Mourners pray at Lamphya Temple in Yala on Nov. 9 in front of coffins bearing the bodies of loved ones killed in an ambush by suspected militants. Gunmen killed 15 people on Nov. 5 in the deadliest attack in Thailand's south in many years. (Photo: AFP)
Observers including senior Catholics in Bangkok have been deeply puzzled by Pope Francis’ verbal embrace of Thailand as a symbol of global peace while Southeast Asia’s bloodiest insurgency continues to rage in the nation’s south.
A recent ambush in Yala killed 15 people and up to 8,000 people have died in the 15-year conflict. The latest attack was the deadliest in years and a sign that the conflict may be escalating once more.
Indeed, apart from neighboring Myanmar, where the military has been waging a string of on-off wars against more than a dozen ethnic militias since the country’s 1948 independence, Thailand is arguably the 21st century’s least peaceful Southeast Asian nation.
“In this world that too frequently experiences discord, division and exclusion,” Thailand has shown commitment to work hard “to promote harmony and a peaceful coexistence,” Pope Francis said in a video message released by the Vatican on Nov. 15.
That commitment, he said, “can serve as an inspiration” for all the people around the world who are working to “promote a great, true development of our human family in solidarity, in justice and in living in peace.”
Yet it is hard to reconcile this message with the terror and misery that have been inflicted on the people of Thailand’s three southernmost provinces since 2004, when the military — which has controlled the country and its constitution since a coup d’etat led by Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha in May 2014 — began its counterinsurgency,
The battle is both ethnic and sectarian as the population of the provinces is overwhelmingly Malay-Muslim. In Buddhist Thailand, Muslims represent about 5 percent of the population, predominantly in the south close to Malaysia, a Muslim-majority nation. Christians account for about 1 percent of Thailand’s population and only about half are Catholics.
While the 2014 coup is often misdescribed as “bloodless,” 35 people were killed during the protests leading up to the military takeover.
Prayut was installed as prime minister after the coup, a position he retained after an election held in March 2019 under a constitution that redesigned the electoral system to give Thailand an appointed rather than elected Senate, ensuring the military — who appointed the Senate — would have the numbers to appoint the prime minister
As head of the army from 2011 to 2014 and as PM since then, Prayut has long been in charge of prosecuting the war against separatists in the south.
Spasmodic peace process
While spasmodic conflict has long characterized the south, the latest troubles date back to the mid-20th century as an ethnic and religious separatist insurgency in the former Sultanate of Patani was conquered by Thailand in 1791 by King Rama I, the first of the current Chakri dynasty.
The former sultanate’s territory is now Pattani (Patani), Yala (Jala) and Narathiwat (Menara), the three southernmost provinces of Thailand.
Thai control of the area was confirmed by the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 as Bangkok worked to make sure it was not colonized by European powers and struck deals with the British on their western border and the French to the east.
The peace process, such as it has been, is spasmodic, with the insurgents demanding some form of autonomy. But a string of different governments have refused to give any ground. Estimates of the number of active insurgents have reached as high as 15,000.
“The Thai government appears to fail to create an understanding among the majority Thai-Buddhists of the root causes of the struggle: the identity marginalization of the Malay-Muslims,” academic Chayathip Weerakajorn wrote in the Small Wars Journal recently.
He noted this reflects the Thais’ perception of the deep South’s violence: Muslims’ inability to adjust to and to coexist with “Thainess.” “And, sadly, it reflects the Thais’ resentment towards the Muslim community as a whole. Thai people demand Malay-Muslims’ acceptance of Thainess but deny their Islamic identity.”
“Thailand has shown no serious effort in addressing the actual causes of insurgency, and has been focusing on killing and arresting suspects rather than promoting economic or political reform that would substantively answer the needs of the local population to prevent them from giving support to the insurgents,” Chayathip wrote.
“The military has heavily relied on the use of excessive force on insurgents and suspects, ignoring the possibility of the insurgents using the government’s harsh responses to propagandize and to justify their causes.
“The use of draconian law also prevails overtime even though it allows security forces to wrongfully exercise their power and causes bitterness among the Malay-Muslim community in the deep South. Furthermore, the Thai government has not utilized peace dialogue effectively to promote reconciliation and build a road towards peace in which the needs of all parties can be compromised.”
The conflict has occasionally found its way further north, with southern insurgents blamed for bombings in Phuket and Bangkok in recent years. The rate of killings in the conflict is higher per year than in the restive Indian province of Jammu and Kashmir.
In another blow for peace in the region, Thailand has been unsympathetic to Muslim Rohingya refugees who have been hounded out of neighboring Myanmar.
PM Prayut has been accused of damning racist comments against the group. “Speaking of the Rohingya, I am sympathetic. But their looks, their appearance, are very different from us. If you can accept to have more of these people in Thailand, that is up to you,” Prayut told parliament on July 25.
Thai authorities have for years said they do not want to accept Rohingya asylum seekers, and the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), chaired by Prayut, stops them with a three-step action plan, according to Human Rights Watch.
“Under the action plan, the Thai navy can intercept Rohingya boats nearing the coast, and provide fuel, food, water and other supplies if the boat’s occupants agree to travel onward to Malaysia or Indonesia. Any boat that lands on Thai shores is seized. Thailand treats all Rohingya as illegal immigrants, subject to indefinite detention in squalid immigration and police lockups, and refuses to let the United Nations refugee agency conduct refugee status determinations for them,” Human Rights Watch said.
Pope Francis made the embrace and recognition of Rohingya refugees the centerpiece of his last trip to Asia when he visited Myanmar and Bangladesh in 2017.
Whoever is briefing Pope Francis on Thailand needs to make sure he is aware of all the facts before he steps onto the papal plane.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of ucanews.
