It is hoped that the scheme, which combines economic and social development, will help create new jobs in the economically stagnant region, raise the standard of living for local people, stimulate economic activity and ultimately bring about peace and prosperity.

That's very well and good. But the prerequisite for the development zone to produce the intended results is for the government to be able to re-establish a semblance of law and order. To do that, the government must demonstrate beyond any doubt that it has got what it takes to protect the civilian population while at the same time effectively combat the insurgents. Without law and order, no amount of tax incentives or concessional loans will persuade existing companies to maintain loss-making operations, or convince new investors to set up shop.

Also, it is a bad idea to group together Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat - which have been turned into a war zone where more than 1,800 people have been killed in the past three years - with Songkhla and Satun, which suffer a real but indirect impact from the crisis. The two groups of southernmost provinces have different sets of problems that call for different remedial measures.

Songkhla, a mostly Buddhist province, suffers a very low-key insurgency in four districts where Muslims form the majority of the population. The province, which relies heavily on tourism, takes some of the brunt of the escalating violence in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, and this has kept tourists away.

Although Satun is a predominantly Muslim province, just like the three at the centre of the trouble, not a single incidence of insurgent activity has been reported there since the outbreak of violence in 2004, because the local people are well integrated into mainstream Thai society and do not share separatist aspirations.

That's why the government should offer more generous privileges and incentives to business operators and new investors in the three hardest-hit provinces than those granted to their counterparts in Songkhla and Satun, who enjoy relative calm and stability. This will avoid a migration of businesses from the "battle-zone" provinces that want to take advantage of privileges and incentives in Songkhla and Satun. The special development zone, which aims to achieve economic recovery in the five provinces, should be complemented with community-based economic and social development projects that meet the needs and requirements of local people, particularly in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. People in these provinces, who continue to feel strongly about their long-standing grievances over past neglect and discriminatory treatment by the central government in Bangkok, should be entitled to well thought-out, affirmative action to help them escape the trap of poverty through their own effort - so that they can claim their fair share of the national wealth.

To do that, the government must avoid the pitfalls of past policies in which top-down decisions were imposed on local people. Instead it should establish a channel through which people can provide input and articulate the kind of development projects that both meet their requirements and are compatible with their religious beliefs and way of life. People must be given the opportunity to participate fully in all government decision-making that will affect their lives.

The effort to bring peace and prosperity to the southernmost region will be long drawn-out process fraught with many stumbling blocks. It is important for the government to get its orientation right and to keep communication channels open.