Failure to bring killers to justice prevented progress after Tak Bai

In your editorial on the eighth anniversary of the Tak Bai massacre you write that the desired effect was not gained from PM Surayud Chulanont’s apology to the people of the South because the public and officials failed to follow up on it by acknowledging grievances and past mistakes. The truth is that the effect was lost because the Surayud government failed to do its duty by arresting the men responsible for the massacre and putting them on trial.

The people of the South know that the apology may have been difficult for the authorities, but it was nowhere near as difficult as what the southerners endured, including seeing the killers of their kinsfolk walking around as free men. Surayud’s words may have been welcome, but ultimately they proved to be just words.

Dom Dunn