sell your land back to Thai government at fair market value and go to Malaysia who will welcome you with open arms. But if you choose the sell and leave option you can't return to Thailand for 20 years, if you return automatic 20 years in club Thailand hard labor. The others who don't own land offer stay in peace or 10,000 baht to start new life in Maylaysia with same terms for return as land sellers. Cause trouble and locked up for natural life. If they can't be civilized then breed it out of them.

And you call yourself civilized with half-baked uninformed comments like this?

These people feel that their country was unfairly taken away from them by Britain and Siam as part of a land deal over 100 years ago. Why should they have to sell or move? Treat them as human beings, respect and encourage their cultural identity, give them the same consideration as people elsewhere in Thailand, and most of all get rid of the thugs in the Thai army who think know that they are above the law and you have a chance of solving the problem.

Do you mean the thugs who are shooting teachers and many others dead in cold blood ?. How is that the fault of the Army ?. How many do you think would be dead if the Army was not there ?. Buddhists would have been driven out in fear of their lives long ago.

One thing I have learned is that you cannot trust much that the Muslim's say. One set justify murder by quoting the Karan, another set say the first ones interpreted it too literally and yet another say it doesn't matter what the Karan says : Allah knows the intention in his heart. This pick-and-choose hypocrisy basically allows them to do anything and claim some justification.

Maybe you think the Thai authorities should pull out and let them rule themselves ?. Then maybe we can get a few women stoned to death and people given 100 lashes by their sharia laws.

This religion needs to get out of the 15th century. At the end of the day, this is Thailand. Maybe 100 years ago it wasn't and maybe 1,000 years ago it was something else again. It doesn't matter. Every one of them now was born in Thailand and didn't have anything taken from them. If they want to go back to Malaysia and live is a Muslim country, Thailand should help them do it. At the end of a barrel for some.

"Shooting teachers and many others dead in cold blood", as you put it, is deplorable regardless of the situation, but you must understand that they have been doing this in response to atrocities committed against them; atrocities which, as this article rightly points out, have gone un-investigated or simply ignored. I can see that you consider Islam to be evil, but actually this isn't an issue of religion - it's an issue of the local population, who feel no affinity with their official nation but have historically reluctantly submitted to their governance, being consistently harshly treated by their government - in that, there are perhaps stronger ties to medieval times with Scotland. It's not quite historically correct, but the movie Braveheart probably strikes a cord with the Thai-Malays in the Deep South. They know they can't kill their way to independence or whatever, but they see an ongoing fight for recognition to be more equal human beings than they are currently being afforded... and over time, they might even be able to trade their violence against the State for negotiations for more autonomy. It seems fair enough in principal to me... if they weren't cutting people's heads off.

The separatist movement has been around a long time - the violent insurgency has only been around for the last decade or so, and its levels of severity have been directly correlated to the spikes in military & paramilitary "enforced pacification" operations. So, you see, "at the end of a barrel for some" is a proven way to increase the violence problem, not resolve it.