Re: “Beneath Tak Bai’s calm, scars remain”, (Opinion, Oct 15). The Bangkok Post deserves praise for having columnist Kong Rithdee remind the nation of the scars and injustices experienced in the South during the Thaksin regime under Gen Pisal Wattanawongkrit, the Fourth Army regional commander in 2004. He also wrote about notorious cases of impunity and the rise of southern youth in joining secessionist groups.
My ancestors from my mother’s side served as “Phra Ya” of Pattani during King Rama VI’s reign, and I consider being a southerner part of my heritage. So allow me to speak my stories as a southerner. My visits to Yala and Pattani in 2005 and 2012 allowed me to interview locals, providing a firsthand understanding of the violence in the South and the so-called secessionist movement.
These Muslim villagers spoke to me because they believed that I might not be a Thai citizen, as I couldn’t pronounce some Thai words correctly. What they told me made me worried about the future of the deep South.
The majority of the southerners follow Islam as their religion. Most of them are taught in Islamic schools (madrassas) by radical Islamic clerics (mullahs), where instead of teaching science and maths, kids are taught to hate other religions.
The locals highlighted key issues to me when I asked about their major grievances against the Thai army and government agencies.
First of all, they seemed upset and questioned why the army deployed soldiers from Isan or the northeastern region. For them, these soldiers often drank alcohol and got drunk. They were often seen with women wearing short dresses in public. They wish to have soldiers deployed to the deep South who are southerners or at least speak a local dialect.
Secondly, they wonder why the Thai government tends to disrespect their own Buddhist religion and culture by consuming alcohol, which is also prohibited (haram) by Islamic law.
Third is that they felt some Thai officials showed disrespect to the Islamic religion.
Fourth is that soldiers posted in Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat have zero knowledge of Islamic traditions and culture. Without cultural sensitivity, soldiers make some local Muslims feel insulted by searching and warning mosque goers who travel together in large groups during curfew time. The deep South has been governed by an executive decree that bans people from assembling or travelling in groups of more than five. Yet, this security rule is impractical with young women who are afraid to travel alone and must go in large groups.
Regarding the Tak Bai issue, Khun Kong duly compares the massacre that occurred on Oct 25, 2004, to that of Oct 6, 1976, when army soldiers and police in Bangkok killed university students and protesters.
No one has ever been successfully prosecuted or convicted for the deaths or human rights abuses in the Tak Bai incident, and many questions remain.
Can the Thai authorities not really track Gen Pisal overseas?
Or is he hiding inside Thailand with the help of the powers-that-be?
Is Gen Pisal’s vanishing just another repetition of Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya’s hit-and-run saga? In that case, Vorayuth is believed to have been assisted by officials to evade trial, while the Thai authorities have been slow to search for him and bring him to stand trial at home.
Although the Tak Bai incident was two decades ago, its ramifications are still felt. In the deep South, young Muslims have been lured to join fanatical groups and have been indoctrinated to take revenge for the killings of their dead fathers or brothers.
We still have time for reconciliation. It would be a case of better late than never. However, we can still sincerely apologise to the families of victims, provide them with adequate compensation, and offer them job opportunities. We must make them feel we Buddhists respect their culture and religion, and be their friend. Better late than never. Otherwise, the lava inside the volcano will continue to boil silently and eventually erupt. Then it would be too late.
Selective morals
Re: “Gaza-bound aid flotilla says several boats intercepted”, (World, Oct 9).
As a member of Amnesty International, I’d like to share an observation. When US President George Bush wanted to go to war with Iraq, he kept quoting Amnesty International, which had documented Saddam Hussein’s dreadful human rights record. But a spokesman for Amnesty International asked why Mr Bush did not quote Amnesty when they document Israel’s deplorable human rights record.
I have had similar experiences with animal rights. If I write a letter condemning elephant abuse, readers agree with me. But if I write about how many factory-farmed chickens are boiled alive in scalding water, the reaction is: How dare you impose your vegan diet on us? Most people only care about injustice when it’s convenient to do so. The rest of the time, they don’t give a damn.