Why is peace treated as a taboo subject?

Of all the places where the need to discuss the topic of peace was the greatest, it was in Thailand’s insurgency-ravaged South where authorities decided to ban such a discussion.
This past week, district officials in Pattani province told youth leaders and activists that they could not host an event to celebrate World Peace Day in spite of having obtained permission from appropriate authorities.
It was a typical about-turn and knee-jerk reaction from the military, who didn’t have the nerve to show up to confront these youth activists and instead sent locally elected tambon officials to the historic Krue Se Mosque, the site of the peace event, to inform youth leaders that they must cancel their event.
The event, organised by the Network of Civil Society (Kor Por Sor), was interrupted just hours after it began. The 500 or so participants stood their ground but decided to pack up and leave after some time.
Heated words were exchanged as both sides tried to shout down one another.
The event organisers then decided to read statements, before dispersing the gathering. But when Tuwaedaniya Tuwaemaengae, president of local NGO LEMPAR, read a statement condemning the authorities’ order to cancel the event, a local official intervened and told him to end the event immediately.
“Real peace is peace with honour, that connects people. If the state feels suspicious of the people, peace is just an illusion,” Tuwaedaniya, a local youth activist, said as his parting shot to the plainclothed officials who were about to snatch his microphone from him.
Arifuen So, president of the Federation of Patani Student and Youth (Permas), said the authorities have informed him that the government is currently engaging in the process of peace-building and that the Kor Por Sor public event was deemed a threat to national security.
No further explanation was given but it’s not hard to see the irony of it all. The government has consistently asked for public inputs and participation from the civil societies and grassroots organisations.
But apparently, they only listen to organisations that tell them how good the government agencies have been doing and how their tax money is being spent properly.
Government officials don’t seem to understand how damaging their action has been in their dealings with civil society organisations, in Bangkok and the deep South where about 7,000 people have been killed from insurgency-related violence since January 2004.
The obstruction of an event dedicated to peace only makes Thailand look bad in the eyes of the world. The country already has an image problem. Two coups in a decade, not to mention a culture of impunity in the deep South where no government officials have ever been charged with any wrongdoing in spite of their abuses and violations.
National security has become a bloated word, used by authorities as an excuse by security agencies wanting to control just about every aspect of society, including the discourse and discussion on peace and conflict itself.
Sadly, they don’t seem to realise that by silencing the locals and denying them their narrative, they only make things worse. Not only their actions distance the very people whose heart and minds they are trying to win over, they end up advancing the agenda of the insurgents who only have to point to the conduct of the authorities to justify their armed movement and violent agenda.
If the authorities were smart, they would have sat down with the Kor Por Sor people and listened to what they had to say. But that would be like asking a bear in the woods to use a flush toilet.