Published on October 08, 2005 - PM fails badly in quest to win the hearts and minds of Muslim communities

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s normally personal touch with the people proved ineffectual on his two-day tour of the South, where ethnic Malay Muslims mostly rejected his overtures and shunned his neighbourly “let’s-make-a-deal” approach.

His door-to-door visits to the homes of suspected insurgents were met with guardedness and glares of suspicion. He tried but failed to create chit-chat with the wives and children of individuals accused by the authorities of being behind the spate of violence in the region.

While his personal touch may have worked with locals in other regions, the deep South is an entirely different cup of tea. Divided by historical resentment, a high degree of suspicion and cultural characteristics that locals say have been either largely ignored or taken for granted by the country’s majority, Thaksin found himself in a number of awkward situations.

His generous doling out of banknotes to local men, women and even children was often met with icy glares from people who, in spite of their poverty, seemed to be demanding respect rather than largesse.

His visit to Ban Tanyonglimo, the scene of a highly publicised hostage stand-off that ended in the beating to death of two marines, was supposed to be warm, and the stage was set with well over 100 people waiting to greet him.

But the sad reality emerged: the few remaining villagers admitted that about 90 per cent of the residents had fled their homes for fear of a government crackdown and the 100-plus well-wishers were from somewhere else.

In a conversation with the locals, Thaksin told them that if they wanted their village mosque repaired they would have to produce the suspects behind the killing of the two marines.

When one man tried to remind Thaksin that two of the villagers had been killed that night and pointed to some obvious irregularities behind the September 20 teashop shooting, Thaksin just dismissed him outright, refusing to acknowledge a growing unease among the population that some corrupt officials may have been behind these deaths.

Like others, the man merely pointed out that there were just too many military and police checkpoints throughout the three southernmost provinces for insurgents to be driving around in pickup trucks shooting at security officials, much less teashops, at will.

Security analysts have continually pointed out that the insurgents’ campaign is largely aimed at making the area ungovernable and winning the minds of the local population, not the geographical territory. In fact top security planners point out that this is not conventional warfare but a battle to win hearts and minds.

Thaksin’s can-do attitude also took him and his bullet-proof Mercedes to the home of Sapae-ing Baso, a former principal of one of the most well-known private Islamic schools in the region, who has a Bt10-million bounty on his head.

He told Sapae-ing’s wife, Sadina Sulong, and her children that he would guarantee him a fair trial. But Sadina reminded Thaksin that there was such a thing as a kangaroo court in this country.

Her daughter, holding back tears, didn’t dance around the issue, and reminded the premier that justice has yet to prevail for a man named Somchai Neelaphaijit, a prominent Muslim lawyer who has been missing since last year and is widely believed to have been killed by his abductors.

Five police officers have been arrested and charged with “holding a person against his will” but not kidnapping or abduction.

“It’s not the same thing,” said Thaksin, who received a PhD in criminology from a university in the United States.

Thaksin also stopped off at the home of Romali Uttrasin, believed to be a leading member of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional – Coordinate, and is accused of being one of the key figures among this generation of insurgents.

“Please tell him the prime minister was here,” he told a relative of Romali.