More needed than cash handouts to end crisis in South

The Yingluck Shinawatra government has started its process of cash payouts to family members of victims killed by security officials in the deep South with the hope that this will help reconcile the historic mistrust between the Muslim-majority region and the state.

The first set of people to receive the money – Bt7.5 million per victims – were the relatives of Muslim funeral-goers who were gunned down by a unit of paramilitary rangers allegedly “itchy” for a gunfight because their base was attacked by grenades just minutes earlier. Reportedly, it was a case of mistaken identity. 

But the nature of the attack on January 29, 2012 in Pattani’s Nong Chik district, that ended in the death of four and injuries to another five, suggests that the military has to do more in educating their men about the rules of engagement.

Officials said the men had reason to believe that the vehicle full of funeral goers was also transporting militants. But pictures taken by the police suggest it was a massacre. 

Nong Chik was not the first and probably won’t be the last such incident that sheds light on the authorities’ lack of professionalism and disregard for official rules of engagement, if there are such. And given the culture of impunity and the controversial Emergency Law that provides impunity to government officials in the restive region, it may just be a matter of time before an incident like the tragedy in Nong Chik re-occurs. 

Abduction, extrajudicial killings and the use of death squads are well documented in this region. The far South was hit by a new wave of insurgency from January 2001 although this wasn’t officially recognised until January 2004 after scores of militants attacked an army battalion and made off with about 350 weapons. The Deep South has not been the same since; hardly a day goes by without some form of insurgent attacks.

In some respects, the cash payouts should be welcomed. 

Although money can never replace the loss of loved ones, it is, nevertheless, a form of acknowledgement from the state that mistakes have been made without getting into the legality of people’s deaths.

In 2007 when the then Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont made a heart-felt apology for the atrocities committed against the Malays of Pattani and specifically to families of the Tak Bai massacre victims, locals were overwhelmed with tears and joy. For them, this is a matter of dignity. 

The victims, along with hundreds of others, were unarmed and were demonstrating to demand the release of a group of villagers who they said were wrongly accused of giving government-issued weapons to insurgents. 

But they were billed by the Thai state and society as being drug-crazed, disobedient and ungrateful to the country for all privileges given to them. That pretty much explained why the vast majority of Thais were indifferent to the massacre, much less their historic grievances and mistrust of the Thai state. No security official has ever been charged for the Tak Bai massacre.

The Thai state may want to think that justice has been rendered with the ongoing cash handouts. But it should not fool itself into thinking that this will in any way end the historic mistrust between the state and the Malays of Pattani.

The state may “reconcile” their differences with family members of the victims. But the cash handouts could reinforce the perception that lives in the deep South can be bought. 

For the insurgents, this notion could very well offer more of a reason why they need to carry out a campaign of violence for a separate homeland.

There is no easy way out of this conflict except sincere commitment to peace. It requires a high degree of courage and political will – something that money can’t buy.