Posted on 09/20/2006 3:54:59 AM PDT by excludethis
Thailand must negotiate with leaders of an ethnic Malay Muslim separatist insurgency if it wants to end bloodshed in its troubled Muslim-majority southern provinces, the country’s army chief said on Friday.
General Sondhi Boonyaratkalin said the violence, which has claimed more than 1,500 lives, would not be quelled if authorities only arrested the foot-soldiers of the militancy, but refused to talk to its instigators. “It is necessary to talk to make lasting peace,” Gen Sondhi, the first Muslim to head the Thai army, told Thai journalists on Friday.
ADVERTISEMENT The appeal for talks with insurgents came a day after bombs in 22 banks across the province of Yala exploded almost simultaneously, killing a retired official, and injuring 28 people.
The highly co-ordinated attacks on the banks, including two state-owned Islamic banks, demonstrated the militants’ rising technical capacity, and their willingness to strike at the foundations of the economy of the region, an ethnic Malay Muslim-majority enclave in Buddhist-majority Thailand.
“Nothing is spared,” said Sunai Phasuk, a political analyst with Human Rights Watch. “So far, they have targeted administrative structures, security forces, law enforcement, educational structures, and cultural structures, like Buddhist monks. Now they attack the economic structure, which means nothing put in place by the Thai state is accepted.”
Since the renewed flare-up in January 2004 of a decades-old separatist insurgency, Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister, has promised to shower the troubled region with money to accelerate economic growth, while also imposing a state of emergency that allows security forces to use harsh measures to crack down on suspected militants.
Mr Thaksin has, in public, staunchly refused to engage in negotiations to end the long-standing conflict, which has at its roots resistance by ethnic Malay Muslims against forcible assimilation into the Thai state, and resentment at discrimination against them in jobs and education.
Yet behind the scenes, some Thai officials have been quietly engaging over the last year with “certain individuals” – including prominent southern Thai Muslims in political exile – who are seen as potentially able to influence the insurgents.
“The army has been trying to talk with the intellectual leaders of the militant groups,” Mr Sunai said.
However, Mr Sunai said negotiations still faced formidable obstacles, including ensuring that those southern Thai Muslims in contact with officials could actually exert influence on the ground.
Thailand now circling the drain.
What a shame.
...and this is exactly what General Sondhi has been trying to stop but was not able to because of the (former) Prime Minister in Bangkok. Sondhi can speak Yawi and knows the situation there as good, or better, than anyone.
I think you are wrong in this case. Just a quick look at Thailand's political history since 1974 disagrees with you.
Democracy in Thailand in 1974
military coup in 1977
About 3 years of turmoil in which Communists tried to get a foothold and were soundly rejected
1980-81 Prem re-democratizes Thailand
1991 military coup in Thailand
1992 Democracy reestablished after Thai's came out in mass against military rule of Thailand.
That's just what I got from a quick google search on Thailand's political history. Seems the people embrace democracy.
And, you write as if you believe that the leader of the coup will be in charge for some time....so much for democracy.
I know the General is Muslim but Muslims only make up 5% of the Population. For the Muslims to take over the country they'd have to be 100% of the Military which they aren'tIn Young Frankenstein, the horses at the mansion would panic whenever anyone said the word "Bucher". We have a contingent around here that reacts the same way to the word "Muslim".
-Eric
The insurgency in Thailand is rooted in the partition of the MAlay area between the Siam and Britain. Muslim missionaries came to the region in the 13th century and Malaysia became a Muslim heavy population. Disputes in the SOuth are mostly on issues of autonomy. For the most part, Muslims have been well integrated to the society. They have gone all over from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. On our trip to the beach (nowhere near the south) we ran into an Islamic restaurant. The source of most conflict is from the South although in 1994 they did try to set off a carbomb the Lumpini national park. Should the partition never occurred, Thailand would not have this problem today. Considering that the situation parallels somewhat to Northern Ireland, a solution similar to what we see over there is not entirely out of the question.
Yep. The Rocky Mountain News carried a misleading story this morning too. The Muslim angle got it the front page.
His role as a leader of the coup will end in two weeks. His role in the miltiary will hopefully last the rest of his lifetime.
You can read it that way, or you can say they are dyslexic.
The pattern you have pointed out is real, but it is just the window dressing. It is what happens due to the instability that is the major concern, and this is what we had hoped would end.
I don't think the coup will help in this regard, and is partly why it occurs in the first place.
Similar things have happened and are happening in Eastern Europe. The constant government churn allows any criminal enterprise to flourish, and in this case, the enterprises are multiple in nature and can only take advantage of the uncertainty and no doubt have lots of people on the payroll that will be found in government. the only way to eliminate this is to foster a longterm democracy and allow it to mature.
This event shows that the people of Thailand will continue to be manipulated by their guests, who will continue to churn the pot, whenever their interests are in danger. It's hard to say just who is running the asylum right now, but I have my suspicions that it stems from the South and will not be directly visable in the light of day.
Because he wasn't allowed to deal with it. He has had his hands tied. Compare it to US Generals during the Vietnam War. They knew what needed to be done but Johnson wouldn't let them. No different. The former Prime Minister wanted to have his guy replace Sondhi so wasn't about to let Sondhi do his job.
Across the capital, Thais who trickled out onto barren streets welcomed the surprise turn of events as a necessary climax to months of demands for Thaksin to resign amid . . . . worsening Muslim insurgency in the south. . . .
Worsening? ROTFLMAO! You might want to read local news instead of Fox News. The south has been QUIET since the coup.
Recently, Sondhi urged negotiations with the separatists in contrast to Thaksin's hard-fisted approach.
Hard-fisted? Like two years ago when he refused to admit there was any problems and blamed Krue Se on drugs? ROTFLMAO.
Is it this month or next,When the King Has the ceremony
at the temple for the rice harvest ?
If you are refering to the plowing ceremony, I believe it is in May.
The Coup was conducted with the majority of the Thai military, in a country with 94% Buddhist population.
The soldiers are festooned with yellow ribbons, representing loyalty and allegiance to King Phumipol of Thailand.
Of course it is!
DING DING DING DING DING DING DING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I do believe you're right.
I dont think comparing it to Eastern Europe is valid. Different culture.
As things stand right now I think we just need to see how this plays out. I dont see the connection to the south that you do, but we will have to wait and see.
That's the One,,Point was,,The King is still a Major Part
of Life to the Thai,Spiritually,,When He Speaks They Listen
Like,,E.F.Hutton,,,
Did it ever occur to you two Islamic witch-hunters that a moderate Muslim JUST MIGHT be first in line to express a VERY DIM VIEW of Islamic fundamentalist terrorism?
We, in the West, have wondered aloud for 5 years, "Where is the voice of the Muslim moderate?" The answer has been that they are almost all scared into silence by the presence of vehement radicals among them -- even in the heartland of the United States.
Now, in Thailand, in the person of General Sondhi, we see a moderate Muslim with a 99% Buddhist army behind him, who has the advacacy of the great perponderance of the people and his King, who has little to fear, the name of his God to redeem, the reputation of his fellow religionists to clear, and the militray power to shoot off more than his mouth.
Here, at long last, is perhaps THE ONE moderate Muslim in all the Earth who can stand up, tell the Islamofascist radicals to stuff it or else and make the threat stick; utlizing the military powers under his command to provide as many poignant examples of "or else" as may become necessary. He is in THE PRIME position to tell Muslim extremists exactly where they WILL go, exactly how they WILL go there, and exactly when they WILL go.
On the face of it, I must admit that this didn't look good, but seeing the religious blend of the country over which this General has EARNED (not TAKEN) control, and seeing as this is the culmination of his long and venerable personal history in Thailand, I'm FAR more inclined to believe that his future talks with Muslim agitators in the South will be markedly one-sided and that much of the content will begin with phrases like "You will...", and "You will not..."
With all of that clearly in view, postings continually reemphasizing "But he's MUSLIM!" devolve, in every aspect, to the level of leftist Americans crying "Halliburton!"
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