Published on September 05, 2006 - Army chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin entered into uncharted territory with his recent suggestion that the government do away with its policy of not negotiating with Malay separatists and start a dialogue with the militants as a way of bringing the ongoing violence to an end.

Many security planners overseeing the restive deep South, where more than 1,300 people have been killed since January, 2004, have said that dialogue with separatists is desirable in principle. None of them, however, have been willing to single out any particular group or faction, because they know full well that such a decision is a political one.

Lt-General Vaipot Srinual, the commander of the Armed Forces Security Centre, said the idea to engage in dialogue with key militants has been discussed among military officers for some time, however the decision to kick off such talks has yet to be made. "Negotiation is one of the options we have in seeking a peaceful solution, but the question is how to get it to work," he said.

While it's not clear why Sonthi has decided to push the envelope, the move did receive a positive response from the Pattani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo). The organisation responded promptly with a statement welcoming the idea and expressing hope that the announcement was not a knee-jerk reaction in the aftermath of the bombings of 22 commercial banks across Yala last Thursday. "The Thai commander's idea will not be successful if this is just a reaction in the wake of bombings at 22 Yala banks, without taking account of the roots of the conflict," said Pulo's foreign affairs chief Kasturi Mahkota in a recent statement.

Kasturi also suggested that a third party be involved in any dialogue and that Pulo representatives be granted immunity and treated as equal with their Thai counterparts. However, Sonthi's idea gained no momentum in political circles as caretaker Interior Minister Kongsak Wantana shot it down on Monday, saying his government would not negotiate with any groups. Those who came out in support of the idea, such as Pulo, were not involved in the current spate of violence, he said.

Hard-line officials on the ground, led by Narathiwat Governor Pracha Therat, strongly opposed the idea of negotiation as he worried such talks would automatically raise the status of the separatists, who he said are weakening.

"It would seem as if we were helping them [the separatists] by raising the international profile of our domestic problems as the term 'separatist' could easily be misconstrued abroad for their political gain," he said. Pracha said the violence in the predominantly Muslim region is not solely due to separatism, and that there are many separatists without unity or authority, he added.

Many officials on the ground also questioned whether exiled groups like Pulo or Bersatu, which reached their peak in the 1970s and 1980s, could influence the behaviour of this generation of militants. These militants, officials said, are known for their brutal tactics and appear to be driven more by a resentment and hatred of the Thai state, than by any one stated goal. Until today, none of the exiled groups have spelled out the extent of their influence on the ground, perhaps due to the potential and legal implications attached to being labelled a "terrorist" in a post-September 11 world.

Police Maj-General Thani Thawidsri said this generation of militants surfaced four years ago to carry out sporadic attacks after going through nearly a decade of indoctrination from grassroots religious teachers who talked about inequality, the Thai government's denial of Malay history and the inalienable right of Malays to reclaim their land.

However, the state would not recognise the political underpinnings of their actions until a major raid on an Army battalion on January 4, 2004, during which they made off with more than 300 military weapons. Today, Thailand's three southernmost provinces, along with three Malay-speaking districts in Songkhla, are plagued with independent cells that every now and then come together to carry out coordinated, simultaneous attacks. These attacks do more to inflict psychological damage than to do any substantial harm to Thai security forces dispatched to the region.

Besides the loss of life, another casualty seems to be the country's political establishment, which continues to employ the "Bangkok knows best" approach, dishing out quirky policies that often split communities, rather than reconcile differences between the region and the rest of the country.

Sonthi's statement was not the first of its kind to be issued with the intent of putting an end to the ongoing crisis. Bersatu leader Wan Kadir Che Man threw down the gauntlet in May 2004, saying he had given up separatist ideology and was willing to return to his birthplace and fight for the rights of Malays under the 1997 Constitution. Bickering among Thailand's top security and political bosses sealed his fate and Wan Kadir was told to leave Malaysia for Sweden. Talks have not materialised since then.

Don Pathan,
Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation