Motive sought for attacks in deep South

[rooster59]

Motive sought for attacks in deep South

By THE NATION

 

Police inspect the scene of an explosion in Pattani’s Mayo district that felled three roadside power poles. Similar attacks, allegedly by insurgents, were carried out in three other border provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani.

 

Govt probes link between multiple bombings and promulgation of the new constitution on Thursday.

 

THE GOVERNMENT is trying to determine whether coordinated but bloodless attacks in the deep South on Thursday night were related to the newly introduced constitution, as people in the predominantly Muslim region rejected the charter during the referendum last year. 

 

Just hours after HM King Maha Vajiralongkorn endorsed the charter draft on Thursday, several bomb blasts and tyre burning incidents took place in four southernmost provinces. 

 

“I am curious about the timing of these attacks,” Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan, who is also the deputy prime minister overseeing security affairs, said yesterday. 

 

Deputy National Police Commissioner Pol General Srivara Ransibrahmanakul, however, suggested the attacks were linked to the unrest that has raged through the southernmost region for more than a decade. 

 

“In my opinion, the attacks were not related to national politics. With simultaneous attacks, it is quiet clear that the attackers must have been from a big gang,” he said.

 

Prawit said he had instructed the chiefs of armed forces and the Southern Border Provinces Police Operation Centre to look into the attacks and identify their motive. 

 

According to the Forward Command of the Internal Security Operations Command’s Region 4, bomb blasts and tyre burning incidents occurred in 19 districts across four southernmost provinces. 

 

The blasts damaged 52 electricity poles, causing blackouts in many areas of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla provinces.

 

Colonel Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for the forward command, said tyres were also burned in many spots in the deep South on Thursday night. 

 

His agency reported 31 coordinated attacks – 12 in Pattani, seven in Yala, nine in Narathiwat and three in Songkhla. 

 

Officials said four attackers riding two motorcycles planted a bomb in front of Ban Pareh School in Pattani’s Mueang district, detonating it soon after, while a second unexploded bomb was found later.

 

Attackers also detonated three bombs and set tyres alight in front of a college in Nong Chik district and burned tyres and used explosives to damage utility poles in various locations in Yaran and Yarang districts.

 

The Provincial Electricity Authority spent about an hour restoring the power supply in the downtown area. The power lines in the other areas were to be repaired during the daytime.

 

In Yala, three power poles were damaged with home-made bombs, in the village of Joh Bantang and in Bannang Sata district. A power transformer in front of the Bannang Sata tambon office was torched and tyres and a power pole were set alight in three villages in Thanto district.

 

In Narathiwat, forward command said there were two bomb attacks in Sungai Kolok district, three in Tak Bai, two in Rusoh and one each in Waeng and Bacho districts.

 

In Songkhla the attackers torched tyres in front of a rubber plant in Chana district and burned down utility poles in two Saba Yoi district villages.

 

Following the incidents, territorial-defence volunteers carried out strict checks on vehicles in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district, the economic hub of the South. 

 

Officials said security would be tightened in commercial zones until the end of Songkran to boost the confidence of Thai and foreign tourists. 

 

The governments in Bangkok have struggled to contain violence in the deep South which has claimed more than 6,800 lives since early 2004. 

 

No one specifically claimed responsibility, but it is widely believed that separatists orchestrated violence over identity and historical grievances as a vast majority of people in the region, which was annexed by Siam over a century ago, are Muslim Malayu. 

 

Residents in the deep South rejected the charter draft in the August 7 referendum. Analysts said they disagreed over perceived religious discrimination as the charter gave too much favour to Buddhism.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30311688

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-04-08

[Rhys]

 

Sadly, it is the same as always....an answer to the oppression.

 

[Bluespunk]

16 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

 

“In my opinion, the attacks were not related to national politics. With simultaneous attacks, it is quiet clear that the attackers must have been from a big gang,” he said.

A: That statement makes your opinion worthless. 

 

B:The "gang" you refer to is called the insurgency. 

 

C: How can a movement (wrongly or rightly) looking to cecede from the country not be considered national politics?

[Bluespunk]

19 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Officials said security would be tightened in commercial zones until the end of Songkran to boost the confidence of Thai and foreign tourists. 

Having read the statement of the Deputy National Police Commissioner, please rest assured I have every confidence that he doesn't know what he is doing.  

[NCC1701A]

" “I am curious about the timing of these attacks,” Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan, who is also the deputy prime minister overseeing security affairs, said yesterday."

 

"“In my opinion, the attacks were not related to national politics. With simultaneous attacks, it is quiet clear that the attackers must have been from a big gang,” he said."

 

Adherents of Islam constitute the world's second largest religious group. According to a 2010 study that was released in January 2011, Islam has 1.6 billion adherents, making up over 23% of the world population. According to another study in 2015 Islam has 1.7 billion adherents.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_by_country

[hansnl]

Motive?

Islam maybe?

[phantomfiddler]

Dey is muslims, dey is ! Dat is what muslims do. 

[darksidedog]

Hmmm! 31 reported attacks. Zero arrested and no suspects. This investigation appears to be off to a poor start.

[baboon]

Looking for a motive? Let me help you out, there.

It's because most people despise you. Cheers!

[Wilsonandson]

Looking for a motive? Let me help you out, there.
It's because most people despise you. Cheers!

The junta?

[ratcatcher]

56 minutes ago, phantomfiddler said:

Dey is muslims, dey is ! Dat is what muslims do. 

Dat is what evil Muslims do.

MostMuslims are not terrorists. Most terrorists are Muslim, according to recent statistics.

[wakeupplease]

56 minutes ago, baboon said:

Looking for a motive? Let me help you out, there.

It's because most people despise you. Cheers!

Well said the fact is when you treat people as your slaves and take away their human rights they do not like it and react like animals put religion in the mix and that word beginning with I appears as it has done in most parts of the world so nasty people have to deal with nastier uneducated people uneducated being the word so the blind leading the blind.

[Grubster]

29 minutes ago, wakeupplease said:

Well said the fact is when you treat people as your slaves and take away their human rights they do not like it and react like animals put religion in the mix and that word beginning with I appears as it has done in most parts of the world so nasty people have to deal with nastier uneducated people uneducated being the word so the blind leading the blind.

Yes they take away their human rights by forcing them to let girls go to school too.  Wait a minute, that makes little sense. I think they still allow them to do castrations on the girls though.  

[ratcatcher]

3 minutes ago, Grubster said:

Yes they take away their human rights by forcing them to let girls go to school too.  Wait a minute, that makes little sense. I think they still allow them to do castrations on the girls though.  

"I think they still allow them to do castrations on the girls though. " 

That's completely nuts!

What they do is called female genital mutilation. 

[Grubster]

9 minutes ago, ratcatcher said:

"I think they still allow them to do castrations on the girls though. " 

That's completely nuts!

What they do is called female genital mutilation. 

Sorry; thats what I meant to say,  senior moment.

[The Deerhunter]

10 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

A: That statement makes your opinion worthless. 

 

B:The "gang" you refer to is called the insurgency. 

 

C: How can a movement (wrongly or rightly) looking to cecede from the country not be considered national politics?

Absolutely.  It used to be three (I think) Sultanate's and the extreme and not so extreme Muslims want to turn the clock back, dump Thai government and Buddhism in favour of Sharia law in a new sultanate or caliphate.  Sounds political to me.  Islam is a political movement as well as a religion.

[The Deerhunter]

The heading makes me laugh.  The surely have made their agenda clear enough over the years.  Being in denial. over it won't make it go away.

[Enoon]

 

The insurgency in the south is being prosecuted by and is supported by, Ethnic Malays,.

 

Their ethnicity is composed (as are all ethnicities) of several elements.

 

Only one of those elements is religion.

 

What reputable source would dream of describing the independence war in Ireland as having been one of Catholicism against the British Empire?

 

Idiotic.

 

 

[Bluespunk]

51 minutes ago, The Deerhunter said:

Absolutely.  It used to be three (I think) Sultanate's and the extreme and not so extreme Muslims want to turn the clock back, dump Thai government and Buddhism in favour of Sharia law in a new sultanate or caliphate.  Sounds political to me.  Islam is a political movement as well as a religion.

No it's not or at least no more than any other faith. 

[Srikcir]

14 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

C: How can a movement (wrongly or rightly) looking to cecede from the country not be considered national politics?

The insurgents have insisted that one of their conditions for peace negotiations is that the issue of secession (having been forcibly integrated into the Kingdom of Thailand) be recognized as a national agenda. They wanted assurance that any agreement would not be discarded by subsequent changes in Thai government. The military steadfastly refuses. The military has approached the insurgency as simply a local civil problem with thugs and organized criminal gangs - essentially denying that there is a challenge to Thai sovereignty, ie., an insurgency.

[lvr181]

Motivation = inaction or paralysis by Bangkok (so we can do what we like and get away with it).

[Bluespunk]

4 hours ago, Srikcir said:

The insurgents have insisted that one of their conditions for peace negotiations is that the issue of secession (having been forcibly integrated into the Kingdom of Thailand) be recognized as a national agenda. They wanted assurance that any agreement would not be discarded by subsequent changes in Thai government. The military steadfastly refuses. The military has approached the insurgency as simply a local civil problem with thugs and organized criminal gangs - essentially denying that there is a challenge to Thai sovereignty, ie., an insurgency.

Not just the military. 

 

Every govt since TRT oversaw the renewal of violence has been in denial. 

Edited April 8, 2017 by Bluespunk

[Stargeezr]

These insurgents are murderers, and have killed other Thai people just to get a vehicle to use as a

bomb. These people have killed bankers, teachers, doctors, police, and members of the military.

They do not fight for Thailand.  They need to be treated just like they are being treated by

the military and treated as enemies of Thailand. They at not doing anything useful for Thailand

or for the people of the south in Thailand.

Geezer

[Srikcir]

3 minutes ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

They do not fight for Thailand. 

Absolutely correct.

The Malay-Thai Muslim insurgents fight instead for freedom from suppression, subjugation and integration - they fight for a return to their historical Islamic self rule. They are, therefore by definition, the enemies of Thai sovereignty that is ruled by the Thai military and Buddhist establishment. 

[The Deerhunter]

15 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

No it's not or at least no more than any other faith. 

We have to disagree on that one then. I am a long time atheist but I definitely grade religions in terms of their intended potential social impact. Islam and a few of "the modern heresies" as my old Presbyterian headmaster used to refer to them are well to one end of the scale.  Think about it a bit.  There are a number of lightweight reasonably benign religions to put at the other end of my scale for those who NEED a religion to control their lives.

  

Edited April 9, 2017 by The Deerhunter

[Srikcir]

1 hour ago, The Deerhunter said:

I definitely grade religions in terms of their intended potential social impact.

How would you grade Islam in terms of potential social impact that accounted for 28% of the world population at 2.14 billion in 2016

http://muslimpopulation.com/World/

and growing faster than any other religion so that by 2050 the number of Muslims will nearly equal the number of Christians around the world?

http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/religious-projections-2010-2050/

Intended or not, Islam needs to be seriously considered as a major social force throughout the world, how it can be peacefully integrated into society and how non-Muslim societies might themselves be adjusted.

 

[Bluespunk]

2 hours ago, The Deerhunter said:

We have to disagree on that one then. I am a long time atheist but I definitely grade religions in terms of their intended potential social impact. Islam and a few of "the modern heresies" as my old Presbyterian headmaster used to refer to them are well to one end of the scale.  Think about it a bit.  There are a number of lightweight reasonably benign religions to put at the other end of my scale for those who NEED a religion to control their lives.

  

I'm also an atheist and yep we will have to disagree on this one. 

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

On ‎09‎/‎04‎/‎2017 at 0:34 AM, Srikcir said:

The insurgents have insisted that one of their conditions for peace negotiations is that the issue of secession (having been forcibly integrated into the Kingdom of Thailand) be recognized as a national agenda. They wanted assurance that any agreement would not be discarded by subsequent changes in Thai government. The military steadfastly refuses. The military has approached the insurgency as simply a local civil problem with thugs and organized criminal gangs - essentially denying that there is a challenge to Thai sovereignty, ie., an insurgency.

You are correct, but this area was swapped with the British for an area under Siam control. Will the area that Siam gave them be returned ? I doubt it, don't you ?

[mtls2005]

I think April annually sees an uptick in violence although not sure what the historical cause of that is? There's often an uptick in October for Tak Bai.

 

The Royal "promulgation" of a new Constitution on Chakri Day might also be a cause? 

[Srikcir]

14 minutes ago, SOUTHERNSTAR said:

area was swapped with the British for an area under Siam control

The states of Kelantan,Tringganu, Kedah, Perlis, and adjacent islands.

 

Interestingly, these "states" were placed under Thai jurisdiction for the latter part of WW2 by the Japanese - a result of Thailand joining the Axis alliance following Thailand's 3-week military defeat by the Japanese? But with the defeat of Japan by the Allies, these states were formed into the Unfederated Malay States, then shortly becoming part of the Federated Malay States, today known as simply "Malaysia."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unfederated_Malay_States

 

Obviously these states will never be returned again to Thailand but for other reasons than you might imagine. And indirectly lends credence to an argument for the states given to Siam by the British to be placed under the jurisdiction of Malaysia. Something neither the Malay-Thai insurgents nor Malaysia have not promoted. Semi-autonomy from the Kingdom of Thailand would otherwise seem to be a reasonable resolution short of incorporation into Malaysia.