Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon and his ministry have put a lot of energy into putting a “positive” spin on Thailand’s commitment to bring peace to the predominantly Muslim-Malay region, and have managed to clean up the country’s image in the eyes of the OIC, the most important group in the Muslim world.

The Islamic world had previously strongly criticised the government’s bloody crackdowns in its efforts to suppress insurgency by Islamic militants in the restive region, in particular the violent repression of insurgent uprisings and demonstrations by Muslim protesters last year that led to numerous avoidable casualties.

At that time, OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu expressed dissatisfaction at findings produced by government investigators looking into cases of alleged brutality against Muslims. The group has sent its own fact-finding mission to collect information about the situation in order to compile a report on treatment of minority Muslims in the Kingdom.

The OIC’s response to what was happening in Thailand put the country in a negative light before the Islamic world. This was in stark contrast to Thailand’s previous outstanding record for its treatment of its Muslim minority. Thailand, a predominantly Buddhist country, was granted official observer status at the OIC in 1989.

Prior to the OIC meeting, Foreign Minister Kantathi visited several Muslim countries in Asia and the Middle East to entreat for better understanding of the Thai government. The Thai delegation spent every minute in Yemen last month lobbying for “acceptable language” to appear in OIC documents about the situation in the deep South and the way it was being handled. They eventually got what they wanted, as the OIC documents reaffirmed its respect for Thai sovereignty and national integrity. No single word in those documents could be interpreted as being supportive of the activities of separatists in the deep South.

Thailand has pulled off a diplomatic coup as the result of the good work done by the foreign minister and Thai diplomats. But Thailand must follow up on this success with concrete actions in the form of a more sensitive approach to the worsening situation in the South and its treatment of the Muslim population in general.

The OIC, in a report by its secretary-general, wanted to see the government ensure that all government officials responsible for the Krue Se and Tak Bai bloodbaths be brought to justice. The Thai delegation explained to the group during the Yemen meeting that the government had already applied “due process” to responsible officials in the incidents. But in reality the term “due process” means only that some officials received lenient disciplinary punishment by being transferred to inactive posts, while most of those responsible are expected to escape any form of punitive action.

The government also failed to carry out further investigations, as requested by the OIC, into the incident involving the disappearance of prominent Muslim lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit. So far, five police officers have been prosecuted in connection with the mysterious disappearance of Somchai - but they were charged only with minor offences of property theft and unlawful detention. Nobody in the government can tell the public about the fate of the lawyer, who is presumed dead by his family. Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya, who oversees national security, when asked about the case, simply said the government had not given up efforts to locate him but that so far the investigation has not made any progress.

Now that the OIC meeting in Yemen is over, Thailand is likely to fall back into its same old mind-set. Unfortunately, that mind-set does not particularly favour a healthy approach in dealing with the problem at the level of its causes and trying to solve it through dialogue and other peaceful means. The government must realise that such a political approach can be implemented alongside ongoing military actions against armed insurgents.

The government is now considering a Defence Ministry proposal calling for Bt2.7 billion to better arm security officials in military operations in the deep South. Be that as it may, the government must at the same time invest more in building the capacity of the justice system, reaching out to the Muslim community and improving intelligence gathering, all of which are badly needed if the government intends to deal with the situation more effectively.