New Government Presents Chance for Peace in Thai Deep South
Peace negotiations, modelled on the Philippines’ Bangsamoro settlement, must be given a chance
By: B A Hamzah
The ethnic conflict in the four poverty-ridden districts of Thailand’s deep south, known as Patani, may be the longest-running political dispute in Southeast Asia, if not in the world. These four provinces are remnants of the old Patani Kingdom annexed by the Kingdom of Siam in 1902, when the last sultan was jailed and deposed. But for many hardcore pejuang, or fighters for self-rule, the dispute began more than 300 years ago, in 1782, when the King of Siam imposed direct rule on the sultanate, although the sultans were allowed to continue to hold court.
The dispute remains a ticking time bomb characterized by violence, intimidation, random and targeted killings, the use of improvised explosive devices, and other means of instilling fear. Both sides are guilty of these heinous offenses. Since 2005, the provinces have come under military rule via martial law, with the residents, majority Muslims in a predominantly Buddhist land, subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention on suspicion of association with the pejuang, who often operate clandestinely. Roadblocks and military checkpoints remind the locals their movements and activities are being closely monitored.
It may be time, with a new government in Bangkok that took power after a decade of increasingly fossilized military junta rule, for new thinking on the Patani situation. The conflict is not about religion per se although the people are mostly Muslim and the rulers in Bangkok Buddhist. It pertains to territory, cultural identity, and self-determination as well as resisting repression by occupying forces…