Published on October 18, 2005

Peace-loving Muslims and Buddhists alike should not allow hate-filled insurgents to destroy national unity.

If there had still been any doubt about the lengths to which the Islamic militants or Malay separatists or whatever the vicious perpetrators of the terror campaign in the deep South call themselves would go, the Sunday-morning attack on a Buddhist temple in Pattani sent a clear, hate-filled message. And that message was that no innocent lives would be spared in achieving their evil “political” objectives. Whether their goal is independence or a theocratic homeland, whether it is simply the urge to avenge centuries-old scores or more recent humiliation, such a barbaric act can never be justified, regardless of the perpetrators grievances or political outlook.

Early on Sunday morning, some 20 suspected insurgents stormed Wat Promprasith in Pattani’s Panare district, shot dead two defenceless temple boys with automatic rifles and then brutally murdered a 76-year-old monk, slashing his throat and setting his body on fire.

The brutal killings and desecration of a Buddhist place of worship were clearly aimed at driving a wedge between the Muslim majority and Buddhist minority in the deep South, who have coexisted peacefully through the ages until only recently. The insurgents also clearly wish to provoke the government, as well as mainstream Thai society, into rash retaliatory actions that would result in civilian casualties, thereby escalating the already-volatile situation down there.

Government leaders were right to urge caution and restraint from the public, in order not to fall into the trap laid by these ruthless criminals, who claim to have in mind the best interests of the Thai Muslims in this predominantly Malay-speaking region, which includes Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces. But the Thaksin administration could do a lot more in its efforts to improve security, which must go hand in hand with reconciliation and peacemaking.

It cannot be stressed hard enough that not all justice-loving, observant Muslims in the deep South, or anywhere else for that matter, agree with such inexcusable inhumanity committed by those who claim to share their Islamic faith. But too many have been cowed into submission by insurgents who have no compunction about killing and maiming innocent Buddhists, or even fellow Muslims who simply disagree with their ungodly agenda.

As long as the government continues to fail to re-establish even a semblance of law and order in the region, it would be unfair to ask locals to cooperate with the authorities by providing such sought-after intelligence as the identities or hide-out locations of the insurgents. Muslims who have worked closely with the authorities have frequently been targeted and killed by the insurgents.

But that does not mean there is nothing that law-abiding, peace-loving Muslims can do to make things better for themselves and prevent terrorists and hate-mongers from sullying the good name of Islam. Collectively, they can and should unequivocally condemn each and every atrocity committed in the name of their great religion or ethnic community.

Better yet, they can make a serious effort to reach out to their Buddhist neighbours who live down the street and remind them that all of us share a common destiny under this roof we call Thailand.

It is no secret that the fabric of society in the deep South has been rent by the ongoing insurgency, but the damage is not yet beyond repair.

Indeed, it should not be too hard for Muslim Thais of Malay ethnicity, the majority in the deep South, to empathise with the victimised Buddhist minority living in their midst. The local Muslims have been on the receiving end of unfair treatment and discrimination themselves for so long now.

It is only recently that mainstream Thai society has been made aware of past mistakes in the way southern Muslims have been treated. However, it is through public pressure and the goodwill of the fair-minded Buddhist majority that the government is being compelled to engage southern Muslims in a process of reconciliation.

It is only proper that such goodwill be reciprocated.

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