Farm projects a key to peace in the deep South

According to officials here, this particular tambon has never sung the Thai national anthem or flown the Thai flag.

They claim people who decorated their homes with Thai national flags in the past were usually threatened or shot by insurgents.

That was "until farm projects based on His Majesty the King's self-sufficiency economy principle were brought to them," said Lt Colonel Yutthana Phetmuang, commander of Yala Taskforce 11.

The officer said during intelligence gathering missions between soldiers and villagers, conversations about insurgent activities were always unwilling and hurried.

"But we now talk for long hours - during weekly visits- about those projects, about how bigger the fish under the villagers' care have become since last time," he said.

For decades, Ban Tonyee village had been entirely under the influence of anti-government fighters. It was the base for communist guerrillas during the 1970's, then the Patani United Liberation Organisation (PULO) in the 1980's, and now the commando-style insurgents, known among officials as the Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK).

The Thai flag was flown publicly until 1988 - when a Muslim activist who called for violent solutions to the scarf-wearing dispute in schools was arrested and jailed for eight years, according to the officer.

By 2004, the village had become an active ground for the generation of militants who the authorities accused of exploiting Islam and distorting the teaching of the Koran to justify the use of violence against non-Muslims in pursuing their separatist cause.

They said the turning point came in late 2007 when authorities killed three RKK fighters after they had murdered a local Muslim peace activist. That's when farm projects and skill training were brought into the tambon, they said.

Yutthana said more and more people began to step forward with information about the identity of the insurgents. Some militants, including Samsuree Abdullee, son of a member of separatist movement Barisan Revolusi Nasional, also decided to call it quits. Samsuree is the head of a village in this tambon.

According to officials, residents of Ban Tonyee vowed to work with the state and convince their neighbours - about 700 of them - in the six nearby villages to fly the Thai national flag in front of their homes to show their admiration and loyalty to their Majesties the King and Queen.

They vowed that their tambon would be violence-free, for good.

Lt General Phichet Wisaijorn, commander of Fourth Army Area, said the Army was on the right path in bringing peace to the deep South through development projects.

He said sincere efforts by the government and the military in extending goodwill towards the local Muslim population in tackling the violence problem had paid off.

He said now the number of operatives and fighters belonging to separatist movements had dropped to around 10,000. The reduction was significant, but he did not give the original figure. However, it could be explained by the insurgents being forced to relocate to remote areas.

In the past, people stopped going out after 7pm for fear of attack. Now villagers stay out after 11pm, signifying their belief in the security forces' ability to maintain peace and order, Pichet said.

The problem would still take time to be solved, but the Army was determined to bring back peace to the three predominantly Muslim provinces, home to around three million people.