Following the arrest of two young Muslims from the villages of Ban Tha Kradi and Ban Thung Yai who are accused of being involved in the raid, locals in neighbouring Ban Koh sub-district, where the Promprasith Buddhist temple is located, say they now feel “uncomfortable” with their Muslim neighbours.

Police arrested 20 suspects in connection with the attack on the temple where an elderly monk and two temple boys were murdered on October 16. Seven of the suspects have confessed to being involved in the attack, said Ninth Police Region Commander Adul Saengsingkeow, but he did not elaborate on their identities.

The grandmother of one of the murdered temple boys, Sathaporn Suwannarat, said she recognised the young Muslims brought by officials to re-enact the crime scene on Saturday, as residents of the neighbouring villages of Ban Tha Kradi and Ban Thung Yai.

“I felt uneasy when I saw that it was children from neighbouring villages who killed my grandson and the poor monk,” said the 60-year-old woman who did not give her name.

“I am sad, disappointed and angry as we know their parents very well. The Muslim parents rented paddy fields from one of my close friends. I don’t understand why the children of these people who we could say eat rice from the same bowl as us, could kill our children,” she said.

Muesoh Hae, the chief of Ban Nok sub-district where 70 per cent of the population are Muslims and the rest are Buddhists, reiterated her sentiments, saying until the recent events the people had coexisted peacefully here for a long time.

He said Buddhists and Muslims have helped and relied on each other for generations as many of them have shared paddy fields and crops. He said both parties regularly invited each other to wedding ceremonies despite their cultural differences.

The murdered boy’s grandmother agreed, adding that every year when her Muslim neighbours celebrated the end of the fasting month of Ramadan they had always given her gifts of food.

“Perhaps I won’t take any from them during this Hari Raya (Eid ul Fitri) which occurs at the end of this week,” she said.

Muesoh, who is Muslim, said it was now proving extremely difficult for him to encourage people in the villages to feel relaxed around each other again. He said a lot of Buddhists harboured negative feelings towards their Muslim neighbours and the Muslims did not feel comfortable enough to approach the Buddhists and offer any explanation.

“I was shocked recently when a junior police officer asked me what would happen if a Muslim mosque was attacked,” Muesoh said. He said he had advised the Buddhist policeman to consider his words carefully, adding: “As a policeman, if you know who committed the crime you should let the authorities deal with their punishment, not spread hate.”

Muesoh spends hours every day shuttling between the six villages under his administration to talk to people and try to improve relations between them.

“I badly need to fix the breakdown in relationships as soon as possible, otherwise I might not be able to retain my position as kamnan,” he said. “Nobody will support me if our society is divided.”

The kamnan said he already felt he was failing in his job because none of the Muslims in the village had participated in the recent training programme for defence volunteers, while the 46 Buddhists who joined the project said they needed to be trained and armed to fight against “the enemy”.

Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation
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