Authorities paint a misleading picture in the deep South

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EDITORIAL
Authorities paint a misleading picture in the deep South
By The Nation
2011-04-28

Claims that a large number of suspected insurgents have surrendered is just wishful thinking on the part of security agencies

The Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC) secretary-general, Panu Uthairat, recently claimed that the multi-agency outfit had achieved its target of getting 80 per cent of the people the authorities suspect of having links with insurgents in the deep South to turn themselves in to the authorities between January and March this year.

During the three-month period, Panu said a total of 1,692 insurgent "sympathisers" came forward to local authorities in the three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.

The figure sounds impressive, indeed. This may lead some to think that with only a few hundred insurgents still running around terrorising the region, it is only a matter of time before the authorities crush them all.

Not quite.

Why? Because Panu's claim is somewhat misleading. The SBPAC chief didn't want to explain the rationale behind these so-called "sympathisers" coming over to the authorities.

First of all, if the spike in brutal violence over the past six months is any indication, it is that the insurgency in the deep South is very much alive and well with roadside ambushes of security forces and car bombs being almost everyday occurrences.

And so where do the 1,692 surrendered sympathisers fit into this scheme of things?

Most if not all of these alleged sympathisers are people, mostly young men, who are on the authorities' "blacklist". Moreover, just about every agency has a blacklist of its own.

A suspect gets on such a list because local officials believe they are either a sympathiser or an active member of an insurgent cell.

Often the accusations come from local residents who come under the government-sponsored employment scheme - the so-called Bt4,500 per month work programme. Of course, this programme comes with a different price tag. To show loyalty to the state, one must spy on one's neighbours and report to the authorities anyone suspected of being a member of the shadowy network of Malay Muslim insurgents.

From the authorities' point of view, forcing local people to side with the state in exchange for employment seems to be a reasonable demand. But in effect the scheme instils a great deal of mistrust and insecurity among southern people, and as a result many of the suspected civilian informants have come under the insurgents' gun.

Once a person goes on a blacklist, getting one's name removed is not easy. SBPAC chief Panu suggested that nearly 1,700 individuals came forward because they had a change of heart. But local residents who are on a government agency's blacklist say they fear for their lives.

Over the years, a number of people on these blacklists have been killed, usually shot by a gunman from close range.

Given the culture of impunity among security officials in the deep South, there is good reason to believe that many of these killings were carried out by pro-government death squads.

Another option a suspect has is to leave his residential area and opt for a different location in the deep South or a neighbouring country for that matter. Few Malays in the deep South feel they will get a fair and just deal from the Thai system anyway. Besides, the history of legal cases reinforces the belief that Malay Muslims in the South are second-class citizens anyway.

Essentially, the SBPAC's claim of success is an example of how the Thai authorities are barking up the wrong tree. In Panu's case, he is boasting about something that has arguably done more damage than good - that is, if reconciliation and peace are the ultimate aims of the state in the first place.

Or perhaps the SBPAC, like other government agencies, is hard up for "good news", thus the misleading interpretation of nearly 1,700 men coming forward to give themselves up to the authorities.