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.
What You Say!
What are the chances of a similar event happening in Italy?
Appreciate all your comments. Good info. Thanks.
I add, "...on January 25, 1942 Thailand declared war on Britain and the United States of America. " source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_powers#Thailand
I read the whole thread searching for this historical fact. If I hadn't found it, I was going to state it myself--not to comment meaningfully on the recent coup, but to draw out those with an agenda. I find it very interesting that killjoy's response (#192) to this post attempted to mitigate Thailand's (then Siam's) membership in an Axis.
If Sondhi muslim background has nothing to do with this, then why the worsening mulsim terrorist issue? He was appointed to his high military post for the exact purpose of dealing with the muslim terrorist issue. His now admitted way to deal with the problem he let grow is with appeasement thru negotiations. When GOOD negotiates with EVIL, GOOD always looses.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,214498,00.html
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. . . .
. . . .
Sondhi, [who is a Muslim], was selected last year to head the army partly because it was felt he could better deal with a Muslim insurgency in southern Thailand, where 1,700 people have been killed since 2004. Recently, Sondhi urged negotiations with the separatists in contrast to Thaksin's hard-fisted approach. Many analysts have said that with Thaksin in power, peace in the south was unlikely
. . . .
Thaksin recently alienated a segment of the military by claiming senior officers had tried to assassinate him in a failed bombing attempt. He also attempted to remove officers loyal to Sondhi from key positions. . . .
. . . .
Some of Thaksin's critics wanted to jettison his policies promoting privatization, free trade agreements and CEO-style administration.
"Thailand was aligned with the Axis in WWII."
But the real power was held by Germany and Japan. So the necessary action in response to the Thai coup is clear. We must nuke Germany and Japan.
"Thailand was aligned with the Axis in WWII."
Sort of the way France was - meaning they got occupied, only a little less so. The same PM who aligned Siam with the Japanese, Phibul Songkram, who lost power after the war, was a staunch anti-communist when he regained power in the 1950s.
Interesting thread. I know jack about current events in Thailand. But generally speaking, I do not trust the perpetrators of a military coup d'etat, or cheer at their success.
Interesting thread. I know jack about current events in Thailand. But generally speaking, I do not trust the perpetrators of a military coup d'etat, or cheer at their success.Most of us approved when Chavez was briefly overthrown in Venezuela, and would hope that it happens again, this time permanently.
-Eric
Islam and Halliburton as co-equal boogeymen. Interesting equivocation.
That's comforting.
Sure, I'd call the removal of Chavez an exception to the rule. But the bar is high. You have to have huge justification for taking over a govt.
At least that's what Mr. Jefferson taught me.
Cross link:
U.S. Denounces Thailand Coup
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1705032/posts
> It's Hitler all over again. Except this time, the threat isn't one little man but an entire ideology shared by millions. And, just like WW2, the Europeans will not realize the danger they are in until it is too late. <
Sorry my friend, but you've chosen the wrong thread to make such a statement.
As many knowledgeable FR posters have said already, time and agein, yesterday's coup in Thailand really had TOTALLY NOTHING to do with religion. It was just the climax of a long-simmering political rivalry between Thaksin's "Thai Rak Thai" party -- which is strongest in north and northeast Thailand -- and a collection of his adversaries, who are strongest in Bangkok and the country's southern isthmus.
In particular, there is ABSOLUTELY ZERO chance that Muslim terrorists or Taliban-like fanatics will gain significant influence anywhere in the Kingdom outside of a tiny region on the Malaysian border, almost 1000 kilometers from Bangkok. Period.
IMHO the only remaining question of genuine interest is whether the King actively supported the coup, or whether at his advanced age he simply lacked the energy to take a stand. And I predict that as is almost always the case in Thailand, the wildest sorts of rumors will abound -- pro and con.
You are wrong that religion played no part:
Recently, Sondhi urged negotiations with the terrorist muslim separatists in contrast to Thaksin's hard-fisted approach.
> How does China view this potential muslim takeover in Thailand <
Get real! It's not a Muslim takeover! It's an internal power struggle that has nothing to do with religion.
But that having been said time and again, China is probably a bit unhappy because Thaksin -- who obviously has a lot of Chinese blood in his veins -- has been viewed by many observers as marginally more "pro-Chinese" than are his adversaries.
In any case, Thailand will remain as the USA's staunchest ally in that part of the world. And the fact that they have a problem with Muslim terrorists/separatists in their far south only makes them more pro-USA.
> I do believe these folks have had a king for kind of a while now <
In fact, like about 2400 years under the current reigning dynasty!
> His first act was to call for talks with the terrorists. I put those two FACTS together, and I am EXTREMELY uneasy if I live in Thailand. <
Relax, old man. Don't sit around dreaming up problems. Find yourself something really important to worry about, like Iran's plan to annihilate the Jews or al Qaida's attempts to get an A-bomb or the dhimmokrats' threat to take over the US Congress.
As for Thailand, Killjoy is on the ground in the Kingdom and he's not worried. And virtually the same non-concern has been expressed by a number of other posters in this thread who are equally well-informed, by virtue of their having Thai friends, wives, etc. or simply because they have bothered to study the facts.
>Is it possible this is an Islamic revolution in disguise?<
Yes, and it's possible that a black helicopter is buzzing your home at this very minute. Load and lock!
> Ignorance is bliss .....Always has been <
Then we have some EXTREMELY BLISSFUL posters on this thread. I don't think I've ever seen more appalling ignorance anywhere on FR, at least not for the past couple of years.
And kudos to Killjoy, whose reports from the frontlines are valuable and much appreciated!
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