Thai Muslims seek 'normal, peaceful lives'

The Jakarta Post ,  Pattani   |  Tue, 06/10/2008 10:20 AM  |  World

Violence in southern Thailand has continued to escalate despite government efforts to foster peace. Through January 2008, over 2,700 people had been killed and more than 6,000 injured since attacks and bombings began in 2001. The Jakarta Post's Abdul Khalik visited the three troubled southernmost Thai provinces -- Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat -- last week. The following are his reports.

Staring at two historical buildings in front of her merchandise shop on the outskirts of Pattani town in southern Thailand, 60-year-old Rubiah recounts the peaceful time several years ago when thousands of people came here to pray.

On her right is Krue Sae, the unfinished but oldest mosque in Thailand, while on her left is the famous cemetery of Kim Ko Nio, a Chinese-Thai who helped build the mosque centuries ago.

AFTER SCHOOL: Students at an Islamic boarding school in Yala, southern Thailand, enjoy their holiday on Sunday in the school’s front yard. Violence in three southern provinces remains unabated, with nearly 2,700 people killed as of January this year. (JP/Abdul Khalik)

Rubiah recalled that five or six years ago Muslims from across the country, or even from abroad, visited the legendary mosque to pray or just to take photos, while ethnic Chinese from inside the country or from across Southeast Asia prayed and begged for good fortune at the cemetery.

"Muslims and Buddhists alike queued in front of my shop to buy handicrafts or traditional food. Dozens of buses and cars were parked along the road. We simply didn't have time to relax," she told The Jakarta Post.

As tourists continued to come, many people in the area earned a living as drivers, parkers and shop attendants as well as by running restaurants or working in the traditional food trade or handicrafts.

"Both buildings symbolize religious tolerance and pluralism between Muslims and Buddhists here. For hundreds of years we lived peacefully, and helped each other without ever thinking of conflict, let alone attacking each other," said Rubiah, a Muslim and Pattani native.

But the tourism businesses faded as deadly bombings and attacks started to hit the southern areas, especially the three Thai southernmost provinces -- Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. The three provinces are the only predominantly-Muslim regions in the Buddhist-dominated Thailand.

Although the attacks began in 2001, they only escalated into a full-blown conflict three years later. The turning points for the escalation of the attacks were the Krue Sae and Tak Bai incidents, which both saw dozens of Muslims killed in a clash with the Thai army.

In April 2004, after attacking 10 police outposts across Pattani, Yala and Songkhla provinces, 32 of 100 insurgents retreated to the Krue Sae mosque.

As all the 32 insurgents refused to surrender, the army raided the mosque, and killed all of them after seven hours of tense stand-off.

"The next morning I came to see inside the mosque, and found blood all over the floor. It was terrible," Kasim, 39, a local tour guide, said.

Several months later, six local men were arrested for allegedly supplying weapons to insurgents in Tak Bai, Narathiwat province. A demonstration was organized to demand their release, prompting the police to call in army reinforcements. The army used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd before the shooting, which killed seven men.

Hundreds of local people, mostly young men, were arrested. They were made to take off their shirts and lie on the ground, and their hands were tied behind their backs. Later that afternoon, they were thrown by soldiers into trucks to be taken to the army camp in the nearby province of Pattani. The prisoners were stacked five or six deep in the trucks, and by the time the they reached their destination five hours later, in the heat of the day, 78 of them had suffocated to death.

This incident sparked widespread protests across the south, and indeed across Thailand, since many non-Muslim Thais were appalled by the army's behavior. Thaksin, however, gave the army his full support. Those responsible for the ill-treatment and death of the detainees received the most minor of noncustodial punishments.

After the two incidents, attacks and bombing came one after another, targeting all people -- Muslims and Buddhists, civilians and military alike.

From January 2004 to June 21, 2007, the region witnessed 6,850 violent incidents related to the insurgency. At least 2,303 people were killed and more than 6,000 injured by that time, a study by the Prince of Songkhla University's Pattani campus found.

As of January 2008, nearly 2,700 had been killed, the government said.

"Just several weeks ago, four police officers and several other civilians died in a bombing there," Osman, a motorcycle taxi driver in Pattani, said, pointing to a road in front of a police station.

Nobody knows -- not even now, not even the government -- how the attacks were started or who started them. Rubiah, Osman and other Muslims in the area could only feel the impacts of a long conflict.

"We are tired of violence. Although we are trying to get used to the attacks, we are afraid still as we are thinking about our children and family. Also, nobody wants to come here, causing our businesses to die down," Osman said.

Kasim, the tour guide, said that before the attacks occurred, he could travel from Hat Yai Airport in Songkhla to Pattani, Yala or Narathiwat 25 times a month to accompany tourists.

"Now, we are very lucky if we have two customers a month. You see, many people have gone out of business. Hotels and restaurants are empty," he said.

Osman and Kasim blamed the elite for all the problems.

"Who wants independence? You ask anybody, and I can assure you that 99 percent only want normal, peaceful lives and economic equality and prosperity. It's only a few elite that want to establish a separate country and become the leaders. We don't mind if they suffer to get what they want. But don't take away our lives," Osman said.

Kasim said that the people wanted respect from the government and hoped to practice their faith freely.

The southern provinces were originally part of the ancient Kingdom of Pattani, a semiautonomous Malay region which adopted Islam in the mid-13th century.

Thailand annexed the region in 1902, but the people living there had -- and still do have -- far more in common with their neighbors in Malaysia.

They speak Yawi, a Malay dialect, and are Muslims, abiding by Islamic rules and restrictions.

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