Thailand: PM announces 'D-Day' against Muslim rebels

AKI ^ | 2005 Nov 9

[Wiz]

Bangkok, 9 Nov. (AKI) - As the violence in Thailand's hree southernmost provinces shows no sign of abating, prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has announced an impending “D-Day” against the rebels. In the last 24 hours, Muslim insurgents have attacked Yala Provincial Hall and a series of other minor targets, while Bangkok has announced the killing of Hasueming Jarong, a leading member of the Pattani Mujahideen, one of the groups fighting for an independent Islamic state comprising Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said that the government has prepared a large scale offensive against the rebels to be launched in the next couple of days. “We will launch a D-Day to solve problems in the southernmost provinces. All measures have already been planned. We will no longer be on the defensive,'' he said on Tuesday night.

A source said the so-called D-Day operation in the 'Deep South', as the three provinces are collectively known, would be launched after 9 November. He did not elaborate.

However, to residents of the three mostly Muslim provinces - where the scale of violence and the boldness of the attacks have increased steadily since the first outbreak on January 4, 2004 - the prime minister's words may provide little comfort.

[muawiyah]

The traditional story is that the Hakka started out with big noses. However, after a particular nasty series of wars that resulted in the forced settlement of some of them in areas that could be controlled by the Chinese, one of the emperors went around chopping off any nose above a certain size, and, if not satisfied with that, simply killing the possessors of such noses.

Modern Japanese (with a heavy Hakka component) do have noses with high bridges. This occurs in families with individuals with smaller noses.

I have not yet figured out the name "Hakka" so I can't tell if it's their own name for themselves, or the Chinese name for them.

[A CA Guy]

Thailand: PM announces 'D-Day' against Muslim rebels

Good for them.

[killjoy]

What you are running into is the Austronesian component in the language.

Huh? First you are saying there is no difference between the languages and then you say that Tai belongs to the Austronesian group. Of course it does. Tai and Chinese are incredibly different languages.

[expatguy]

Welcome to FR - Where exactly in Southern Thailand are you?

[muawiyah]

They are incredibly different ONLY in respect to each other. Contrasted with the Indo-European languages, they really aren't.