Don Pathan
BenarNews
Yala, Thailand
Thailand’s peace initiative with Malay Muslim insurgents in the Deep South has hit a snag as rebels have threatened not to go through with the Safety Zone initiative unless Bangkok releases three of their imprisoned members.
Thai officials insisted that the call to release the three prisoners was not a demand tied to the prospect of a safety zone – or geographically limited ceasefire – but a “request” from MARA Patani, the panel representing insurgent groups in the peace talks. The Justice Ministry is looking into the case, officials told me.
If granted, it would not be a pardon but an early release, according to sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
If not, it would be a setback for the Safety Zone, a much-talked about project that would become Thailand’s showpiece for the international community. The project involves the designation of a district where a ceasefire is to be observed in Thailand’s southern border region.
MARA Patani, an umbrella organization made up of six long-standing separatist movements, began talks with the Thai government three years ago.
Like all other previous peace initiatives, Thailand’s engagement with MARA Patani rests on a shaky ground because the umbrella organization does not have control over the combatants on the ground.
A military intelligence officer described Thailand’s engagement with MARA Patani as “just buying time” until the leadership of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the one group that controls virtually all of the militants in the field, decided to join the peace process.
So far, there is no indication BRN will change its stance – not because of a lack of trying on the part of MARA Patani or Malaysia, the designated facilitator.
Glimmer of hope
A moment of hope, albeit small, came late last year during a meeting between Malaysian mediator Ahmad Zamzamin Hashim, who is a retired spy chief, and two senior members of BRN’s ruling council.
Zamzamin received an assurance from the BRN leaders that their militants would not sabotage the safety-zone initiative, which would be implemented in a yet-to-be-named district in one of three Muslim-majority provinces in the Deep South. The idea was conjured up by MARA Patani and Thailand’s Dialogue Panel.
BRN sources said they were still committed to independence for Patani, the Malay historical homeland that today forms Thailand’s three southernmost provinces. They had no plan to enter into a negotiation with the Thais, they said.
Moreover, a planned meeting between the country’s chief negotiator, Gen. Aksara Kerdpol, and one of the BRN senior figures, Doonloh Wae-mano (alias Abdullah Wan Mat Noor), to be held in Indonesia, should not be interpreted as a breakthrough in any way.
Nevertheless, the fact that BRN agreed not to sabotage the Safety Zone project and allow the initiative to take its course was welcomed in Thailand despite the glaring irony that the participants, MARA Patani and Thai government, don’t control the armed militants.
A spitting contest
Bangkok wants to make this Safety Zone project its showpiece in order to demonstrate to the public and the world that it is making “progress” in efforts to end a separatist conflict that has killed nearly 7,000 people since January 2004.
For a moment, things appeared to be moving in the right direction.
People were looking forward to the launch of the safety zone scheduled for April 2018. And then came a demand from the MARA Patani that three of their people be released from prison, sources on both sides told me.
Beside the horse-trading and the political and legal challenges that come with it, Thailand’s peace initiative for the Deep South is also facing some major obstacles coming from the people inside the country.
The ongoing spitting contest between Aksara and the commander of the Fourth Army region, Lt. Gen. Piyawat Nakwanich, who oversees security in the Deep South, could very well have negative consequences on the government’s strategy for the area.
Government sources said the disagreement was part of a turf war between the two members of the military top brass who had been dismissive of one another through the media.
In a recent statement to the press, Piyawat said Aksara’s safety project was nothing to get excited about and added that he himself had single-handedly created 14 such zones and that he didn’t want to boast.
Piyawat also talked about his Bring People Home project, a half-baked amnesty program that supposedly helps former insurgents return to normal civilian life, calling it a success because it put a dent in BRN’s morale and military standing.
According to a Thai government source overseeing the southern conflict, the bickering stemmed from the dispute of who should oversee which programs.
Members of the Dialogue Panel, the official name of Thailand’s negotiating team, believe they should be the one administering Bring People Home because they are the ones who are dealing directly with the rebels and, therefore, they would be in a better position to run the program.
The dispute between Aksara and Piyawat forced a leading member of MARA Patani to issue a public statement, accusing the commander of the Fourth Army region commander of creating confusion.
Sukree Haree said Piyawat’s amnesty project and his version of 14 “safety zone” districts were entirely different from the programs discussed at the negotiating table between his umbrella organization and the Dialogue Panel.
BRN sources dismissed Piyawat’s claim of success, saying those who surrendered through the program were not deeply involved in the movement and may just be guilty by association. This is a common accusation employed by the Thai authorities but has no bearing in court.
Moreover, the BRN has not reached the stage of a full-fledged army and, therefore, does not need that many soldiers in its ranks.
The strategy at this point is to discredit the government’s security apparatus, making the region ungovernable as much as possible.
A roadside bombing followed by a brief gunfight that hardly ever lasts more than five minutes is the usual battle scenario in this region.
The insurgents said they are more interested in capturing the locals’ hearts, mind and imagination, not geographical space, which is something way down the road, at which time, a conventional force will be needed.
Don Pathan is a consultant and security analyst based in Thailand. The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and not of BenarNews.
DON PATHAN - Thailand-based security analyst/development consultant (Photo: Anjaman Pass, Afghanistan, with two Northern Alliance fighters, October 2001)
Showing posts with label Safety Zone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Safety Zone. Show all posts
Thursday, 29 March 2018
Tuesday, 5 September 2017
Deep South Peace Talks: Car-Jacked?
Commentary by Don Pathan
Yala, Thailand
BenarNews
In June, near the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Ahmad Zamzamin Hashim, the Malaysian mediator of the Southern Thailand peace process, invited the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) to join the negotiations.
It was not the first time that such an invitation had been extended to the BRN, the most powerful insurgent group operating in southern Thailand. But, this time around, Zamzamin had reason to be optimistic.
At stake was the resolution of a 13-year-old armed conflict that has killed nearly 7,000 people in Thailand’s southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat – areas that were part of a Malay Muslim sultanate before being annexed by Bangkok in 1909.
Malaysia is facilitating the negotiations between Bangkok and MARA Patani, an umbrella organization of southern insurgent groups.
In response to Zamzamin’s invitation, Doonloh Wae-mano (alias Abdullah Wan Mat Noor), the most senior official of BRN’s governing council, said he and his people “would have to think about it.”
Zamzamin also had assurances from the BRN that it would not sabotage the safety zone initiative, a limited ceasefire being planned in designated areas in Thailand’s three Muslim-majority provinces, collectively known as the Deep South.
This point was discussed during the Aug. 8 to 10 meeting between MARA Patani and Thai negotiators in Kuala Lumpur, sources said.
But on Aug. 16, less than a week after the conclusion of that meeting, seven young militants stole pickup trucks and snatched hostages from a second-hand car dealership in Songkhla province, just north of the Deep South.
Their plan – to convert the vehicles into car bombs – fell apart after four hostages tried to escape. Two hostages were shot, one died in hospital, and the survivors alerted authorities. The entire region went on high alert.
In the end, only two of the seven pickup trucks were used as car bombs, and a suspected militant died after an alleged shootout with Thai police.
Army chief Gen. Chalermchai Sitthisart said the seven militants were directed by Wae-mano – taking a jab at the man believed by many Thai officials to be the biggest obstacle to BRN joining the peace talks.
The carjackings dampened the optimism felt after BRN agreed not to sabotage the safety zone initiative – and served as a reminder that nothing comes easy in Thailand’s Deep South.
The next round of talks are expected this month, but MARA Patani has asked for more time to prepare for the meeting, which had been scheduled for Sept. 11, a Thai government official said.
‘Bad blood’
For their part, BRN sources said the chain of command in their movement is fluid, meaning that deals reached at the top level may not play out on the ground the way that Thai or Malaysian officials want them to.
Moreover, said the sources, there is bad blood between the BRN and MARA Patani, and this will take time to overcome.
“Pohsu Loh [Wae-mano] was being polite and diplomatic when he said BRN would refrain from hitting districts designated as Safety Zones. BRN has cells in just about every tambon [sub-district] and it remains to be seen how this agreement or understanding with Ahmad Zamzamin will play out,” said one BRN source, who added that his unit had not been informed of this particular deal.
BRN officials say Bangkok’s insistence that talks be in line with the country’s constitution, which clearly stipulates that the kingdom is indivisible, has always been a non-starter.
They say they would hypothetically be willing to talk to the government if that stipulation was not raised, and in turn, they would not mention the issue of independence.
BRN officials also say they will only come to the table if their negotiators are properly trained, and the talks are mediated by the international community – in line with peace processes in the southern Philippines and in Aceh, Indonesia.
A Thai military intelligence officer who monitors the Deep South conflict said involving the BRN would be an opportunity to talk to the people who have command-and-control over the militants.
In June, Deputy Defense Minister Udomdej Sitabutr publicly implied that MARA Patani may not be the right dialogue partners. In other words, he doesn’t believe MARA Patani has command-and-control over the insurgents engaged in the fighting.
But Udomdej’s statement was said to have rubbed Gen. Aksara Kerdpol, Thailand’s chief negotiator, the wrong way.
Aksara and many in the Thai government, including Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, believe that if the “real” BRN wants to join the talks, they need to come under MARA Patani’s umbrella, not start a new track.
Tit-for-tat
Even if the Thai military allows the presence of international participants, there is no indication that it would be willing to make concessions touching on the historical root causes and the deep-seated mistrust between the Thai government and the Malays of the Deep South.
BRN also pointed to the Thai government’s refusal to grant legal immunity to two MARA Patani negotiators as a sign of Bangkok’s unwillingness to make concessions.
Sukree Hari and Ahmad Chuwol, who fled Thailand in 2007 after posting bail under the then-military government, resurfaced as MARA Patani members when the panel was launched in August 2015.
The two requested the immunity that would permit them to return to Thailand and observe the safety zone pilot project, one source said. But the Thai Justice Ministry was firmly against it for fear that it would create an unwanted precedent.
Moreover, allegations of extra-judicial killings by both sides continued to dampen the atmosphere at the political level and set off tit-for-tat revenge killings.
Don Pathan is a Thailand-based security analyst and consultant. The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and not of BenarNews.
http://www.benarnews.org/english/commentaries/far-south-view/car-jack-09052017165442.html
Yala, Thailand
BenarNews
 |
| Roadside blast that killed six Thai soldiers in Pattani, June 19, 2017. AFP |
It was not the first time that such an invitation had been extended to the BRN, the most powerful insurgent group operating in southern Thailand. But, this time around, Zamzamin had reason to be optimistic.
At stake was the resolution of a 13-year-old armed conflict that has killed nearly 7,000 people in Thailand’s southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat – areas that were part of a Malay Muslim sultanate before being annexed by Bangkok in 1909.
Malaysia is facilitating the negotiations between Bangkok and MARA Patani, an umbrella organization of southern insurgent groups.
In response to Zamzamin’s invitation, Doonloh Wae-mano (alias Abdullah Wan Mat Noor), the most senior official of BRN’s governing council, said he and his people “would have to think about it.”
Zamzamin also had assurances from the BRN that it would not sabotage the safety zone initiative, a limited ceasefire being planned in designated areas in Thailand’s three Muslim-majority provinces, collectively known as the Deep South.
This point was discussed during the Aug. 8 to 10 meeting between MARA Patani and Thai negotiators in Kuala Lumpur, sources said.
But on Aug. 16, less than a week after the conclusion of that meeting, seven young militants stole pickup trucks and snatched hostages from a second-hand car dealership in Songkhla province, just north of the Deep South.
Their plan – to convert the vehicles into car bombs – fell apart after four hostages tried to escape. Two hostages were shot, one died in hospital, and the survivors alerted authorities. The entire region went on high alert.
In the end, only two of the seven pickup trucks were used as car bombs, and a suspected militant died after an alleged shootout with Thai police.
Army chief Gen. Chalermchai Sitthisart said the seven militants were directed by Wae-mano – taking a jab at the man believed by many Thai officials to be the biggest obstacle to BRN joining the peace talks.
The carjackings dampened the optimism felt after BRN agreed not to sabotage the safety zone initiative – and served as a reminder that nothing comes easy in Thailand’s Deep South.
The next round of talks are expected this month, but MARA Patani has asked for more time to prepare for the meeting, which had been scheduled for Sept. 11, a Thai government official said.
‘Bad blood’
For their part, BRN sources said the chain of command in their movement is fluid, meaning that deals reached at the top level may not play out on the ground the way that Thai or Malaysian officials want them to.
Moreover, said the sources, there is bad blood between the BRN and MARA Patani, and this will take time to overcome.
“Pohsu Loh [Wae-mano] was being polite and diplomatic when he said BRN would refrain from hitting districts designated as Safety Zones. BRN has cells in just about every tambon [sub-district] and it remains to be seen how this agreement or understanding with Ahmad Zamzamin will play out,” said one BRN source, who added that his unit had not been informed of this particular deal.
BRN officials say Bangkok’s insistence that talks be in line with the country’s constitution, which clearly stipulates that the kingdom is indivisible, has always been a non-starter.
They say they would hypothetically be willing to talk to the government if that stipulation was not raised, and in turn, they would not mention the issue of independence.
BRN officials also say they will only come to the table if their negotiators are properly trained, and the talks are mediated by the international community – in line with peace processes in the southern Philippines and in Aceh, Indonesia.
A Thai military intelligence officer who monitors the Deep South conflict said involving the BRN would be an opportunity to talk to the people who have command-and-control over the militants.
In June, Deputy Defense Minister Udomdej Sitabutr publicly implied that MARA Patani may not be the right dialogue partners. In other words, he doesn’t believe MARA Patani has command-and-control over the insurgents engaged in the fighting.
But Udomdej’s statement was said to have rubbed Gen. Aksara Kerdpol, Thailand’s chief negotiator, the wrong way.
Aksara and many in the Thai government, including Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, believe that if the “real” BRN wants to join the talks, they need to come under MARA Patani’s umbrella, not start a new track.
Tit-for-tat
Even if the Thai military allows the presence of international participants, there is no indication that it would be willing to make concessions touching on the historical root causes and the deep-seated mistrust between the Thai government and the Malays of the Deep South.
BRN also pointed to the Thai government’s refusal to grant legal immunity to two MARA Patani negotiators as a sign of Bangkok’s unwillingness to make concessions.
Sukree Hari and Ahmad Chuwol, who fled Thailand in 2007 after posting bail under the then-military government, resurfaced as MARA Patani members when the panel was launched in August 2015.
The two requested the immunity that would permit them to return to Thailand and observe the safety zone pilot project, one source said. But the Thai Justice Ministry was firmly against it for fear that it would create an unwanted precedent.
Moreover, allegations of extra-judicial killings by both sides continued to dampen the atmosphere at the political level and set off tit-for-tat revenge killings.
Don Pathan is a Thailand-based security analyst and consultant. The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and not of BenarNews.
http://www.benarnews.org/english/commentaries/far-south-view/car-jack-09052017165442.html
Friday, 18 August 2017
Thailand eyes next moves in southern peace talks
https://asia.nikkei.com/Viewpoints/Don-Pathan/Thailand-eyes-next-moves-in-southern-peace-talks?n_cid=NARAN012
August 17, 2017 12:30 pm JST
Don Pathan
Thailand eyes next moves in southern peace talks
Military leaders and Islamist insurgents must compromise to end violence
Thai army soldiers search the area of a roadside bomb blast in the southern province of Pattani, Thailand, June 19, 2017. © Reuters
Four years on from the launch of peace talks aimed at ending a separatist insurgency in Thailand's three southernmost provinces, progress is moving at a snail's pace. Some critics say that both the Thai government and Islamist militants appear to be going through the motions of a bogus peace process.
Both sides need to find a fresh approach. Divisions among the insurgents need to be overcome, allowing collective negotiations with the Thai government, and the ruling junta needs to stop ignoring the cultural and historical grievances between the population of the South and the Thai state. There must also be justice for innocent civilians killed and injured by both sides.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Viewpoints/Don-Pathan/Thailand-eyes-next-moves-in-southern-peace-talks?n_cid=NARAN012
Friday, 3 March 2017
‘Safety zone’ in South only a pipe dream without BRN agreement
Don Pathan
YALA, Thailand
YALA, Thailand
Special to The Nation
IT WAS billed as a significant step – some even called it a breakthrough – but the announcement on Tuesday that the Thai government and Malay Muslim separatists from the far South has agreed on a “safety zone” is still a pipe dream because the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the group that controls virtually all of the combatants on the ground, is not onboard.
If the recent past is any lesson, the BRN stands ready to discredit any so-called progress made by the two sides – Thai government negotiators and MARA Patani, an umbrella organisation made up of long-standing separatist movements besides the BRN.
For example, just a year ago, when a Thai official leaked to the local press that the two sides had agreed to designate Narathiwat’s Joh I Rong district as a “safety zone”, BRN combatants dispatched about 40 combatants to take over the district hospital and launched an assault on the Paramilitary Ranger camp next door. CCTV cameras captured the group’s movements, which was exactly what it wanted – to send a stern warning to the government and MARA Patani of its capabilities.
Government and MARA Patani lead negotiators came together this past Tuesday to rubber stamp the work of senior officials from both sides who had been working on various technical issues such as the scope, definition, mechanism and framework for formal talks.
The task at this point is to set the stage for formal negotiations that will take place if and when the two sides decide the time is right. For now, they have agreed in principle to bring five districts – one in Pattani, two in Yala and two in Narathiwat – under a “safety zone”. But they have yet to designate the specific districts.
It’s a small step forward and it was done in a way that MARA Patani would not suffer humiliation in the same manner as after the Joh I Rong retaliation.
But the right time to elevate this ongoing dialogue into formal negotiations may not depend on the preparations of the technical team. It has more to do with the BRN’s willingness to come to the table.
Discussion on how to bring the real BRN to the table has been carried out in back channels. But, so far, the BRN has not budged. One of the factions within the Patani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo) led by Samsudine Khan, who is based in Sweden, is taking the same wait-and-see approach.
One month after the Joh I Rong operation, MARA Patani was forced to swallow its pride in April 2016 when Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said he could not formally recognise the umbrella organisation because it was associated with “criminals”.
Some officials say it was Prayut’s way of keeping MARA Patani at bay until the real BRN comes to the table. Others think Prayut realised that it is virtually impossible to reach any sort of formal agreement with the rebels during his time in office and he was not willing to make any meaningful concession because he was concerned about his legacy. He did not want to be remembered as the leader who gave away Patani, they said.
MARA Patani wants the dialogue process it conducts to be official and binding, as well as assurances that its negotiators and technicians will be granted legal immunity. Such demands are understandable in any conflict resolution process.
The rejection only reinforces the belief among BRN leaders that the Thai government side is not willing to make concessions and that coming to the table at this juncture would be a waste of time.
Sunday, 11 December 2016
EDITORIAL: Bangkok persists with hit-and-miss policies in far South
The Nation
Without sincere effort to find a political solution, peace is nowhere in sight
The Thai government is trying to pursue a development policy in the far South, ostensibly as a tool to discredit the insurgents who continue to make the area ungovernable with their attacks.
Development for the sake of development is not a bad idea especially for a region that has not received its fair share of government allocations. From infrastructure to education, the Muslim-majority far South has long been neglected by the state.
The fact that there is an ongoing separatist insurgency makes it even harder to develop the area in the same manner as other regions in the country.
But if development projects are undertaken to satisfy security needs, the military and policy planners should not be surprised if they fail to achieve the desired outcome.
Successive governments have paid lip service to the need for a political approach, as opposed to military, in resolving this long-standing conflict in the Malay-speaking South. It is a self-evident fact that a political solution is the only way to go. But our leaders get caught up in their desire to get even, to punish separatists, their sympathisers and supporters
simply because they refuse to go along with our policy of assimilation.
Authorities have often talked about justice but not a single security officer in these past 13 years, since the current wave of insurgency began, has been punished for any crime – even in the most obvious cases that called for criminal charges. It is intriguing that local and international human rights organisations have documented so many violations but none of them has been dealt with seriously by the government.
Of late, the catchword is “safety zone” – an area or a district that is free from violence. The idea is being cooked up by Thai negotiators and the MARA Patani, an umbrella organisation of long-standing separatist groups who are yet to convince the government in Bangkok that they have sufficient control on the ground to make any difference. Within this designated “safety zone”, development projects are to be carried out.
It sounds good and rosy but the initiative ignores one major obstacle. MARA Patani is not in a position to guarantee that the insurgents will not carry out attacks, because they have virtually no control over the militants on the ground and the one group that does – the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) – is not a part of the dialogue process.
When confronted with this inconvenient point, Thai policymakers more or less reveal the strategy behind their thinking. First of all, the people at the negotiating table are aware that MARA Patani doesn’t have control over the armed militants and that is the reason why the government refuses to take them seriously, like giving in to their demands such as for formal recognition.
Bangkok even refuses to call them by name and instead refers to the umbrella organisation as “Party B”.
The idea here is to keep talking to them to give the general public and the world the impression that Bangkok is engaging in efforts for a peaceful solution and it’s really up to the BRN to come to the table. The thinking in Bangkok is that the group risks losing the support of villagers and the insurgents by sitting out the peace talks. In this respect, MARA Patani is just a pawn.
Needless to say, such an official approach is shallow and unnecessarily puts lives at stake. Violence on the ground continues unabated with no end in sight.
Nearly 7,000 people have been killed and there is no indication that support for the insurgents is declining. It’s time for Bangkok to think differently and creatively.
Without sincere effort to find a political solution, peace is nowhere in sight
The Thai government is trying to pursue a development policy in the far South, ostensibly as a tool to discredit the insurgents who continue to make the area ungovernable with their attacks.
Development for the sake of development is not a bad idea especially for a region that has not received its fair share of government allocations. From infrastructure to education, the Muslim-majority far South has long been neglected by the state.
The fact that there is an ongoing separatist insurgency makes it even harder to develop the area in the same manner as other regions in the country.
But if development projects are undertaken to satisfy security needs, the military and policy planners should not be surprised if they fail to achieve the desired outcome.
Successive governments have paid lip service to the need for a political approach, as opposed to military, in resolving this long-standing conflict in the Malay-speaking South. It is a self-evident fact that a political solution is the only way to go. But our leaders get caught up in their desire to get even, to punish separatists, their sympathisers and supporters
simply because they refuse to go along with our policy of assimilation.
Authorities have often talked about justice but not a single security officer in these past 13 years, since the current wave of insurgency began, has been punished for any crime – even in the most obvious cases that called for criminal charges. It is intriguing that local and international human rights organisations have documented so many violations but none of them has been dealt with seriously by the government.
Of late, the catchword is “safety zone” – an area or a district that is free from violence. The idea is being cooked up by Thai negotiators and the MARA Patani, an umbrella organisation of long-standing separatist groups who are yet to convince the government in Bangkok that they have sufficient control on the ground to make any difference. Within this designated “safety zone”, development projects are to be carried out.
It sounds good and rosy but the initiative ignores one major obstacle. MARA Patani is not in a position to guarantee that the insurgents will not carry out attacks, because they have virtually no control over the militants on the ground and the one group that does – the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) – is not a part of the dialogue process.
When confronted with this inconvenient point, Thai policymakers more or less reveal the strategy behind their thinking. First of all, the people at the negotiating table are aware that MARA Patani doesn’t have control over the armed militants and that is the reason why the government refuses to take them seriously, like giving in to their demands such as for formal recognition.
Bangkok even refuses to call them by name and instead refers to the umbrella organisation as “Party B”.
The idea here is to keep talking to them to give the general public and the world the impression that Bangkok is engaging in efforts for a peaceful solution and it’s really up to the BRN to come to the table. The thinking in Bangkok is that the group risks losing the support of villagers and the insurgents by sitting out the peace talks. In this respect, MARA Patani is just a pawn.
Needless to say, such an official approach is shallow and unnecessarily puts lives at stake. Violence on the ground continues unabated with no end in sight.
Nearly 7,000 people have been killed and there is no indication that support for the insurgents is declining. It’s time for Bangkok to think differently and creatively.
Friday, 9 September 2016
A dangerous waiting game: Thailand's aspirations for peace
Bangkok demands insurgent groups in the south cease militant operations before any agreement is made
Relatives and mourners perform burial rites during a funeral for a father and his four-year-old daughter killed by a bomb blast in front of a school in the Takbai district of Thailand's restive southern province of Narathiwat on Sept. 6. An anonymous source from the separatist militant group Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) has admitted responsibility for the deadly bombing. (Photo by AFP)
Don Pathan, Pattani
Thailand UCA News
September 8, 2016
UCA News
The peace dialogue between the Thai government and separatist groups under the umbrella of Majlis Syura Patani (MARA Patani) has reached a critical juncture. The main hurdle is that ongoing violence on the ground has placed the government in a very awkward position.
Currently, Bangkok is not letting up with their demands that violence be subsided before they ink any agreement with MARA Patani. The problem is that Thai security officials believe that the group has little or no control over the militants behind a spate of attacks in the country, the most recent being a bombing outside a school in the restive south on Sept. 6. A father and his young daughter were killed in the attack allegedly carried out by insurgents.
A source from the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the one group that controls the vast majority of combatants on the ground, admitted that its militants were behind the attack but expressed grave remorse at the death of the father and his child.
The target was the police, which BRN said were "legitimate," and that the bomb exploded half an hour after the school had already started, said the operative who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not permitted to speak to the media.
There were also a recent car bomb attack at a major hotel and a powerful blast targeting a train. Both of these incidents were in the province of Pattani, the capital of the Malays' historical homeland.
About two million people reside in this historically contested region where about 85 percent are ethnically Malays who have a long standing mistrust of the Thai state and its policy of assimilation that they feel come at the expense of their cultural and religious identity. These two attacks were likewise carried out by the BRN.
It was BRN's way of letting both the Thai government and MARA Patani know of their disapproval of the ongoing peace initiative that was first launched by the government of Yingluck Shinwatra in February 2013 and continued by the current military government that ousted her in May 2014.
Even with Yingluck's initiative, which was kicked off by her fugitive brother former premier Thaksin one year before the official launch, BRN wasted no time to let Bangkok know that there is no short cut to peace. Two weeks after Thaksin met with 16 exiled leaders to convince them to come on board of a planned peace talk, BRN in late March 2012 set off a simultaneous triple car bomb in the heart of Yala, killing 14 people and injuring a further 130.
'Safety zone'
This year, the BRN demonstrated their displeasure of the peace initiative in March when scores of its combatants took over a hospital in Narathiwat province's Cho Ai Rong, one of the districts that Thailand wanted to be placed within a "safety zone." The hospital was used to stage a massive attack on a Paramilitary Ranger camp next door.
The safety zone initiative was Bangkok's way of determining whether MARA Patani could actually carry out unilateral ceasefire to demonstrate that it actually has command-and-control over the insurgents on the ground.
BRN wasted little time to demonstrate that MARA Patani doesn't have such control.
But the subject of the safety zones didn't go away and came up again in a Sept. 2 meeting between Thai negotiators and MARA Patani leaders. The heads of the umbrella organization had already suffered a great deal of humiliation last April when Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha refused to give into their demands by signing a negotiated terms of reference that would make their dialogue official and a binding process.
Prayut said he was not able to do so because MARA Patani were associated with "criminals," a term he used in reference to the combatants on the ground. But in actuality, he, like other Thai officials, is waiting to see if MARA Patani could actually influence the course of violence on the ground.
Prayut further described the talk with MARA Patani as a burden that was created by the Yingluck government that was unfairly imposed on him.
And so when the topic of safety zone in the context of the public security came up at the Sept. 2 talks, BRN combatants chose the State Railway of Thailand as their target to discredit the peace initiative.
"You can't really get any more public than hitting a passenger train," said Suhaimee Dulasa, a youth activist from Patani Institute, a local civil society organization critical of the conduct of the state security apparatus.
Like previous attacks, BRN has shown some restraints and went for the carrier that wasn't carrying local passengers. One railway worker died from the blast and two other personnel were wounded.
A Thai military intelligence officer said BRN also employed the same practices when they set off a massive car bomb at a Pattani hotel on Aug. 23. The bomb, about 90 kilograms in weight, was meant to destroy the facility but not to rake up the body count.
Investigators pointed to a much smaller one that was set off 45 minutes earlier, about 100 meters away, which was supposed to be a warning to the people to leave the immediate area.
But while BRN said they do not endorse the ongoing talks between MARA Patani and the Thai government, it doesn't mean that they don't want to negotiate with Thailand.
BRN wants Bangkok to deal with them directly but they will come to the negotiating table only if they are properly prepared. This means the members of their political wing need to be more familiar with capacity building and understanding of international norms. These are basic requirements for them be recognized and accepted by Thailand and the international community.
The train blast occurred three weeks after a series of bombing incidents that killed four and wounded dozens in the seven provinces in the upper south, a region popular among foreign visitors and local tourists.
Unlike previous attacks outside of the conflict-affected region in the far south, BRN has been tight lipped about the attacks in the seven provinces and refrained to relay their message through the normal channel of communication to the policy makers in Bangkok.
BRN sources said the organization tends to react to something they don't like rather than issuing specific demands. Their mode of operation, for the time being, is to make the contested region ungovernable, as much as possible, until they are prepared to come to the negotiating table. This means Bangkok would have to permit the international community to recognize and work with BRN in the area of capacity building. Until then, Thailand can expect to see ongoing violence.
Don Pathan is an associate with Asia Conflict and Security Consulting, Ltd. and is based in Yala, one of Thailand's three southernmost provinces hit by the current wave of insurgency.
Friday, 18 March 2016
Outrage over hospital raid reveals military hypocrisy
Insurgents are accused of violating humanitarian principles; meanwhile Thai security forces continue to place monks and children in line of fire
Don Pathan
Special to The Nation
Sunday's raid by militant separatists on a Joh I Rong hospital in Narathiwat couldn't have come at a better time for the Thai side.
The incident has provided a much-needed pretext for the military to attack armed insurgents who continue to discredit the government's peace effort with MARA Patani, the umbrella organisation of six longstanding separatist organisations that the militants say does not represent them.
Bangkok is struggling to justify talks with MARA Patani whose lack of traction is being underscored by a spike in violence in the far South. The Thai side is also facing ill-feeling among the local community over a Bangkok court's decision to seize the 14-rai grounds of an Islamic boarding school, Jihad Withya pondok, in Pattani's Tambon Tha Dan, Yaring district, which was used as an insurgent training facility a decade ago.
The land belongs to the family of Abduloh Waemanor, a local cleric and suspected Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) member who fled the region back in 2005.
Thai military officers have quietly requested that the Waemanor family appeal the court's decision, but they refuse to do so, saying they are unable to come to terms with the state's action.
Some in the separatist movement are suggesting the decision not to appeal was a deliberate move to drive a bigger wedge between local Malay Muslims and the state. Judging from the reaction of local residents - an outpouring of support and sympathy - the alleged strategy appears to have worked.
The seizing of the Jihad Withya pondok - part of a venerable institution that forged the cradle of Islamic civilisation in Southeast Asia - reinforces a notion that the Thai state has never dealt fairly with the Malays of Patani.
The court decision sent shock waves through the region, serving as a warning of what the future could hold. Thai authorities see the pondoks as a hotbed for recruitment and indoctrination of the current generation of insurgents.
Local residents take a different view, pointing out that the Patani historical and cultural narrative is ingrained in their society, making it unfair to single out any institution.
The Thai side has made it clear that the raid on the Narathiwat hospital was a gross violation of humanitarian and international norms for which the militants should be condemned in the strongest terms.
This is not the first time that insurgents have targeted a medical facility, however. In May 2014, three people were seriously wounded when militant separatists detonated a bomb in the parking lot of Pattani's Khok Pho hospital, damaging at least 50 vehicles.
Yet the militants consider the Thai military's ongoing efforts to demonise them via references to humanitarian principles a case of the pot calling the kettle black. The security forces' underhand tactics in managing a decade or so of conflict in the Malay-speaking South are well documented, as is the culture of impunity among its personnel.
The Thai military has been criticised for positioning outposts in the grounds of temples and schools, thereby placing monks and students in line of fire. Such decisions not only violate international humanitarian norms, they are also made without consulting local residents.
Insurgent attacks against schools and temples were a regular occurrence a decade ago but now take place less frequently, and only as retaliation for instances in which the Thais are deemed to have "crossed the line" and/or violated unwritten rules of engagement.
Separatist sources say the scores of militants behind the recent attacks were aware that using the hospital as a staging point for an attack on Paramilitary Rangers was a violation of international norms. Accordingly, they made a concerted effort not to harm the people inside the hospital.
But they didn't foresee that the Thai side would "milk" the situation to such a degree, even rounding up local imams to carry out a "prayer for peace" at the hospital. Observers outside the region likely saw the prayer event as a slap in the face for the insurgents. But locals know that the clerics would have been under pressure to go with the flow or else risk being accused by the military of being uncooperative.
Claims by the authorities that a nurse was tied up were discredited by the nurse in question, who told reporters that while she was tied to her chair to prevent her from moving she quickly realised the insurgents weren't out to harm people in the hospital.
The vast majority of separatist militants operate under the BRN, whose leadership continues to keep a distance from the Kuala Lumpur-facilitated peace initiative between the Thai government and MARA Patani.
Although MARA Patani claims to have BRN members on board, militants and sources in the movement dismiss any suggestion that the movement's ruling council endorses the peace initiative.
The raid on the Paramilitary Ranger unit, which is situated next to the hospital, was part of an ongoing spike in violence after more than a year of relative quiet.
Don Pathan is a founding member of the Patani Forum (www.pataniforum.com) and a Thailand-based freelance security and development consultant.
Don Pathan
Special to The Nation
Sunday's raid by militant separatists on a Joh I Rong hospital in Narathiwat couldn't have come at a better time for the Thai side.
The incident has provided a much-needed pretext for the military to attack armed insurgents who continue to discredit the government's peace effort with MARA Patani, the umbrella organisation of six longstanding separatist organisations that the militants say does not represent them.
Bangkok is struggling to justify talks with MARA Patani whose lack of traction is being underscored by a spike in violence in the far South. The Thai side is also facing ill-feeling among the local community over a Bangkok court's decision to seize the 14-rai grounds of an Islamic boarding school, Jihad Withya pondok, in Pattani's Tambon Tha Dan, Yaring district, which was used as an insurgent training facility a decade ago.
The land belongs to the family of Abduloh Waemanor, a local cleric and suspected Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) member who fled the region back in 2005.
Thai military officers have quietly requested that the Waemanor family appeal the court's decision, but they refuse to do so, saying they are unable to come to terms with the state's action.
Some in the separatist movement are suggesting the decision not to appeal was a deliberate move to drive a bigger wedge between local Malay Muslims and the state. Judging from the reaction of local residents - an outpouring of support and sympathy - the alleged strategy appears to have worked.
The seizing of the Jihad Withya pondok - part of a venerable institution that forged the cradle of Islamic civilisation in Southeast Asia - reinforces a notion that the Thai state has never dealt fairly with the Malays of Patani.
The court decision sent shock waves through the region, serving as a warning of what the future could hold. Thai authorities see the pondoks as a hotbed for recruitment and indoctrination of the current generation of insurgents.
Local residents take a different view, pointing out that the Patani historical and cultural narrative is ingrained in their society, making it unfair to single out any institution.
The Thai side has made it clear that the raid on the Narathiwat hospital was a gross violation of humanitarian and international norms for which the militants should be condemned in the strongest terms.
This is not the first time that insurgents have targeted a medical facility, however. In May 2014, three people were seriously wounded when militant separatists detonated a bomb in the parking lot of Pattani's Khok Pho hospital, damaging at least 50 vehicles.
Yet the militants consider the Thai military's ongoing efforts to demonise them via references to humanitarian principles a case of the pot calling the kettle black. The security forces' underhand tactics in managing a decade or so of conflict in the Malay-speaking South are well documented, as is the culture of impunity among its personnel.
The Thai military has been criticised for positioning outposts in the grounds of temples and schools, thereby placing monks and students in line of fire. Such decisions not only violate international humanitarian norms, they are also made without consulting local residents.
Insurgent attacks against schools and temples were a regular occurrence a decade ago but now take place less frequently, and only as retaliation for instances in which the Thais are deemed to have "crossed the line" and/or violated unwritten rules of engagement.
Separatist sources say the scores of militants behind the recent attacks were aware that using the hospital as a staging point for an attack on Paramilitary Rangers was a violation of international norms. Accordingly, they made a concerted effort not to harm the people inside the hospital.
But they didn't foresee that the Thai side would "milk" the situation to such a degree, even rounding up local imams to carry out a "prayer for peace" at the hospital. Observers outside the region likely saw the prayer event as a slap in the face for the insurgents. But locals know that the clerics would have been under pressure to go with the flow or else risk being accused by the military of being uncooperative.
Claims by the authorities that a nurse was tied up were discredited by the nurse in question, who told reporters that while she was tied to her chair to prevent her from moving she quickly realised the insurgents weren't out to harm people in the hospital.
The vast majority of separatist militants operate under the BRN, whose leadership continues to keep a distance from the Kuala Lumpur-facilitated peace initiative between the Thai government and MARA Patani.
Although MARA Patani claims to have BRN members on board, militants and sources in the movement dismiss any suggestion that the movement's ruling council endorses the peace initiative.
The raid on the Paramilitary Ranger unit, which is situated next to the hospital, was part of an ongoing spike in violence after more than a year of relative quiet.
Don Pathan is a founding member of the Patani Forum (www.pataniforum.com) and a Thailand-based freelance security and development consultant.
Outrage over hospital raid reveals military hypocrisy
Insurgents are accused of violating humanitarian principles; meanwhile Thai security forces continue to place monks and children in line of fire
Don Pathan
Special to The Nation
Sunday's raid by militant separatists on a Joh I Rong hospital in Narathiwat couldn't have come at a better time for the Thai side.
The incident has provided a much-needed pretext for the military to attack armed insurgents who continue to discredit the government's peace effort with MARA Patani, the umbrella organisation of six longstanding separatist organisations that the militants say does not represent them.
Bangkok is struggling to justify talks with MARA Patani whose lack of traction is being underscored by a spike in violence in the far South. The Thai side is also facing ill-feeling among the local community over a Bangkok court's decision to seize the 14-rai grounds of an Islamic boarding school, Jihad Withya pondok, in Pattani's Tambon Tha Dan, Yaring district, which was used as an insurgent training facility a decade ago.
The land belongs to the family of Abduloh Waemanor, a local cleric and suspected Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) member who fled the region back in 2005.
Thai military officers have quietly requested that the Waemanor family appeal the court's decision, but they refuse to do so, saying they are unable to come to terms with the state's action.
Some in the separatist movement are suggesting the decision not to appeal was a deliberate move to drive a bigger wedge between local Malay Muslims and the state. Judging from the reaction of local residents - an outpouring of support and sympathy - the alleged strategy appears to have worked.
The seizing of the Jihad Withya pondok - part of a venerable institution that forged the cradle of Islamic civilisation in Southeast Asia - reinforces a notion that the Thai state has never dealt fairly with the Malays of Patani.
The court decision sent shock waves through the region, serving as a warning of what the future could hold. Thai authorities see the pondoks as a hotbed for recruitment and indoctrination of the current generation of insurgents.
Local residents take a different view, pointing out that the Patani historical and cultural narrative is ingrained in their society, making it unfair to single out any institution.
The Thai side has made it clear that the raid on the Narathiwat hospital was a gross violation of humanitarian and international norms for which the militants should be condemned in the strongest terms.
This is not the first time that insurgents have targeted a medical facility, however. In May 2014, three people were seriously wounded when militant separatists detonated a bomb in the parking lot of Pattani's Khok Pho hospital, damaging at least 50 vehicles.
Yet the militants consider the Thai military's ongoing efforts to demonise them via references to humanitarian principles a case of the pot calling the kettle black. The security forces' underhand tactics in managing a decade or so of conflict in the Malay-speaking South are well documented, as is the culture of impunity among its personnel.
The Thai military has been criticised for positioning outposts in the grounds of temples and schools, thereby placing monks and students in line of fire. Such decisions not only violate international humanitarian norms, they are also made without consulting local residents.
Insurgent attacks against schools and temples were a regular occurrence a decade ago but now take place less frequently, and only as retaliation for instances in which the Thais are deemed to have "crossed the line" and/or violated unwritten rules of engagement.
Separatist sources say the scores of militants behind the recent attacks were aware that using the hospital as a staging point for an attack on Paramilitary Rangers was a violation of international norms. Accordingly, they made a concerted effort not to harm the people inside the hospital.
But they didn't foresee that the Thai side would "milk" the situation to such a degree, even rounding up local imams to carry out a "prayer for peace" at the hospital. Observers outside the region likely saw the prayer event as a slap in the face for the insurgents. But locals know that the clerics would have been under pressure to go with the flow or else risk being accused by the military of being uncooperative.
Claims by the authorities that a nurse was tied up were discredited by the nurse in question, who told reporters that while she was tied to her chair to prevent her from moving she quickly realised the insurgents weren't out to harm people in the hospital.
The vast majority of separatist militants operate under the BRN, whose leadership continues to keep a distance from the Kuala Lumpur-facilitated peace initiative between the Thai government and MARA Patani.
Although MARA Patani claims to have BRN members on board, militants and sources in the movement dismiss any suggestion that the movement's ruling council endorses the peace initiative.
The raid on the Paramilitary Ranger unit, which is situated next to the hospital, was part of an ongoing spike in violence after more than a year of relative quiet.
Don Pathan is a founding member of the Patani Forum (www.pataniforum.com) and a Thailand-based freelance security and development consultant.
Don Pathan
Special to The Nation
Sunday's raid by militant separatists on a Joh I Rong hospital in Narathiwat couldn't have come at a better time for the Thai side.
The incident has provided a much-needed pretext for the military to attack armed insurgents who continue to discredit the government's peace effort with MARA Patani, the umbrella organisation of six longstanding separatist organisations that the militants say does not represent them.
Bangkok is struggling to justify talks with MARA Patani whose lack of traction is being underscored by a spike in violence in the far South. The Thai side is also facing ill-feeling among the local community over a Bangkok court's decision to seize the 14-rai grounds of an Islamic boarding school, Jihad Withya pondok, in Pattani's Tambon Tha Dan, Yaring district, which was used as an insurgent training facility a decade ago.
The land belongs to the family of Abduloh Waemanor, a local cleric and suspected Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) member who fled the region back in 2005.
Thai military officers have quietly requested that the Waemanor family appeal the court's decision, but they refuse to do so, saying they are unable to come to terms with the state's action.
Some in the separatist movement are suggesting the decision not to appeal was a deliberate move to drive a bigger wedge between local Malay Muslims and the state. Judging from the reaction of local residents - an outpouring of support and sympathy - the alleged strategy appears to have worked.
The seizing of the Jihad Withya pondok - part of a venerable institution that forged the cradle of Islamic civilisation in Southeast Asia - reinforces a notion that the Thai state has never dealt fairly with the Malays of Patani.
The court decision sent shock waves through the region, serving as a warning of what the future could hold. Thai authorities see the pondoks as a hotbed for recruitment and indoctrination of the current generation of insurgents.
Local residents take a different view, pointing out that the Patani historical and cultural narrative is ingrained in their society, making it unfair to single out any institution.
The Thai side has made it clear that the raid on the Narathiwat hospital was a gross violation of humanitarian and international norms for which the militants should be condemned in the strongest terms.
This is not the first time that insurgents have targeted a medical facility, however. In May 2014, three people were seriously wounded when militant separatists detonated a bomb in the parking lot of Pattani's Khok Pho hospital, damaging at least 50 vehicles.
Yet the militants consider the Thai military's ongoing efforts to demonise them via references to humanitarian principles a case of the pot calling the kettle black. The security forces' underhand tactics in managing a decade or so of conflict in the Malay-speaking South are well documented, as is the culture of impunity among its personnel.
The Thai military has been criticised for positioning outposts in the grounds of temples and schools, thereby placing monks and students in line of fire. Such decisions not only violate international humanitarian norms, they are also made without consulting local residents.
Insurgent attacks against schools and temples were a regular occurrence a decade ago but now take place less frequently, and only as retaliation for instances in which the Thais are deemed to have "crossed the line" and/or violated unwritten rules of engagement.
Separatist sources say the scores of militants behind the recent attacks were aware that using the hospital as a staging point for an attack on Paramilitary Rangers was a violation of international norms. Accordingly, they made a concerted effort not to harm the people inside the hospital.
But they didn't foresee that the Thai side would "milk" the situation to such a degree, even rounding up local imams to carry out a "prayer for peace" at the hospital. Observers outside the region likely saw the prayer event as a slap in the face for the insurgents. But locals know that the clerics would have been under pressure to go with the flow or else risk being accused by the military of being uncooperative.
Claims by the authorities that a nurse was tied up were discredited by the nurse in question, who told reporters that while she was tied to her chair to prevent her from moving she quickly realised the insurgents weren't out to harm people in the hospital.
The vast majority of separatist militants operate under the BRN, whose leadership continues to keep a distance from the Kuala Lumpur-facilitated peace initiative between the Thai government and MARA Patani.
Although MARA Patani claims to have BRN members on board, militants and sources in the movement dismiss any suggestion that the movement's ruling council endorses the peace initiative.
The raid on the Paramilitary Ranger unit, which is situated next to the hospital, was part of an ongoing spike in violence after more than a year of relative quiet.
Don Pathan is a founding member of the Patani Forum (www.pataniforum.com) and a Thailand-based freelance security and development consultant.
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