Unholy surge of violence in south
Thailand By Jason Johnson
PATTANI - An upsurge of violence in
Thailand's predominantly Muslim southernmost
provinces, a region that has been beset by
conflict and violence since early 2004, has
coincided with the holy month of Ramadan.
Inspired in part by a form of local jihad
fused with ethno-nationalism, Malay Muslim
insurgents typically drive up attacks during the
month-long fasting period. However, violence has
intensified in the southern region's provinces of
Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat in relation to last
year's Ramadan period, according to government
security officials who communicated with Asia
Times Online.
Deep South Watch, a
non-governmental organization that monitors the
region's violence, recently confirmed those claims
with comparative statistics. From July 20 through
July 29, the first
10 days of Ramadan this
year, the number of casualties doubled compared
with the same period last year, the Pattani-based
monitoring group reported.
Deep South
Watch also revealed that June and July saw
relatively high levels of casualties in the
troubled ethnic minority region, where over 5,000
people have died from violent events over the past
eight-and-a-half years. In June, 47 people were
killed and 92 injured in the region. In July, 42
people died and 96 were injured due to violent
incidents, including 19 bombings.
The most
high-profile recent bombing took place on July 31,
the 12th day of the Ramadan period, at the CS
Pattani hotel. Only four people were injured but
the explosion destroyed a nearby power transformer
that caused a blackout in most of Pattani town. A
second bombing a few minutes later destroyed
another part of the town's electricity
infrastructure.
Seminars and meetings on
issues related to the conflict are regularly held
at the hotel, and officials, non-government
organization workers, journalists and academics
from outside the region often stay there while
traveling in the region.
The hotel was
also bombed in 2008, resulting in three deaths.
That bombing, evidence showed, stemmed from a
local political feud between the hotel's owner,
appointed Buddhist senator Anusart Suwanmongkhol,
and a local Muslim politician. The senator's
pro-establishment political leanings lends
credence to the view that separatist ideology
played a role in the hit. Sources now suggest that
those same power dynamics were at play in last
week's bombing at the popular hotel.
The
often complex intersection between local politics
and the insurgency has long bewildered both
officials and analysts but is believed by many
locals and experts to be a key impetus behind many
violent events. For the most recent bombing at the
CS Pattani hotel, sources with connections to the
insurgent movement told Asia Times Online that it
was carried out in part to mark the anniversary of
the 2004 Tak Bai incident on the Islamic calendar.
On October 25, 2004, the 11th day of
Ramadan that year, 78 Malay Muslims died by
suffocation and injuries after being rounded up
and stacked in trucks by Thailand's security
forces following a protest in Tak Bai district of
Narathiwat province. In spite of clear evidence
authorities mistreated the victims, state
officials involved with the tragedy were cleared
of any wrongdoing by Thai courts in 2009.
The incident and ruling underscored the
sense of injustice felt by many Malay Muslims, and
served as a powerful propaganda resource for
mobilizing young insurgent recruits. Recent hefty
compensation packages totaling 7.5 million baht
(US$238,000) doled out by the Thailand's Peua Thai
party-led government to families of the victims of
Tak Bai won praise in some corners but persistent
calls for justice have so far gone unheeded.
The CS Pattani hotel bombing could have
caused much greater damage if those responsible
had parked the pick-up truck, which contained a 50
kilogram bomb, closer to a nearby gas line,
according to one high-ranking police official in
Pattani. By parking the truck close to the power
transformer, insurgents seemingly aimed to cause a
major power outage instead of killing and injuring
hotel staff and guests, the police source said.
Internal conflict Three days
before the Pattani town bombings, the brutal
nature of the insurgency was revealed in a July 28
attack in Mayo district of Pattani province.
Government surveillance camera footage showed some
16 insurgents in three pick-up trucks ambush,
shoot and kill four army soldiers patrolling on
motorbikes.
Soon after the assault, the
video footage was available on video-sharing
website YouTube and other media. According to
sources familiar with the situation, local Mayo
police allowed a local news stringer to videotape
the government's CCTV footage. Later, someone from
a national media news station allegedly uploaded
the stringer's video onto YouTube.
Sources
said the local police allowed the stringer access
in order to help track down the perpetrators of
the incident and to discredit the movement by
showing publicly the insurgents' cruel tactics.
Yet army commander General Prayuth Chan-ocha
publicly stated that the footage would only give
insurgents more local support. According to
sources, Prayuth demanded that the police carry
out an investigation into how and why the video
was leaked to the press.
Sources also
claimed that Prayuth, a staunch loyalist to the
monarchy, is at odds with Fourth Army Region
commander Lieutenant General Udomchai
Thammasarojrat over the deteriorating security
situation in Mayo and neighboring Saiburi
district. An inexperienced head of paramilitary
rangers in those districts deserves much of the
blame for the intensification of violence there,
according to local and army sources. The soldier
allegedly acquired the position through his ties
to a extremely influential retired general who has
backed Udomchai.
Udomchai has long been
rumored to be on shaky ground with Prayuth.
Following a brazen attack by insurgents on an army
base in Narathiwat's Rangae district in January
2011, Prayuth allegedly tried to replace Udomchai
with a close confidant who was formerly a part of
the Fourth Army, which is responsible for the
region. The humiliating incident for the army
resulted in the theft of some 50 firearms and the
death of four soldiers.
The vulnerability
of security forces to insurgent attacks was also
evident in a July 25 roadside bombing in Yala
province's Raman district. Five policemen were
killed and another was critically wounded while
providing protection to local government school
teachers in the area. Later, on August 7, another
teacher protection unit was bombed in Pattani's
Yarang district, resulting in eight injured
soldiers.
The army removed the highly
controversial bases it established for security
forces in government schools last year following
the publication of a Human Rights Watch report
that criticized the counter-insurgency strategy -
one of many security policies known to be resented
by local Malay Muslims. Teacher protection units,
however, continue to provide security to
government teachers, many of whom have been
targeted by ideologically inspired insurgents
while traveling to and from work.
Despite
the recent upswing in violence, the region's
security situation appears to have marginally
improved overall this year. Based on data compiled
by the Southern Border Provinces Police Bureau,
the Isra News Center reports that year-on-year
casualties have dropped from 964 to 748 while
violent incidents have fallen from 511 to 306
during the seven-month period spanning January
through July. At the same time, violent incidents
continue to follow the general trend of becoming
deadlier and more intense.
According to
Thai security officials, many of the incidents
over the Ramadan period have been carried out by
suspected newly trained insurgents. Last week, a
police source revealed that some recruits have
undergone training across the border in northern
Malaysia. That statement corresponds with
influential retired General Panlop Pinmanee's
claim this week in the local Bangkok Post that
insurgents now undergo eight months of training
abroad before returning to fight in Thailand.
Panlop, an advisor on security affairs to
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and former
deputy director of the military's powerful
Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), also
suggested that the army devise its own guerrilla
tactics to uproot and defeat insurgents. The
influential hard-line general's recommendation and
the Puea Thai government's recent announcement it
will establish a new command center to better
coordinate all agencies involved in the far south
indicates that Bangkok is still looking for new
ways to break the entrenched military stalemate.
Despite that new government plan, as well
as public proclamations by officials and
high-ranking soldiers that the government can
control the region's violence, security officials
based in the region say privately that there is
slim hope that the dire situation will end any
time soon.
Jason Johnson is an
independent researcher and consultant covering
southernmost Thailand. He is currently based in
Pattani province, southern Thailand, and may be
reached atjrj.johnson@gmail.com (Copyright 2012 Asia Times Online
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