Few gains in the far South for new govt

Has the situation in the deep southern provinces improved over the past year? There has been a series of developments – including a new government under Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, which will have its first anniversary shortly – and implementation of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Organisation (SBPAC). But the question is whether the new developments have brought peace to the far South.

The answer is obvious on one level. Government agencies may claim that the number of the violent incidents is stable. But the real fundamental question to gauge the situation is more whether the sentiment of local people toward the government agencies, which represent “Thai State”, has improved. 

While the government has been trying to address the issue by working with communities, the level of violence remains no less severe. The insurgents from time to time launch a major attack and focus that at the authorities or armed civilians, who have received training from the government. Or they select soft targets that cause a serious psychological impact on the general public.

One disturbing aspect in the southern border strife is that although armed insurgents are besieged, searched and arrested relentlessly by security officials, especially troops, the insurgent groups can still find new members continually as well.

In spite of intense effort to bring peace to the region, violent incidents still happened repeatedly. On Friday, the insurgents detonated a home-made bomb hidden in a pick-up to ambush police patrolling in Narathiwat’s Sungai Kolok district in the morning, injuring eight civilians nearby. A few days earlier, some 20 insurgents dressed like security officials were involved in a gun attack from two pick-up trucks and three motorcycles at Rusoh district in the same province. A soldier and two civilians were killed and many others injured.

The latest incidents showed that the attackers have formed a big force. And during the past two or three years, similar attacks to this have happened often. For example, on 24 August last year, insurgents attacked the 42nd and 43rd Peaceful Development Corps in Koh Laenang village in Tambon Pakbang in Songkhla’s Thepha district. And on the night of 19 January 2011, a big group of insurgents attacked the King Naresuan Operation Base of the Narathiwat Taskforce 38 on Maruebotok-Rusoh Road in Moo 1 village in Narathiwat’s Rangae district.

It would not be wrong to say that the insurgents have become more dynamic in looking for ways to incite youths to join the cause. They have managed to manipulate the sense of discontent felt by some local people about the authorities’ ineffective handling of the conflict – and have got many local youths to join the insurgency.

Governments have been using the Army as the main agency to take charge of the southern strife. Administrators hope to use troops to first halt the daily violence before trying to solve problems in other dimensions.

But with troops normally carry weapons and these being such a potent symbol of war, it can easily create negative feelings among local people. Worse still, the insurgents have cleverly managed to keep their organisation completely hidden. 

So, troops have been in a situation like fighting enemies whose existence is tough to confirm. Some have described it as troops fighting “ghosts”. As a result, troops have had to set up checkpoints, and besiege and search villages, and make blanket arrests using power from special laws like the Martial Law of BE 2457 and the Executive Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situations of BE 2548.

The use of harsh laws can further create discontent from those who have felt they were wrongly arrested – despite the fact that some military officers have done many jobs to help local people upgrade their well-being in the South.

The most important thing is that the role of the troops should be restricted to maintaining security. The government should not create a perception that troops are the ones that control the entire situation and solve all the problems. This is because troops have become scapegoats and targeted for repeated attacks.

The government should revise its strategy to solve the problem in a sustainable manner. In the meantime, it will have to start implementing other strategies, which have been screened well enough, and all government agencies must stop standing idly by. They should start working in the southern border provinces seriously.