Death of Imam Yakob a blow to peace-building
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Imam Yakob Raimanee of the Central Masjid in Pattani, the province's main mosque, is remembered for being kind, approachable, and helpful to peace-building efforts.
Throughout the past many years, he worked openly with Thai authorities in efforts to restore peace in the country’s deep South.
Sadly, the ongoing wave of violence took his life on Monday.
Yakob, 51, was shot dead while shopping with his wife at a local market. The shooting took place just three days after a suspect was arrested for his alleged role in the 2011 assassination attempt on Yakob’s life.
Back then, the bullet just pierced through his kapiyoh, a hat worn by Muslims.
But this time, Yakob was killed.
In his life, this religious leader made huge contributions to Thailand and won many awards, including being named a key contributor to human resource development in the country’s southern border provinces and an outstanding contributor to the Culture Ministry in terms of religious affairs.
He had frequently served as a religious speaker for radio stations in Bangkok and its adjacent provinces.
Yakob was also credited with efforts to make the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Muslim World League understand the situation in the deep South better.
His death, therefore, has brought much grief to all who knew him.
“His death came as a shock. I almost fainted when this bad news came up,” a 65-year-old man said.
Officials have said that Yakob’s death is a blow to their efforts to restore peace in the deep South.
But in his last interview with the media, Yakob expressed hope on Monday that with patience, understanding and sincerity from all sides, the unrest in the far South would finally end.
