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November 4, 2006

Thailand: Schools Burn In the Muslim South

Last night, state the Nation, Bangkok Post and TNA English News, four schools in the southern province of Yala were set on fire. The schools were later identified as Ban Tao Poon, Ban Bang Lang, Ban Sakoo and Ban Pa Wang schools.

At one school in Bannang Sata district, militants had thrown plastic bags containing gasoline into the building, before setting them alight. Villagers managed to help put out the flames before they created too much damage. At one of the three other schools, insurgents left graffiti on a wall. They threatened to continue burning schools and killing teachers in retaliation against state officials.

Also in Yala, a family of three were shot at by insurgents as they went to a market this morning on their motorcycle. 48-year old Boonnoon Chocharoondet, a teacher, was injured when they were attacked by gunmen on another motorcycle. His 13-year old daughter was also hit. Both are in a critical condition in hospital. The wife, also a teacher, was injured, but is in a less serious condition.

The attacks on schools signal a resurgence of violence by the Muslim insurgents, despite ongoing peace talks which are being brokered by neighbouring Malaysia. Yesterday and today, seven people have been killed.

The current insurgency began on 4 January, 2004. A military base in Narathiwat province was raided, with four soldiers killed. A large arsenal of weaponry, with more than 300 guns, including AK-47 and M16 rifles, was stolen. On the same night, twenty schools in the south were set ablaze, in what is called "the night of the fires". For many insurgents, schools are seen as symbols of authority, and as they promote the Thai language, rather than the Malay dialect (Yawi) of the local populace, even Muslim schools and teachers have become victims.

There are several groups of insurgents in the south. The main factions are engaged in the peace talks, but others such as Runda Kampulan Kecil and Permuda, the youth wing of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, seem to be acting as independent agents.

The three southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, as well as two districts of Songkhla province, formerly comprised an independent sultanate called Pattani. This was invaded by SIam (Thailand) in 1786. In 1902, the sultanate became officially annexed into Thailand. For fifty years, there have been movements to have the territory of Pattani secede from Thailand. Some insurgent factions desire a clean break from Thailand, while others merely wish to improve the conditions of Muslims in the southern provinces, who comprise 80% of the local population. The current insurgency has so far claimed the lives of at least 1,700 people.

There are 861 schools in the three southern provinces, with 291,300 students being taught by 11,260 teachers. About 60 teachers have been killed, and many more wounded, since the current insurgency began. Some of the killings of teachers have been dramatic. On May 19 this year, Muslim villagers descended on a school in Gujinruepo village, in Narathiwat's Rangae district. The villagers demanded to know which teachers were non-Muslim. Two women Buddhists, Juling Pongkunmul and Sirinat Thawornsuk, were identified. Ms Sirinat was dragged from a teashop, and Ms Juling was taken from a classroom.

The pair were led to a community center in the village and subjected to a prolonged beating with sticks which lasted for more than an hour. The villagers, mostly women, also prevented security forces from gaining access to Gujinruepo. When the two teachers were rescued, they had suffered horrific injuries. Ms Srinirat recovered, but Ms Juling had suffered brain lesions and had lapsed into a coma. Juling, a talented artist who had only recently begun teaching at the Gujinruepo village school, still remains in a coma, on a life support machine at Songkhlanagarin (Prince of Songhkla) Hospital in Hat Yai, Songkhla province.

On July 24 at Ban Muaraeng school in Rueso district, Narathiwat province, 48-year old Prasarn Makchu was teaching a Thai language class to fourth grade students. He was shot in the head by an insurgent who had entered, dressed as a student. Prasarn was still clutching a stick of chalk in his hand after he was killed.

Following the attacks in May, army and police had mounted escorts for teachers traveling to and from their places of work, but these convoys soon became targets for insurgents. And at the schools, the shootings, bombings and arson attacks continued.

The arson attacks on the four schools in Yala last night have totally destroyed three institutions. The other school was only partially burned.

Since the bloodless coup of September 19, led by the Muslim commander of the fourth army, General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, there have been high hopes for a peace process to work. On the weekend before the coup, Boonyaratkalin had organised a meeting of 1,500 Muslims at Yala city mosque to discuss peaceful progress.

The Council for National Security (CNS), which comprises the coup leaders, set up a puppet government last month under the leadership of a new "prime minister", Surayad Chulanot, who has vowed to improve the situation for the Muslims in the south.

Yesterday, Surayud Chulanot was in Pattani province, and made a public apology to the people of the south for the excesses of the former government, which had had been led by ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra of the Thai Rak Thai party. He was addressing relatives of the Tak Bai massacre.

This was an incident which had taken place on October 25, 2004 at Tak Bai, Narathiwat province. A demonstration was made in protest at the arrest of six defense volunteers. Seven demonstrators were shot dead and the majority of the protesters were rounded up by the military, stripped to the waists and made to lie face down. They were then loaded in this state into military vehicles, up to four layers deep, to be transported to Ingkhayuthaboriharn camp in Pattani province. By the time the trucks arrived at their destination, 78 men had died.

58 people from the protest remained in jail, and until last week, there were warrants out for a further 32 more Tak Bai demonstrators. When the puppet prime minister made his speech, many relatives were in tears. General Boonrawd Somtas, the defense minister in the government, said that his ministry would consider withdrawing charges against the 58 people from the Tak Bai protest. The charges could be dropped on November 7, stated Surasee Kosolnawin of the National Human Rights Commission.

On Wednesday November 1, Lt. General Viroj Buacharoon, the newly appointed chief of the Fourth Army which controls the southern region, asked Muslim leaders for "forgiveness for past mistakes". Viroj met southern religious representatives and made mention of the Tak Bai massacre, as well as other incidents, such as the Krue Se standoff where on April 28, 2004, 32 insurgents were killed at Krue Se Mosque in Pattani. Lt. General Viroj also made mention of the actions of the army in a previous coup, when in October 1976, pro-democracy demonstrators had been gunned down by the army. He suggested that victims' relatives should be compensated, and such mistakes should not happen again. He stopped short of making a full formal apology.

Yesterday, November 3, charges against the 58 Tak Bai Muslims were officially dropped, the Attorney General's Office revealed. Two of the 58 men had died while in custody. A spokesman said: "We dropped the charges as suggested by the government to create an atmosphere of unity and national reconciliation."

Last week, the newly reinstated Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center (SBPAC) was officially opened on November 1. This body had acted as an intermediary between local populace and the government in the past, but had been disbanded at the start of Thaksin Shinawatra's tenure. The previous SBPAC had been seen as a useful go-between which had maintained a sense of stability. The new body will also give legal advice, and unlike its former incarnation, it will also cover Satun and Songkhla provinces, in addition to Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani. The new head, whose identity was only revealed on the day before the reopening, is Phranai Suwannarat. The center had previously run from 1981 to 2002.

Part of the process of reconciliation with the south appears to be admitting past mistakes, rather than covering them up or acting in denial, a ploy of Thaksin's government. On March 12, 2004, a Muslim lawyer "disappeared". Somchai Neelapaijit was seen being bundled into a police vehicle in a car park in Bangkok. He was never seen again. Somchai had defended several leading Muslim separatists who had ben accused of insurgent activity.

On January 12 this year, a police officer, Major Nguen Thongsuk, was sentenced to three years' jail for Somchai's disappearance. He was officially charged with "coercion". Four other police officers were acquitted. Under Thai law, forced "disappearance" is not a crime. The day after Major Nguen's conviction, Thaksin Shinawatra told a press conference: "I know that Somchai is dead, and more than four government officials were involved, but witnesses and evidence are still being collected."

Shortly after the lawyer disappeared, Thaksin had tried to gloss over the severity of the incident. He had said then: "Somchai had disputes with his wife. Perhaps, he just wants to be away from his family problems for a while."

Under the new regime, there appears to have been a fast-moving response to information which had obviously been known by Thaksin and his associates in the police, but withheld from the judiciary. On Thursday, the leading pathologist, Dr Porntip Rojanasunan, traveled to Ratchaburi province, with members of the Department of Special Investigation. Detectives claimed to have found "crucial traces" of evidence that led them to think Somchai's body had been burned at a garbage disposal pit. The lawyer's mobile phone had last made a call from the province several hours after his disappearance.

Police Colonel Piyawat Kingket of the DSI said that even if body parts were not found, the DSI and the office of the Attorney General, Nansak Poonsak, had agreed that any available evidence would be used to prosecute suspected individuals. He said that the investigation unit hoped to have arrest warrants for 10 more suspects by next week.

The next day, it was announced that bones had been discovered, and Pornthip said that she would have to conduct DNA tests to verify if they belonged to Somchai Neelapaijit. They were discovered at the disposal pit in Muang district, Ratchaburi province. The pit belonged to the army. Yesterday the DSI gave approval for the four officers who been acquitted in January to once again be issued with arrest warrants.These should be approved by November 8.

Today, a note of caution was sounded from Watcharin Panurat, a senior official with the DSI. He said that rumours that arrest warrants would be made against against police generals and colonels were premature. He said that all the only main development in the case is that Somchai is now almost certainly dead. Angkhana, the wife of Somchai, asked the DSI to inform her of any developments, and to be open with information.

The army and police before the coup were splitting into two camps, especially after a "bomb" had been found in a car near Thaksin Shinawatra's residence. Army men were accused of placing the bomb, and the army counterclaimed that the "bomb" was a hoax perpetrated by Thaksin and his police cronies. Even though the September coup was initially welcomed by most strata of the community, in the north of Thailand, there appears to be mounting dissatisfaction, with the nation becoming divided. Third Region Army Commander Lt-Gen. Chiradet Kocharat said today that all 17 provinces in the north have become "inflitrated" by supporters of Thaksin.

Shortly after the coup began, a taxi-driver deliberately crashed his cab into an army tank on September 30 in a Bangkok street. He had painted the words "destroy the country" and "suicide" onto his cab with aerosol, before crashing the vehicle in Royal Plaza. 60-year old Nuamthong Praiwan had been admitted to hospital with rib injuries. An army representative at the time had said that no Thai would kill himself as a result of opposition to the coup.

On the morning of November 1, Nuamthong went to a pedestrian overpass in northern Bangkok and hanged himself. A note he left at the scene said that he wanted to disprove the statement which had been made by army spokesman, Colonel Akara Thiproj.

On 2 November, it was announced that the new governor of Yala province would be a local Muslim. 54-year old Teera Mintrasak officially took up his post yesterday.

Today, a former close friend of Thaksin Shinawatra was shot dead in Narathiwat province. 41-year old local administrator Abdul Kordey Awaekueji was found in his car in Rangae district. He had been killed in a drive-by shooting.

In Sungai Padi district in Narathiwat, a 40-year old grocer, Rohim Musor, was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting this morning. He died on the steps of his makeshift shop.

In Yala last night, a 22-year old Buddhist woman was shot dead at a local health office yesterday evening, and a 25-year old Muslim man was killed at a school in the province. In the same province, a 43-year old Buddhist man was shot dead late last night in a drive-by shooting. His wife was injured. In Pattani province, a 45-year old Muslim was shot dead in his house. in

Two security guards at a hotel in Pattani were also shot and wounded last night. This morning, a village chief was shot dead in Songkhla province, though the motive may have been robbery. Cash and a pistol were taken from the victim by his two assailants.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 4, 2006 2:48 PM

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Posted by: Sir Henry Morgan at November 4, 2006 6:12 PM

Posted by: Giraldus Cambrensis at November 4, 2006 6:58 PM

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