A mid a new surge in violence in the deep South, a key man behind meetings of senior Thai officials and established Malay separatist leaders insists the dialogue must continue as peace in the volatile region could depend on the outcome.

In an exclusive interview with The Nation, Shazryl Eskay Abdullah, honorary consul at the Royal Thai Consulate in Langkawi, said sides had reached a "certain level of comfort and trust" over the past year following a series of meetings.

He encouraged the government to "shift to the next phase".

"The next phase doesn't have to be in Malaysia. But it's important it continues because channels of communication have been established and topics for further discussion identified," Eskay said.

Eskay and former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad initiated the series of meetings over this past year.

They became known as the "Langkawi process".

Eskay said Bangkok took the talks seriously and this was illustrated by its sending of the then Armed Forces' Security Centre chief Lt-General Vaipot Srinuan and General Winai Pathiyakul of the National Security Council.

Separatist participants have included Gerakan Mujahideen Islam Pattani president Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman, Pattani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo) vice president Razi Bin Hassan, Barisan Revolusi Nasional Congress (BRN) president Abdulah Bin Ismail, its vice president Abdullah Bin Idris and Bersatu president Wan Kadir Che Man.

The process started in late 2005 and by February 2006 a Joint Peace and Development Plan for Southern Thailand was handed to the government.

It was a list of topics for further discussion.

It remains unclear why the Thaksin-Shinawatra administration sat on it. With the former prime minister now out of power, participants are calling on the government to kick-start the next phase.

Eskay said the Langkawi process was not a "formal negotiation" but "an attempt to identify common ground between the two sides and designed to reconcile differences". The most fundamental of these was the difficult relationship between Bangkok and the ethnic Malay historic homeland - including Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.

Eskay explained the process discussed a wide range of issues already - including Malay identity, social mobility, use of Malay as a "working language", amnesty, education and economic development. The topic of a "separate state" was not on the table.

"The Thai side would have never come to the table if the issue of a separate state was on the agenda," Eskay admitted.

Eskay confessed there were hardliners among the separatists which he referred to as "splinters". They were unwilling to compromise on the issue of a separate state. Nevertheless, Eskay said "tremendous" ground had been made towards reconciliation with separatist groups.

Many of these groups have been active since the 1960s. They disappeared or were rendered ineffective after a government amnesty crippled their military wings and forced their leaders into exile.

Eskay said the Langkawi participants were willing to settle for less than complete independence for Malays in southern Thailand. He said the challenge now was to find ways these groups and their members could reconcile their past with the Thai state. This could be achieved at the next stage of the process.

It is not clear if separatist leaders are hoping for some sort of political niche. To date the topics on the table have been broad and few specifics have been discussed, Eskay added.

With communications open and a level of confidence achieved the government and separatist leaders could move to the next phase. This could tackle specifics and sensitive issues - including a ceasefire or permanent peace.

This could end violence in the Muslim-majority South where as many as 1,800 people have lost their lives since January 2004.

Eskay reported the separatist leaders who attended the Langkawi process admitted to Bangkok they had "a network of supporters" on the ground but fell short of confirming if they had any role in directing attacks.

Much daily violence is blamed on a new generation of village-based militants, organised in small cells numbering about 10 and run by a leader. These cells call their own shots.

Locals often refer to these cells as "juwae" - or fighters in the Malay dialect - and do not associate them with formal groups such as Pulo or BRN.

But Eskay believed traditional-group leaders - some of whom emerged in the 1960s - could have influence with the juwae.

A second phase of the Langkawi process may be an opportunity for hardliners to be included. There may even be room for suspected separatists such as Masae Useng or Sapae-ing Baso.

Don Pathan

The Nation

PATTANI

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Yala, Narathiwat schools open as teachers to meet

Schools in Yala and Narathiwat will open today while teacher representatives meet to discuss if they should follow their colleagues in neighbouring Pattani who ordered all schools closed indefinitely because of increasing attacks on teachers.

At the meeting will be Khunying Kasama Worawan na Ayudhaya, secretary of the Basic Education Commission, and Pranai Suwanarat, chairman of Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC), who will try to help find solutions to the violent attacks on teachers.

The teachers in Pattani decided to close their schools after two senior colleagues were brutally killed last week despite beefed up security.

"At the moment all teachers are frightened all of the time, whether on the way to and from work, teaching at school or even living their normal lives," said Boonsom Thongsriplai, chairman of the Teachers' Federation in Pattani.

Teachers are among the most common targets among the insurgents besides police, soldiers and other government officials. More than 50 teachers have been killed since the violence re-emerged in the deep South in January 2004.

Meanwhile, violence continued unabated in the restive south over the weekend as seven people, including two soldiers and a government employee, were killed in separate attacks and six others injured.

Two suspected Muslim militants shot dead Lance-Corporal Ekkachai Polchai and Private Chakrin Thipchaksu at point-blank range while they were patrolling in a fresh market, 200 metres from Kota Bahru police office in Yala's Raman district. The shooting injured two female villagers, Aesoh Arwae, 60, and Yaena Chapakeeya, 38. The two gunmen, who entered the market in bare feet, snatched the soldiers' M-16 assault rifles as they fled.

Early in the morning, in Narathiwat's Rusoh district, Adinan Mueyaebasor, 24, was shot dead while doing errands on his motorbike. Two gunmen fired five rounds at him with a long-range shotgun. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Later, in Narathiwat's Muang district, 47-year-old government employee Udom Kulwichit was shot dead by two gunmen while riding his motorbike with his wife to go grocery shopping. His wife Chamreang Kulwichit was injured.

On Saturday evening, three Buddhist Thais were killed in Yaha district of Yala while they were hunting for boar, police said. Residents of Kabang district, the three men's bodies were riddled with bullets and their throats were cut.

Meanwhile, two gunmen pretending to be customers walked into a roadside grocery store in Muang district and opened fire at two villagers, Thanakorn Khandam and Chaikorn Udnoon, both 17. The two were taken to a local hospital.

Also in the same area, four gunmen attacked a group of villagers who were standing around in front of their house and injured Pongsri Charoensap, 78.

More than 1,700 people have been killed since the violence re-emerged in the three southernmost provinces in January 2004.

Since being appointed as prime minister in October, General Surayud Chulanont has placed the violence in the South as one of his top priorities. He has been promoting reconciliation and apologised for the previous government's mistreatment of people in the region.