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Thai tactics win fear, not
favor
By Fabio Scarpello
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's call
for a two-day joint parliamentary session to
discuss security issues in Thailand's restive
south, along with his aired intention to form a
special team of members of parliament for the
region, has done little to disperse the mistrust
of the mostly Muslim residents of the country's
three southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat
and Pattani, where an insurgency blamed on Islamic
separatists erupted a year ago.
On Yala's
clean streets, at Pattani Prince of Songkla
University or in any of the many private Islamic
schools in Narathiwat, residents, regardless of
gender and age, sneer at the simple mention of the
prime minister's name. Comments vary, but locals'
underlining opinion of Thaksin is of an arrogant
leader who does not understand and does not
listen.
"People here really, really,
really dislike Thaksin," said Coe, a Thai student
who recently graduated from a school in India and
has since returned to Pattani.
Thaksin's
latest visit to the region's three troubled
provinces has made a bad situation worse. The trip
was filled with expectations of a new start; after
his party's poor showing in the south during this
month's election, the prime minister had hinted
that he was ready to listen to the opposition
Democrat Party as well as to local leaders' points
of view.
"The prime minister has learned
from the past. I am sure he will listen,"
Professor Podoongyot Duangmala, vice director of
Pattani Prince of Songkla University, said with
optimism one day before Thaksin was due in the
area.
But as soon as the government's
plane landed, Thaksin met with security forces
stationed in the region and local people's hopes
were dashed. Thaksin's gung-ho style of
premiership, which in this area is based on
military force and money, resurfaced, and to those
asking for understanding, the prime minister
offered villages' compartmentalization, more
military repression and a strange sort of
financial blackmail.
In a nutshell,
Thaksin added his own spin to a government plan
aimed at dividing villages in the three provinces
into "red", "yellow" or "green" zones - based on
their perceived level of cooperation with the
insurgents. Under the plan, more than 350 "red"
villages would see state funding cut so that
taxpayer money would not be used to sponsor
insurgents, Thaksin said in announcing the policy
last week.
The new plan clashes vividly
with the prime minister's earlier promise to win
southern hearts and minds via better communication
and understanding. Furthermore, his idea to
withhold funds is the opposite of his pledge to
drag the three provinces out of poverty with a
flood of state-funded megaprojects.
After
the plan was announced on February 16,
civil-society response was immediate, unanimous
and very vocal. Now, whether out of a genuine
reconsideration or just to calm the media's
troubled waters, Thaksin is wobbling. On Thursday
his government stepped back from the contentious
scheme, with government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair
calling it only a proposal.
Despite hints
that Thaksin may be backing down, people in the
deep south are not expecting much. "Thaksin has
never listened. He is not listening and will not
listen," commented Azmi Tohmeeena, Pattani Islamic
Committee vice chairman.
When asked his
thoughts on the plan, Dr Isma-Ae Alee, director of
Pattani Islamic College, said it was "simply
wrong".
"If I have two kids and one
behaves badly, would I stop feeding him?" he
asked.
Similar comments are being voiced
throughout the three provinces by farmers, shop
owners and students, all of whom joined in the
chorus of condemnation of the latest government
plan and have criticized the prime minister's idea
that the violence can only be quelled with force.
However, southerners' anger,
disappointment and disbelief still are wrapped in
the pervasive fear that hangs over this corner of
Thailand. Most people agreed to be interviewed for
this article only on the condition of anonymity,
while others used a different name and a few
refused to speak altogether, claiming it was too
dangerous.
"We just do not know who you
are. You could be an informer, and then my life
would be in danger," a shop owner in Narathiwat
told Asia Times Online.
Phaisan Toryib,
manager of Narathiwat's Attarkiah Islamiah School,
Thailand's largest private Islamic school, had
this to say: "Thaksin never listen[s] to us. He
has ears only for the military and the police.
This new policy is dangerous."
Phaisan
went on to criticize the premier's reliance on
money and the army to solve the southern violence.
"We do not need the money, we need understanding;
we need the government to understand our culture
and our religion," he said, stressing that the
military influx is only going to aggravate an
already dire situation.
"My students love
the king but do not like the Thai government,"
Phaisan added later. "We work and study for the
king and not for Thaksin."
The same tune
is being sung in Yala. As evening sets, people
converge in and around the Muslim market, situated
in the north of the town facing the main mosque.
"It is safe here, we are all Muslim," said
a middle-aged man sitting among friends. The man,
who identified himself as Mik, said he was more
puzzled than angry at Thaksin's funding proposal.
"Everybody here thinks that it is a bad
move. If really there are these 'red' villages, we
should give them better schools, more funds and
social assistance instead than more soldiers.
"What does he think he is doing?" Mik
continued. "Does he think people here are going to
turn to his side with this new plan? It will never
happen like this."
The rest of his party
nodded in agreement.
Fabio
Scarpello ,
ADNKronos international Southeast Asia correspondent and member of the
UK Union of Journalists, currently is in southern
Thailand.
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times
Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us
for information on sales, syndication and republishing.) |
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