Condemn violence, clerics told
Islamic leaders gathering here yesterday called on Muslim teachers and clerics to be more assertive in speaking out against violence in the South, which has seen more than 2,000 people killed over the past three years.
Yesterday's meeting was organised by the multi-agency Internal Security Operation Command, the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre and representatives from each of the 36 provinces with a central Islamic committee.The meeting issued a statement calling on Muslim scholars and clerics to condemn the protracted violence in the Malay-speaking South and to stress that Islam was a tolerant religion. The statement said the insurgency in the region did not constitute a jihad, or an Islamic holy war. The statement drew strong criticism from leading social critic and former academic Ahmed Somboon Bualuang, who questioned the use of Islamic religion for political gain. Somboon said the "state had missed the point and damage will continue to pile up, unless we change course". He said violence in the tense region was more to do with historical mistrust between the Malay community and the Thai state, not religious misunderstanding. "The state's strategy has effectively turned many Thai Muslims outside of the deep South against the Malay-speaking region. Like the state's propaganda machine, many people, including Muslims, see Malays as stubborn," he said. He said the strategy had done more to alienate religious leaders in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat from government initiatives for national reconciliation. Analysts see the violence in the South as stemming from local grievances between a new generation of Malay separatist movements and the state security agencies. Historical mistrust between the region and the state continue to shape the relationship.
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