Pressure on to achieve peace

Thai delegates are heading for the third round of peace talks with the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) today amid speculation that this could be the last.
The talks have failed to ease violence in the deep South since they were launched in March.
Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung recently reiterated that if the situation in the South did not improve after the third round of talks, the Thai side would consider talking to other groups instead.
Several Thai delegates have mentioned the intense pressure they have been getting from local residents as the violent incidents have not reduced.
Speaking at a recent seminar entitled “Decoding the BRN”, human-rights activist Sunai Phasuk said the insurgent group did not operate under a single leadership. He said there were many groups in the BRN movement, including extremist ones.
Meanwhile, some residents in the South have joined public forums held by the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre to voice their opposition to the BRN’s demands – especially its call for all prisoners held in security-related cases to be released. Participants also expressed hopes that the violence will reduce as the peace talks continue.
The government delegates are preparing to ask the BRN to prove that it can curtail unrest in the deep South during the Ramadan period, which runs from early July to early August. It remains to be seen whether the BRN representatives will accept this demand.
The government must tread very carefully from now on as it appears to have been on the defensive since the peace talks began.
Even if it decides to end the talks, it will still be at a disadvantage.
By starting the dialogue, the government has recognised that separatist movements are indeed active in the country’s southernmost region.
Since then, some groups in the country have urged the government to consider a proposal to turn the South into a special administrative zone. Some have cited the public’s right to self-determination, as laid out in the UN Charter, to push for this proposal. The BRN, after all, has called Thailand a coloniser.
Outside the Defence Ministry in Bangkok is a historic cannon that comes from Pattani and was seized by Siamese troops around 200 years ago.
Many locals said they wanted it back, not the replica made by the Fine Arts Department which was installed in front of the Krue Se mosque in Pattani’s Muang district earlier this month. On Tuesday, the replica cannon was damaged in a bomb attack.
Before separatist sentiment deepens, the government must come up with an effective solution to the troubles in the deep South.