October 23rd, 2006, 16:31
TIME Asia.
Inside the Thai Insurgency
Since 2004, an estimated 1,700 people have been killed in the conflict between Muslim separatists and the government in Thailand's south. In a rare interview, an insurgent leader talks to TIME about his group, his goals and a new opportunity for peace
By PARVAIZ BUKHARI
To his family, Pak Abu (not his real name) is a part-time farmer and a respected local ulama, or Islamic cleric, living in Thailand's embattled southern region. He looks the partтАФan unassuming Muslim in his late 40s with a white skullcap, trim goatee and an easy smile. His own wife, Pak Abu says, doesn't know that he is the Head of Internal Affairs for PULO Bersatu, a group that he claims is behind some of the most violent surges in an ongoing conflict with the Thai army which has killed an estimated 1,700 people since January 2004. The battle has been disturbingly anonymous: insurgent groups rarely step forward to take credit for their campaign of bombings and assassinations or issue communiques through the media. Thai authorities admit that the identity of the forces they are fighting remain a mysteryтАФthey have blamed the violence on perpetrators ranging from bandits to militants. But in a rare interview in Sungai Kolok near the Thai-Malaysian border, Pak AbuтАФor Mori, as he is widely known among insurgent groupsтАФtalked to TIME about his group and its activities, and elaborated on his goal of creating a separate Muslim state in southern Thailand.
PULO Bersatu, Pak Abu says, is part of Bersatu, an umbrella body of insurgent groups active in southern Thailand, bound together by a common objectiveтАФto eliminate what they view as the Thai occupation of their homeland, and eventually to recreate the former Muslim kingdom of Pattani (now the Thai provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat) annexed by Siam in 1902.
The conflict, which has raged sporadically since the 1960s, has reignited in recent years. On Sept. 16, a shopping mall bombing in Hat Yai claimed five lives, including a Malaysian and a Canadian, the first foreigners killed. In August, 22 near-simultaneous bombs exploded near banks in Yala, killing one and injuring 29. Pak Abu denies that his group was responsible for the Hat Yai blast, but claims that Bersatu was behind the Yala bombingsтАФnoting smugly that the sophisticated attacks were conducted under the nose of a 20,000-strong Thai army presence on maximum alert. "They don't even know who is behind the fighting," he says of the Thai troops. "They don't know how many groups are operating. They can't infiltrate the groups."
Pak Abu says that alienation and dissatisfaction with the Thai government's stance in the south has been growing since the notorious Tak Bai incident of Oct. 25, 2004, when some 80 people detained by government troops suffocated to death after being crammed into the back of overcrowded army trucks.
While there's no way to tell exactly how numerous the insurgents are, recent attacks seem to indicate that they are growing more skilledтАФand better equipped. "We buy [weapons] from Cambodia and Burma on the quiet," Pak Pak Abu says. "We also buy from corrupt Thai army officials. Most of our weapons come from Muslims who have retired or left the Thai army. This is our principleтАФthe enemy's weapons are our weapons. So we snatch and steal from the Thai army." Pak Abu also claims credit for the daring raid on a government armory in January 2004, which marked the renewal of what was, up till then, a dormant conflict. "We took more than 400 weapons," he says. "This was our biggest success."
Full article page 2 : http://www.time.com/time/asia/news/arti ... -2,00.html (http://www.time.com/time/asia/news/article/0,9754,1547977-2,00.html)
According to my readings the Muslim majority provinces were semi autonomous provinces of Thailand prior to 1902 when they came under central control. This was not an unusual situation as the power of the Thai Kings sort of weakened the further you were from the capital. Provinces South of these were acquired by the Brits as part of Malaysia.
That aside I think we may be at a period when something can, hopefully, be done to ease the horrors of the current carnage.
Inside the Thai Insurgency
Since 2004, an estimated 1,700 people have been killed in the conflict between Muslim separatists and the government in Thailand's south. In a rare interview, an insurgent leader talks to TIME about his group, his goals and a new opportunity for peace
By PARVAIZ BUKHARI
To his family, Pak Abu (not his real name) is a part-time farmer and a respected local ulama, or Islamic cleric, living in Thailand's embattled southern region. He looks the partтАФan unassuming Muslim in his late 40s with a white skullcap, trim goatee and an easy smile. His own wife, Pak Abu says, doesn't know that he is the Head of Internal Affairs for PULO Bersatu, a group that he claims is behind some of the most violent surges in an ongoing conflict with the Thai army which has killed an estimated 1,700 people since January 2004. The battle has been disturbingly anonymous: insurgent groups rarely step forward to take credit for their campaign of bombings and assassinations or issue communiques through the media. Thai authorities admit that the identity of the forces they are fighting remain a mysteryтАФthey have blamed the violence on perpetrators ranging from bandits to militants. But in a rare interview in Sungai Kolok near the Thai-Malaysian border, Pak AbuтАФor Mori, as he is widely known among insurgent groupsтАФtalked to TIME about his group and its activities, and elaborated on his goal of creating a separate Muslim state in southern Thailand.
PULO Bersatu, Pak Abu says, is part of Bersatu, an umbrella body of insurgent groups active in southern Thailand, bound together by a common objectiveтАФto eliminate what they view as the Thai occupation of their homeland, and eventually to recreate the former Muslim kingdom of Pattani (now the Thai provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat) annexed by Siam in 1902.
The conflict, which has raged sporadically since the 1960s, has reignited in recent years. On Sept. 16, a shopping mall bombing in Hat Yai claimed five lives, including a Malaysian and a Canadian, the first foreigners killed. In August, 22 near-simultaneous bombs exploded near banks in Yala, killing one and injuring 29. Pak Abu denies that his group was responsible for the Hat Yai blast, but claims that Bersatu was behind the Yala bombingsтАФnoting smugly that the sophisticated attacks were conducted under the nose of a 20,000-strong Thai army presence on maximum alert. "They don't even know who is behind the fighting," he says of the Thai troops. "They don't know how many groups are operating. They can't infiltrate the groups."
Pak Abu says that alienation and dissatisfaction with the Thai government's stance in the south has been growing since the notorious Tak Bai incident of Oct. 25, 2004, when some 80 people detained by government troops suffocated to death after being crammed into the back of overcrowded army trucks.
While there's no way to tell exactly how numerous the insurgents are, recent attacks seem to indicate that they are growing more skilledтАФand better equipped. "We buy [weapons] from Cambodia and Burma on the quiet," Pak Pak Abu says. "We also buy from corrupt Thai army officials. Most of our weapons come from Muslims who have retired or left the Thai army. This is our principleтАФthe enemy's weapons are our weapons. So we snatch and steal from the Thai army." Pak Abu also claims credit for the daring raid on a government armory in January 2004, which marked the renewal of what was, up till then, a dormant conflict. "We took more than 400 weapons," he says. "This was our biggest success."
Full article page 2 : http://www.time.com/time/asia/news/arti ... -2,00.html (http://www.time.com/time/asia/news/article/0,9754,1547977-2,00.html)
According to my readings the Muslim majority provinces were semi autonomous provinces of Thailand prior to 1902 when they came under central control. This was not an unusual situation as the power of the Thai Kings sort of weakened the further you were from the capital. Provinces South of these were acquired by the Brits as part of Malaysia.
That aside I think we may be at a period when something can, hopefully, be done to ease the horrors of the current carnage.