The South has been plagued by an extraordinary level of violence for the past three years and the immediate prospects for peace seem bleak. Harsh and unpleasant though this reality is, it is better to live with the truth than to harbour false hopes.

In the latest attempt to remedy the situation, the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) has circulated an idea of creating a new position of deputy governor for security affairs.

Junta leader and ISOC chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin is pushing for senior military officers to serve under provincial governors to take charge of fighting terrorism, starting with the Deep South, before fanning out to cover every province.

As the violence intensifies, Sonthi appears too hasty in coming up with idea after idea for a quick fix to quell the terror attacks. His idea to dispatch military officers as deputy governors has all the hallmarks of being half-baked.

Interior Minister Aree Wongsearaya admits he was caught off guard by the idea although his provincial governors would welcome any help they can get to restore peace.

At the height of the Communist insurgency, military strongman Field Marshal Prapas Charusathien was in charge of the interior portfolio and assigned military officers to work as deputy governors.

Although a few colonels managed to blend in with civilian authorities, Thailand learned a costly lesson: the idea of meshing civilian and military administrations flopped.

Civilian bureaucrats and military officers were prone to fight a turf war instead of focusing on the insurgency.

For decades, Indonesia has appointed military officers as provincial governors in strife-torn areas like East Timor, Aceh and Sulawesi. The Indonesian experience is a reminder about the merits and demerits of military-controlled civilian administration.

The violence in Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and parts of Songkhla is nothing new. If the region is a patient, it has been fully diagnosed many times over with so many prescriptions for a remedy.

The problem at hand is not the lack of understanding about terror attacks or necessary remedies for social maladies, but too short an attention span to allow any of the anti-terrorism measures to work and bear fruit.

It is understandable that all sides want the violence to dissipate as soon as possible. But illusory expectations for a quick solution will compound the problem. Terrorism is like a social and political cancer plaguing every society throughout the ages.

Contrary to myth, there is no magic prescription to stop terror attacks. What society can do is to strengthen potential targets making it increasingly difficult for terrorists to operate.

Authorities should brace the people for coping with terrorism instead of encouraging them to have false expectations. Hasty measures will inflame rather than quell the violence. The Deep South is not a lab rat for testing untried anti-terrorism tactics.

Security plans being administered by ISOC and the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC) should be allowed to stay the course.

Security forces must have a fighting chance to carry out agreed tactics, otherwise the situation is prone to spiral out of control if they are forced to shift the fight against terrorism every time a fickle coach churns out a new idea on the sidelines.

It is true that military reports indicate the southern violence has escalated from 579 incidents to 713. Comparing the four months before the coup with the following four months, terror attacks have increased about 23 per cent.

But there is no justification for a frantic search for a new anti-terrorism formula or for playing the blame game.

Hot-blooded militants predictably intensify their attacks to correspond with every tactical shift by the authorities. The major upsurges in violence happened after the enforcement of the emergency decree, the Tak Bai incident and troop reinforcement.

Every past upsurge would then level off and the average annual attacks would not shift markedly. The latest upsurge of violent incidents happened as the SBPAC became operational and volunteer rangers were deployed.

Once the outbreak of senseless killings happens, it is an arduous task to wrestle terrorism into a dormant state or just wait until it blows over. Perseverance is the only counsel under the circumstances.

The prognosis for the resumption of peace is still good although it might happen under a painstakingly slow process.

Malay Thais, including the militants, may not realise their Thainess living at home. But once they cross the border into Malaysia as Thai-Malays, they suddenly become full-blooded Thais trying to eke out a living as vendors of tom yam kung.

Regardless of race and ethnicity, Thais are Thais and their homeland is the Golden Axe on the peninsular of Southeast Asia.

Avudh Panananda

The Nation