Peace Cranes Can't Solve Thailand's Civil Strife (BARF Alert)

Pacific News Service ^ | 8 December 2004 | Andrew Lam

[Racehorse]

Editor's Note: Bombarding Thailand's Muslim-majority southern provinces with millions of origami paper birds -- a recent move by Thailand's leaders -- failed because of the government's longtime neglect and continuing abuse of its Muslim population.

Last April in Bangkok, I saw a man selling birds at a Buddhist temple's entrance. Worshippers, he told me, often buy and then release these birds as a way to garner good karma. When I asked the birdman whether he would catch these birds in the first place if there hadn't been such a market for them, he looked confused. No one had ever asked him this question.

A similar question could be asked of the Thai government in its dealing with its Muslim minority.

Prime Minister Shinawatra Thaksin, in his effort to pacify Thailand's restive southern provinces, recently bombarded the inhabitants with white paper origami in the shape of cranes by the millions -- a spectacle heavy on symbolism but light on substance. The question: If the Thai government had been fair and just in dealing with its Muslim minorities all along, would it have to resort to theatrics in search of elusive peace?

The efforts by and large did not work. Immediately after, two bombs went off, another was defused and the owner of a tea shop in Pattani province was slain by gunmen. Assailants also threw grenades at the homes of two policemen in the same province, while in Yala, arsonists set fire to a state school.

[ . . . ]

The reality is that, paper birds notwithstanding, the rage of Thailand's Muslim minorities remains woefully unaddressed, and in fact the Thai government still treats them brutally.

[Racehorse]

Human Rights Watch in a letter to Thaksin warned him that his "government's inadequate responses to previous human rights abuses have created an environment in which security forces trample the rule of law and violate human rights without fear of accountability."

Wonder what kind of letter Human Rights Watch delivered to the Muslim terrorists burning schools and killing Thais in the southern part of the country?

[Dallas59]

Where the hell were these "Human Rights Watch" people when Buddist Monks were getting their heads chopped off by Muslims?

[August West]

This is what I wrote in the cooment section (although I doubt it will be posted)

"In April, police ambushed with machine-guns hundreds of machete-wielding youths, leaving 107 dead."
So, the youth, just "happened" to be wielding machetes when they were ambushed. PUULEASE!! What the article omits is that the soccer team/gang was storming a police station. It could not have turned out any more just; the would be murders were themselves killed. Good.

[angkor]

I'm very surprised that Andrew Lam hasn't taken the time to study the history of the separatist Muslim war against Bangkok, which has been ongoing for about 100 years.

There are at least half a dozen Muslim separatist groups in the south, and they've gone through various flareups with the Thai government for decades. Their main plan is to somehow detach themselves from Bangkok and to create a Muslim state free of Buddhist rule (gee, remember the Taliban?).

It's interesting that Lam neglected to mention that the April violence was preceded in January 2004 by a (presumably Muslim) raid on a police station which netted 300 assault rifles, 40 pistols and two M-60 machine guns. Basically the Muslims have been getting more and more violent since 2000.

The only thing that will satisfy the Muslims is to be granted their own state (or country?).

As we all know that's because Muslims cannot comfortably live in peace with non-Muslim cultures.