The bloody violence that erupted this week in three Muslim-majority provinces of southern Thailand has come as a shock; most people think of Thailand as a haven of peace and tranquility. Sadly, the reality is that militants have been active in the area for some time — but the unrest has gone largely unnoticed outside the country.
In January, there was raid on a Thai military arsenal. Since then there has been a series of terrorist attacks, attributed by some to Jemaah Islamiyah, the terrorists behind the Bali bombing. Moreover, since 2002, there has been persistent speculation that Al-Qaeda terrorists are hiding within the Thai Muslim community. On April 1, Yemeni authorities arrested an Al-Qaeda suspect arriving on a flight from Bangkok. Now it is reported that over 100 suspected militants have been slain by security forces, including 30 in a raid on a mosque where they were sheltering.
The Thai Army has a reputation for its uncompromising reaction to challenge. Unfortunately the tough response in this case may be counterproductive. It appears that security forces acted on a tip off that attacks were coming. This suggests that ordinary Thai Muslims want nothing to do with extremists. However, if the ensuing carnage has been in any way indiscriminate and has killed and wounded innocent law-abiding members of the community, the government will have scored an own goal. The terrorists will use such errors to stir up formerly moderate opinion and lure angry newcomers into their ranks. It is what is happening in Iraq.
It only makes their job of combating terrorism at home a great deal harder. It is essential that strong links be maintained with community leaders in the three affected provinces of Yala, Pattani and Songkhla. As long as local leaders, both political and religious, are seen still to have some influence in the capital, they will be able to maintain the confidence of their people in the central government. Any action that sidelines and minimizes the importance of these leaders could alienate ordinary Muslims in the south.
It cannot be too late to isolate the terrorists within the Muslim community and root them out. With their destruction could come the dismantling of another Al-Qaeda outpost. This highly desirable end will require the continuing good will of the locals. Provoked though they undoubtedly have been by the terrorist attacks on police and army posts, the Thai government must not allow the three provinces to become a shooting gallery and thus a breeding ground for the very violence they are trying to defeat. The Thai military would be wise to curb its natural instincts to crack down hard whenever and wherever challenged. It is a sad truth, most evident with the Americans in Iraq, that the use of all-out force indiscriminately only serves to fuel further rebellion.
