Published on February 4, 2010 -

During his recent visit to Geneva, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya was reported as saying that this government is capable of quashing insurgent violence in the country's South by year-end.

"Yes, yes, yes. Under our administration," said Kasit, when asked if he is confident of bringing peace in 2010 to the region that, with all its roadblocks and some 60,000 security personnel, looks more like an occupied territory than a place of peace and harmony.

Perhaps Kasit needs to wake up and stop fooling himself when it comes to the government's dealing with the insurgency in Thailand's Malay-speaking South. He should know by now that just because his foreign counterparts nod and smile, doesn't mean they believe him.

By making such statement, Kasit is putting himself in the same league as Chavalit Yongchaiyudh and Chettha Thanajaro. Both men have made outrageous claims in the past that made them look more like fools than peace-builders. It's amazing how grown men who hold high positions in the government and military could be fooled by their own delusions.

For the past year or so, Kasit has been working hard to convince the Islamic world that the Thai state is good for its Muslim population and that they have all the religious freedom they could ever want. Others in the Thai government are quick to point out that Muslims have always held prominent positions in Thai society and government.

It is true that Thai Muslims are free to practice Islam and that they share the same destiny as any person in this country. But when it comes to the century-old conflict in the Malay historical homeland in the country's deep South, religious freedom is not an issue. Nobody in this highly contested region is complaining about religious freedom. Even the issue of poverty and political space is not high on the list of historical grievances, although the Muslim elite likes to cite statistics regarding the poor and uneducated as compared to other regions. Sad to say, the word dignity doesn't come up often enough in the Thai state's dealing with the Malay Muslims in the South.

Today, after more than six years of intense violence, southerners are complaining about torture, abductions and extra-judicial killings. While these illegal activities may or may not be part of government policy, the culture of impunity has been well documented by several human rights groups and international organisations, as well as foreign governments.

For much of the past century, the state has been carrying out a racist policy that centres on assimilation. In other words, it wants to turn the Malays of Patani into something they are not. It wants them to embrace a nationally constructed identity we call "Thai" - the same way the Chinese, Lao, Mon, Khmers, Indians, Pakistanis and all other ethnic minorities whose grandparents came from somewhere else do.

But when the Malays of Patani refused, the state accused them of being ungrateful and unpatriotic. And for those who take up arms against the state, we accuse them of embracing a distorted history and practising wrong Islam.

The demands that the state places on the Malays of Patani has fed the creation of separatist movements. Their narrative sees the Thai state as a foreign occupier and their historical homeland as an occupied territory. Generations of militants come and go, yet the same old mindset of the Thai state remains unchanged. Bangkok still thinks it knows best. But something has got to give because the current government policy basically sends young men - men who can't afford to bribe their way out of the military draft - to die.

Perhaps if the state stops bringing in "Muslim Uncle Tom" to "talk sense" to the Malays in the deep South, and tries instead to listen to the grievances, the policy planners might just find it in them to think outside the box. To simply equate the Malay Muslims of Patani as "Thai Muslims" is gravely misleading. Thai Muslims don't question the legitimacy of the Thai state. The Malays do. Let's face it, there isn't much common ground between the Thais and the Malays of Patani. The feeling of citizenship is not deep and passionate enough. And from the look of it, it will never be.

Kasit is going to have to go beyond showing foreigners flag-waving Muslims in yellow shirts to convince them that the people are on his side. If it were that easy, the 4,000 people who have lost their lives since January 2004 would probably be alive today. Maybe he and others are just out of ideas and are too stubborn to admit it.