Six months after the eruption of violence in southern Thailand, investigations have shown no connection between separatist elements in the area and inter- national terrorist organisations, Thai Interior Minister Bhokin Bhalakula says. "Fortunately we don’t see any kind of linkage between international terrorist organisations and these separatists. We don’t see any trace. On Al-Qaeda, we have no trace at all,’ he said in an interview with The Straits Times earlier this week.
But he said the local and international environments made it possible that ideas propagated by organisations like Al-Qaeda might be well received by disaffected youth already prejudiced against the Thai authorities.
Dr Bhokin, one of the administration’s key men in efforts to restore stability to the violence-torn southernmost provinces, said there was no evidence to show that the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) group had links in the south. Asked about the four men in jail in Bangkok, accused of being JI members and plotting to bomb targets in Thailand, he said: ’They are suspects, we have to wait for the court’s decision.’
He said the government had made progress in completing the registration process for more than 200 Islamic boondock pondok schools. ’I don’t like to say we want to control them, we just want to know what is going on with the schools, and we want to promote and improve the schools not only for religious teaching but for professional teaching as well.’
He said information obtained from more than 50 local people interrogated after the April 28 violence, in which 108 Muslims - mostly youths - were killed by security forces, showed there did not appear to be any formal group behind the violence. The ideologically driven youths operated in a loose, informal manner, similar to student movements during the Communist insurgency of the 1960s, Dr Bhokin said. Students may be influenced by perceptions of what was going on internationally, believing all Muslims were brothers and were being oppressed, he added.
| Pshaw! Where'd they get that silly idea? |
He said the issue of malpractice by corrupt government officials assigned to the south was part of the set of deep-rooted problems that had coloured locals’ perceptions of the authorities. This was also being addressed and several officials, including policemen, had been removed where it was necessary.
Cases of abductions of locals - blamed on law and order agencies - have fuelled fear and resentment in southern Muslim communities and in some cases spawned revenge killings. But Dr Bhokin said that of the more than 100 cases of abduction alleged by the locals, only 29 had proved genuine.
| "The rest were staged by Michael Moore." |
Still, it was an uphill battle to change perceptions because ’in general, people don’t like policemen’.
Development funds for projects have also started flowing into the south. The government has allocated more than nine billion baht (S$376 million) for security and development projects. However, Dr Bhokin said, because of the history of the region and the complexity and depth of the problems, it would take a long time to sort out problems in the south. But he added: ’I think it’s a good thing all this happened this year. If the groups had more time to get organised, it would have been more dangerous. We now know more, and we can adapt.’ |