Bt500m compensation paid to families of 2004 violence in South

A group of young Muslims took up weapons, mostly knives, against state officials in three southern provinces on April 28, 2004. More than 100 people including security officials died in the incidents. Among the fatalities were 31 young Muslim men shot dead in the historic Krue Se Mosque in Pattani province, and 19 members – mostly teenagers – of a soccer team killed in an attack on a security outpost in Songkhla’s Saba Yoi district the same day. 

At least 85 Muslims suffocated on October 25, 2004 when they were piled up in military trucks after a crackdown on their protest in Narathiwat’s Tak Bai district.

An investigation conducted over the past year indicates that officials have used excessive force and misconduct in handling the situation in the predominantly Muslim region. Relatives of the victims have demanded compensation, some of which has been already been paid. 

The government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was pressured to pay more compensation to the southern victims after the Cabinet paid Bt7.5 million each to families of red shirt protesters who died during an uprising against the government under Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva in 2010.

Thavee Sordsong, secretary of the SBPAC, said it was a victory for the victims of the violence that the government had agreed to compensate victims and families for their suffering. The authorities also want to restore dignity and justice for all in order to bring peace to the restive region, he said.

The most recent spate of violence erupted in the predominantly Muslim region in early 2004 when a group of insurgents stormed into a military camp in Narathiwat province to steal weapons. The harsh reaction from the authorities has exacerbated the historical pain of Muslim Malayu in the South caused by the annexation of the region by Thailand, then Siam, more than 100 years ago.

The authority paid some Bt84 million to relatives and heirs of 34 civilian and security officials who died in the Krue Se incidents, Bt66.5 million to relatives of the 19 dead in Saba Yoi district and Bt297 million to relatives of 85 victims of the Tak Bai incident. 

Salah Mama, 63, whose son was killed in Tak Bai, said he was glad to obtain Bt7.5 million to compensate for his loss and would spend the money to educate his grandchildren, who were orphaned when their father died nearly eight years ago.

Thavee said the compensation was intended to serve justice for people in the deep South, not to change their faith or ideology. People in the deep South retained their full right to express their ideology and thoughts, he said. The government intended to open a forum for them to express their ideas to help develop the region in order to live in peace with the rest of the country, he said. 

In Bangkok, Yingluck said the authorities remained willing to use peaceful means to contain violence in the deep South, and would make efforts to understand people in the region.

The violence takes place on an almost daily basis and officials were always a step behind the insurgents, she said. “It seems officials know in advance what will happen but are unable to prevent the violence,” she said. “We have to move faster and have a more effective defence system.”