Published on Jan 1, 2008 - SouthFor the sake of political convenience, the violence and the insurgency in the Malay-speaking South was swept under the carpet during this last election.

The decision to shun meaningful debate on the deep South was understandable given the fact that the crisis is a no-win situation for political parties.

In a way, this reflects an acknowledgement that a solution in the region is beyond the platform of any one political party and that campaign promises would meet an uncertain death. But then again, political leaders are supposed to tackle difficult issues, not just those that will get them votes.

At the heart of the problem is the historical mistrust between the Thai state and the Malay-speaking region in the southernmost provinces. Public figures, elected and non-elected, often dance around this very sticky issue.

But once in a blue moon, a moment of truth, like the Tak Bai massacre, comes around and puts the elected on the spot. And if they are deemed as just going along for the ride or not stepping up in a time of crisis, the local community would have no problem showing them the door.

Historically, the Malay-speaking community has not been unkind to their elected lawmakers. Local Malays give their elected leaders a needed break and the benefit of the doubt. This is partly due to the fact that Thailand's democratic process is one of the few channels - however inadequate it may be in addressing the historical tension - that the Malays can use to engage the Thai state. Turnout at the polls has always been high - an illustration that the local Malays still have hope that somehow the state (not necessarily the government administration) could come through for them.

Sadly, too many Malay public figures use the locals' grievances and fear for political gain.

They don't have the guts to tell the political establishment in Bangkok to change their attitude towards the deep South, but they have the nerve to exploit local anxiety, fears and hopes for political objectives.

On the one hand, they maintain that race is a meaningless human difference and that all men are created equal in God's eyes. But for community and state to function, all of us understand clearly that we must also be equal in each other's eyes.

Today, the balancing act between paying lip service to their constituents and toeing the line of their respective political parties has become an increasingly difficult act for politicians to follow given the fact more than 2,700 people have died since January 2004 from the ongoing violence.

Many Malay public figures and elected leaders are increasingly finding themselves in an unwanted spotlight and faced with demands to show their loyalty to the state and a cranky constituency that blames the state for much of their woes. And while they tell their constituents that they understand their suffering, they could not find it in themselves to turn the tables on the rest of the country and demand justice for the Tak Bai victims.

Malays in the deep South don't feel they have a shared destiny with their fellow countrymen in Bangkok or Chiang Mai. Intellectuals complaining about the lack of Malays in government positions are quick to point out that 85 per cent of civil servants in the region are Buddhist and from somewhere else and that no concerted effort, even after more than 100 years after annexation, has been made to bridge the social and economic gap.

As for those living in the remote pockets and rural areas, everything about their lives reminds them that they are different from the rest of the country. Their religious leaders tell them that they have a moral obligation to maintain their cultural and religious identity and to deflect all forms of social evil sent down from the Siamese in the North. Glance through the covers of entertainment magazine racks or watch Thai television and one quickly understands their point about "moral bankruptcy".

Today, as a new generation of Malay-speaking elected leaders takes the public stage, no one seems to want to touch upon the sticky issue that underlines relations between the Thai state and the Malay-speaking South. Going for a ride, it seems, works just fine for them.

But as the killings continue unabated and the level of brutality reaches an unprecedented height, elected leaders from the deep South will not have the luxury of their past relations with locals. The locals will demand more from them. If elected officials are unable to come to reconcile the troubled past of the Thai state and Malays in the deep South, local residents will not hesitate to show them the door.

Don Pathan

The Nation