JI May Have Infiltrated Southern Thailand

[Jai Dee]

JI may have infiltrated S. Thailand

Al-Qaida-linked regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah has infiltrated southern Thailand, where young fighters are unwilling to negotiate in their bloody battle for an Islamic state, a separatist leader said, according to a news report.

Wan Kadir Che Wan, the leader of the Bersatu rebel group, told Al-Jazeera network from an undisclosed location outside Thailand that violence was unlikely to end, as the younger separatists believe they have the upper hand - and because they have spies inside the Thai government.

"As far as I understand, they have been collecting the weapons for a long time in preparation and also the money," said Wan Kadir, according to the report. "The main advantage of this situation is that ... they are inside the Thai government itself so they know many things."

Wan Kadir told Al-Jazeera that his Bersatu umbrella group was willing to negotiate, but said the younger insurgents were not.

"This new generation of people, they are very young and they are very determined," he said. "The old generation can compromise, but this new generation seems to still want independence," the report, posted on the Al-Jazeera Web site Wednesday, quoted him as saying.

Sources: The Nation - 22 November 2006

[Jai Dee]

Experts alert for shift in Thai Muslim insurgency

BANGKOK, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Thailand's army-backed cabinet meets in special session on Thursday to discuss Muslim unrest in the far south, a deadly but localised conflict security analysts fear might one day "go global".

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, a former army chief, and his cabinet are scheduled to review the government's new peace offensive to address the largely Malay-speaking Muslim south.

Surayud has already made three trips to the region since his appointment after a Sept. 19 military coup ousted Thaksin Shinawatra, apologising for his predecessor's hardline treatment of the region.

"We are not fighting in a war. I am a soldier, but I never like wars," Surayud told reporters on Tuesday.

The immediate response has been a surge in drive-by shootings and other small-scale attacks, hallmarks of a conflict in which more than 1,800 people -- Muslims and Buddhists -- have been killed over the past three years.

So far, there are no indications that the "dirty war" that has drawn in militants, security forces, drug-dealers and smugglers, poses a significant regional threat. Many in far-away Bangkok appear indifferent.

Critical mass, analysts say, would require a major shift in tactics on the part of the militants, most likely accompanied by operational links with outside groups like Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiah. There is little evidence of either.

"There has not been any outside, transnational taint to this so far," said one Bangkok-based security analyst, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

"But if it continues to fester as it has, I cannot imagine we won't have some outside interference," he said.

WARNING SIGNS

Analysts who track the unrest in the Muslim south of a predominantly Buddhist country say they are on the lookout for any major change in tactics that could signal a new, more deadly turn in the insurgency. These include:

-- Targeting Thailand's vital tourist industry with an attack on a major resort, nightclub or hotel. Said one expert: "If they decide to really up the ante, that's the number one way."

-- Launching suicide bombing attacks, a technique so far unknown among Thailand's Muslim militants.

-- Hitting Western targets, such as foreign banks, corporate offices or diplomatic missions.

None of these thresholds has been crossed, but recent statistics suggest the violence has become more indiscriminate. Victims now routinely include women and children, and multiple killings of civilians are common. Thai officials, suspected Muslim collaborators and Buddhist workers and other immigrants to the region have all been murdered. Arrests are rare.

"The concept is to promote chaos," said Brian Dougherty of Hill Risk Consulting, noting the tactics appear to be having the desired effect.

"It's separatism, pure and simple, separatism with a machete," he said. "It's just a matter of time, and time is on their side."

This lack of a coherent programme, beyond perhaps sowing general chaos, complicates efforts to address grievances that date back to Thailand's annexation of what was an Islamic sultanate a century ago.

For Surayud's peace drive to succeed, he must first identify leaders with the authority to make deals with the central state and the power to rein in the armed militants.

Defence Minister Boonrawd Somtas told reporters on Tuesday that talks brokered by neighbouring Malaysia, in which Thai officials met Muslim insurgent leaders, had not yielded results because they were not involved in the insurgency.

"Those we have talked to are not the main players causing the trouble. We haven't been able to reach them yet -- the Fourth Region Army and other agencies are working on it now," he said.

Source: Reuters - 22 November 2006

[Jai Dee]

Report: Thai separatist leader says terror group JI has infiltrated groups in south

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Al-Qaeda-linked regional terror network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) has infiltrated southern Thailand, where young fighters are unwilling to negotiate in their bloody battle for an Islamic state, a separatist leader said, according to a newsreport.

Wan Kadir Che Wan, the leader of the Bersatu rebel group, told Al-Jazeera network from an undisclosed location outside Thailand that violence was unlikely to end, as the younger separatists believe they have the upper hand -- and because they have spies inside the Thai government.

"As far as I understand ... they have been collecting the weapons for a long time in preparation and also the money," said Wan Kadir, according to the report. "The main advantage of this situation is that ... they are inside the Thai government itselfso they know many things."

More than 1,800 people have died from violence in Thailand's three southernmost, Muslim-majority provinces -- Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat -- since an Islamic insurgency flared up in January 2004. Most were victims of bombings and shootings blamed on the insurgents.

Ending the bloody insurgency is a priority of Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont's government, appointed to serve for a one-year interim period after a bloodless Sep. 19 coup d'etat overthrew the former elected prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Wan Kadir told Al-Jazeera that his Bersatu umbrella group was willing to negotiate, but said the younger insurgents were not.

"This new generation of people, they are very young and they are very determined," he said. "The old generation can compromise but this new generation seems to still want independence," the report, posted on the Al-Jazeera website on Wednesday, quoted himas saying.

Their activities were also a result of prodding from militants linked to al-Qaeda affiliated JI, the leader said.

"I think that many of the group are there but maybe they are not directly involved," he was quoted as saying, adding that the majority of the south's population was not seeking a separate state.

Last year, a top security adviser to the former Thaksin government told The Associated Press that Indonesian fighters had established themselves in southern Thailand, bordering Malaysia.

JI is widely blamed for the region's worse terror strike -- the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly Western tourists. It has also been blamed for a series of other strikes in Indonesia, and was planning to blow up a U.S. naval facility and the U.S. Embassy in Singapore, the city-state's government said.

Separately, Malaysia said it had no knowledge Surayud's claims that insurgents were raising funds through a network of restaurants and food stalls in neighboring Malaysia that collects donations and extortion money.

"It is very imaginative of him," Deputy Internal Security Minister <deleted> Ah Kiow was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times daily. "It is absolutely baseless."

Source: Jakarta Post - 22 November 2006

[Jai Dee]

'Bangkok not interested in peace'

Wan Kadir Che Wan has called on the government to be sincere

The leader of an umbrella group of separatists in south Thailand says the government is not interested in peace.

In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Wan Kadir Che Wan, the president of Bersatu, said that while Surayud Chulanont, the Thai prime minister, had made several trips to the south, he had not spoken to separatist groups.

More than two months after Thaksin Shinawatra was toppled and despite Surayud's apology for the misdeeds of his predecessor, Wan Kadir, from an undisclosed location outside Thailand, criticised the new government's attempts to organise mass meetings as "propaganda".

"I think it is right for the government to go to see the people, to talk to the people, communicate, but it's not enough to solve the problem," said Wan Kadir.

"You really have to sit down with the leaders who create the problem – a separate meeting, you have to sit down and talk to those leaders and ask them and you can give them what they want.

"You try to give them what they want; you cannot give then you say so but as far as I know, the government as of now does not make that approach in the south for these negotiations – forget about even negotiations, to even make a talk with the separatists. [They] only go to talk to the public."

However, Wan Kadir, who is also president of the armed separatist group Barisan Islam Pembangunan Pattani or BIPP, said talks with the various groups in the south would not be easy.

"Of course you cannot go straight to the people who are fighting now, but you can go to their leaders, and then gradually go to those groups," he said.

The Bersatu organisation consists of three groups: BIPP, Pattani United Liberation Organisation and Barisan Revolusi Nasional – Coordinate.

The Barisan Revolusi Nasional – Congress (BRN-Congress) just left Bersatu.

Wan Kadir said of BRN-Congress's exit:

"Maybe they disagree; we are willing to compromise, we are willing to talk to the Thai government, we are willing to negotiate. Some of those groups do not believe that, the government is our enemy. They may think I am not effective anymore but they should change the leader rather than get out if they think that I am not effective anymore."

Dissension within Bersatu began after Mahathir Mohamad, the former Malaysian prime minister, and Shazryl Eskay Abdullah, Thailand's honorary consul on Langkawi island in Malaysia, began speaking with various armed groups that wanted to end the violence to work out a strategy for peace.

After being endorsed by King Bhumipol Adulyadej of Thailand, Mahathir and his son Mukhriz, along with Shazryl negotiated a peace plan which was agreed to by all main armed groups in south Thailand.

As Wan Kadir noted: "The majority of the people feel very doubtful that separation – complete separation – is possible.

"Therefore they think they should be other way, compromise, so that they can have certain things for Muslims, especially the identity, the main thing.

Identity

"The Muslim want to retain their identity as Malay Muslim, they do not want to be assimilated to be Thai. The Thai government I think does not understand that, they think that assimilation is good … for Malay areas, assimilation is almost impossible because they have separate history … and they are proud of their Islamic achievement in the area and therefore it is very difficult to assimilate."

The plan was submitted to the Thaksin government in August but no action was taken.

Following Thaksin's ouster in September and the declaration by General Sondhi Boonyarataglin, the coup leader, that he was committed to a peaceful settlement in the south, many of these groups were hoping that the plan would be quickly endorsed by the generals in Bangkok.

But the Thai government has yet to commit to it.

Dozens of civilians have been killed and wounded in the past week

Wan Kadir says that unless the Thai government is willing to use the Mahathir peace plan as a basis for negotiations, things will go back to square one.

Many of the armed groups, including the Bersatu organisation, want to end the troubles but without serious negotiations, the problems will continue, says Wan Kadir.

"The main point is the government has to make an effort to go to see [the leaders] to talk to them. Talk to them seriously and secretly, not open. When openly, they don't really reveal the real thing… The main thing is the government must be honest, the government must be determined to solve this problem."

Islamic state

However, Wan Kadir says that although the groups under Bersatu are willing to negotiate, many of the recent bombings in the south are the result of new, younger fighters who are not so accommodating.

"This new generation of people, they are very young and they are very determined ... the old generation can compromise but this new generation seems to still want independence.

"Not only independence but they want to establish an Islamic state of Pattani."

Dozens of civilians have been killed and injured in just the past week in the southern provinces as attacks continue unabated.

Wan Kadir says the new groups responsible for much of the violence are unwilling to talk to the government because they believe they are winning in their attacks against Thai military targets. Wan Kadir says they are well-armed and funded. More importantly, they have an insider.

"As far as I understand … they have been collecting the weapons for a long time in preparation and also the money … so this is not just accident, this is a planning … the main advantage of this situation is that … they are inside the Thai government itself so they know many things."

Wan Kadir admits that many of the activities of these younger groups are facilitated by groups such as al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah or JI which now has a presence in the south.

"I think that many of the group are there but maybe they are not directly involved."

The veteran fighter says that it is almost impossible for the government to begin negotiating with these younger fighters but holding talks with older groups such as Bersatu would provide the Thai military with a good opening.

Regardless of who the generals speak to, they must be sincere, he says.

"Do not treat the Muslim in the south as colonial subjects … because we feel that the Thais are treating us like colonial subjects… If you treat us that way, it is not going to be peaceful. You have to treat us as citizens of Thailand. We don't want any more than that. We don't want special treatment … we just want them to treat us the same as other people in the country. We are below, not above the law."

Source: Al Jazeera - 22 November 2006