Who's who in Thailand's Muslim
insurgency By Bertil Lintner
Barisan Revolusi Nasional
Patani-Melayu-Koordinasi, or the Patani
Malay National Revolutionary Front-Coordinate,
usually referred to as BRN-Coordinate in English.
The original BRN was established in 1960
as a leftist organization advocating Islamic
socialism, but later split in the 1980s into three
politically more moderate factions: "Congress",
"Coordinate" and "Ulema" (Arabic for "clerics").
Today, "Congress" and "Ulema" are more or less
defunct and "Coordinate" is the main group active on
the ground in the south.
BRN-Coordinate maintains a number of
underground cells, known as Runda Kumpulan Kecil,
or "small patrol groups". These are not a separate
organization, as the mainstream Thai media have
recently reported, but simply the operative arm of
BRN-Coordinate. The BRN-Coordinate's village
militia forces are also more commonly known as
Pejuang Kemerdekaan Patani, or Patani Freedom
Fighters.
Barisan Nasional
Pembebasan Patani (BNPP), National
Liberation Front of Patani. This group is
considered the first organized armed resistance
group. It was reorganized in 1960, but traces its
origin to a local revolt which took place in 1947
in Narathiwat province. It was quite active in the
1970s and early 1980s, but now is defunct.
The Patani United Liberation
Organization, or PULO. Formed in 1968 by
Tengku Bira Kotantila aka Kabir Abdul Rahman, PULO
was the most active group in the 1970s and 1980s.
It now operates mainly from exile in Syria, where
Tengku Bira lives, and Sweden, where its foreign
affairs department is located.
The group
split for a while into "old" and "new" factions,
but now appears to have been reunited. Exiles in
Sweden maintain a number of websites that carry
news from the region as well as political
statements. PULO claims to have a working
relationship with BRN-Coordinate.
Gerakan Mujahidin Islam
Patani, GMIP, or the Islamic Mujahidin
Movement of Patani. Formed in 1995 by Afghanistan
war veteran Nasoree Saesaeng, the group derives
its name from an earlier, now inactive group, the
Gerakan Mujahidin Patani, GMP.
According
to Thai intelligence sources, the GMIP is linked
to the Malaysia-based militant organization
Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia, or the Mujahidin
Group of Malaysia, which, in turn, is alleged to
have close ties with the mainly Indonesia-based
Jemaah Islamiya. It is, however, uncertain how
much remains of the KMM following a massive
crackdown by Malaysian authorities in 2001.
Barisan Bersatu Merdeka
Patani, or the United Front for the
Independence of Patani. This group is more
commonly known as "Bersatu", meaning "united" in
the Malay language.
It was formed in 1989
from four smaller groups: BRN-Congress, elements
of PULO, the then GMP (now defunct), and Barisan
Islam Pembebsan Patani, the now largely defunct
Islamic Front for the Liberation of Patani.
Bersatu is believed now to be defunct or to have
been replaced by a less formal arrangement between
currently active groups.
Pemuda means
"youth" in Malay and has been adopted as the name
of a youth movement closely associated with
BRN-Coordinate. However, Pemuda members rarely, if
ever, have access to firearms, but rather assist
the BRN-Coordinate with logistical support and
intelligence gathering, while occasionally
spraying separatist slogans on walls or taking
part in arson attacks.
Other, smaller
groups also exist, but it is difficult to
ascertain whether the abundance of insurgent
organizations reflects actual factionalism and
divergent agendas or just a division of labor in
the struggle for a common goal. "Patani" in Malay
refers to all three southern provinces: Pattani,
Yala and Narathiwat.
(Sources: Jane's
Information Group, the International Crisis Group,
and Asia Times Online data.
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