State fails to grasp nature of South violence: academic

The old way of thinking about the conflict is no longer adequate, Surachart said. The state and society must be aware that Thailand is facing insurgent warfare that is complicated by factors including religious, ethnic, cultural and historical differences, combined with a global surge in Islamic extremism in the aftermath of the September 2001 attack on the United States, he said.

“The old way [of understanding the conflict] doesn’t answer the question anymore,” Surachart told The Nation.

 Today, he said, not only has the state failed to create a safe zone in the deep South in which life can more or less go on as normal, but it has also failed to win the hearts of the people.

People must be prepared to accept that the conflict will drag on for a long time, he said, urging the state to produce strategic successes, instead of tactical ones.

“It won’t be solved within 99 days. It’s impossible,” he said, referring to an old election promise made by one major political party in the past.

A new generation of officials with a different way of looking at the conflict is also needed, said Surachart, who has written extensively about the deep South.

 

General public should also try to understand

Surachart doesn’t blame the public at large, which he said has difficulties understanding this “very complicated” situation.

“They see violence through their own interpretation,” he said, adding that many Thais have little grasp of the historical or cultural context of the conflict. “Their perceptions exist without information or understanding.”

However, military affairs researcher Colonel Teeranan Nandhakwang thinks neither society nor the Thai media really care about what is going on in the three southernmost provinces, offering little beyond knee-jerk reactions every time violence flares up.

“Thai society has never accorded importance to the southern issue,” said Teeranan, adding that earlier this year, the Thai mass media were more preoccupied with the fact that local television stations were failing to broadcast a European football tournament than the violence that was occurring at the same time.

Teeranan said little research has been done about how Thai-Malay Muslims in the deep South think or what their aspirations are, while the so-called experts seem to be all too ready to serve as “talking heads”. 

“We lack in-depth studies and are too ready to postulate,” Teeranan added.

According to General Ekkachai Srivilas, director of the Office of Peace and Governance at King Prajadhipok’s Institute, about 600 studies on the deep South have been commissioned by the Thai Research Fund, but only one dealt with the issue of justice.

 

Media coverage ‘very superficial’

Ekkachai criticised the Bangkok-based national media for its superficial coverage and for its failure to present the positive side of life in the deep South, which also exists. The director criticised the government’s recent decision to task Burapha University in Chon Buri province to assess how the annual Bt20-billion budget for the deep South is being administered. He said universities in the three southernmost provinces should have been used instead, adding that the move has reinforced a belief among Thai-Malay Muslims that the state does not trust them.

As for Surachart, he thinks there exists no conversation between the majority of people in the deep South and the rest of society, although this is not unusual. 

“Does Thai society really have ‘conversations’ on other issues? Political conversation in Thailand has been shut down for a long time now.” 

Ekkachai said that although he is for decentralisation in the deep South, nationalist sentiment in Bangkok means it is almost impossible to conceive of having an elected governor in Pattani, Yala or Narathiwat anytime soon. The retired Army general said hope hinges on pushing for elected governors elsewhere in Chiang Mai or Khon Kaen provinces first. Decentralisation in Thailand, said Ekkachai, lags behind Indonesia and even China.

 Ekkachai echoed the sentiment of Surachart when he said many Thais look at the issue of the deep South from the superficial point of view of someone who has never been to the region or talked with local people. He also agreed with Ekkachai that a different strategy is really needed to deal with guerrilla, psychological and information warfare.