Root causes of bitter long-running conflict should not be forgotten

Privy Council President Prem Tinsulanonda seems to have missed the point when it comes to the conflict in the Malay-speaking far South.

In a recent statement, Prem made reference to a Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC) survey that blamed insurgency violence on perceived social class divisions. 

Misunderstanding and mistrust between the followers of different religions (ie, Malay Muslims and Thai/Chinese Buddhists) should be address urgently, he said.

“There is some misunderstanding about this. We have to understand that there are no social classes or division of classes, Buddhist Thais or Muslim Thais,” he said.

The Privy Council chief said the authorities should not allow any misunderstanding to continue among locals. 

If the conflict and insurgency in Thailand’s Malay-speaking provinces is that simple, where authorities could just snap their fingers and bring back a proper understanding of things, then we wouldn’t have this ongoing problem that has no end in sight.

However, could we not do the issue more justice by getting to the historical root cause of the conflict and why Malay Muslims feel they are being treated as second class?

SBPAC secretary-general Panu Uthairat also suggested that such a feeling among the Muslim youths was not genuine and added that the people’s mindset and understanding needed to be corrected. 

Nowhere in their statements was there any mention of the state being part of the problem, or about the root of the historical mistrust between the Thai state and the Malay minorities.

And if our policymakers and leading public figures continue to believe in their own propaganda – that there is nothing wrong with the state’s policy of assimilation for the Malay Muslims in the southernmost provinces – then there isn’t much hope in resolving this conflict that looks set to continue to haunt the country for the unforeseeable future. 

Prem was speaking at the opening of the 23rd class of a project at the Army Club that tries to familiarise Malay Muslim children with the way of life of the rest of the people in the country.

This year, the project brought 240 children from five southern border provinces – Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat, Songkhla and Satun – to Bangkok.

It would be interesting to see what kind of impact the visit to Bangkok has had on their lives. 

Considering that they live in an environment that embraces a whole different set of cultural and historic narratives, that see the Thai state and society as intruders in their former homeland, it would be interesting to see the reaction to such activities and projects – and if they have a positive impact on their future outlook.

People say the road to peace for the deep South runs through Bangkok. In other words, Thailand’s ethno-centric attitude and zero-sum mentality must make way for a different mindset – one that sees the Malay Muslims in the southernmost provinces as people who desire to be respected for who there are, not what the state wants them to be. 

There should be no surprise at the outcome of the survey given how the Malay Muslims in this contested region have been treated by the state and its agencies. A vast majority of the bureaucrats are Buddhists in the Muslim-majority South and are from somewhere else. 

Taking into consideration the presence of some 60,000 armed officials and the prevailing culture of impunity among security personnel, it is no wonder the Malays feel like colonial subjects in an occupied territory. 

Thailand will have to do much more than bringing a handful of Malay Muslim children to Bangkok on a tour for a few days to instil in them a sense of shared destiny with the rest of the Thai people.  

If we want future generations to feel like they are not second-class citizens, the state will have to find a way to give the Malays a sense of ownership in their own historical homeland.