<html>
<body>
One of the issues that affect the insurgency area in Thailand is the
general lack of knowledge - even in Thailand - about the region. This
article perpetuates this mis-information by classifying Songkla as a
"predominantly ethnic Malay" province. Songkla is, at most,
only 40 percent Muslim. The rest of the province are Buddhists. Even the
Muslims are primarily Thai-speaking.; only a small minority speak Malay.
Because most people in the three Malay-speaking provinces consider
speaking Malay to be essential to Malay identity, I would not consider
Songkla a Malay provinces under any conceptualization. Satun is composed
of a large majority of Muslims, but they are mostly Thai-speaking. I hope
that this helps in the struggle with the Washington Post Foreign Service
against reporting mis-information.<br>
RBA<br><br>
<br><br>
At 11:10 PM 8/27/2007, Michael Montesano wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Content-class:
urn:content-classes:message<br>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>
boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C7E929.6F96C79A"<br><br>
<br>
<font size=2 color="#0000FF"><u>
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/27/AR2007082701355.html">
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/27/AR2007082701355.html</a>
</u></font> <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=6><b>Rights Group Documents
Brutality Of Insurgents in Southern Thailand</b></font> <br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=2>By
</font>
<a href="http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/nora+boustany/">
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=2 color="#0000FF"><u>Nora
Boustany</a></u></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=2>
Washington Post Foreign Service<br>
Tuesday, August 28, 2007; Page
A09</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> </font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Separatist militants in
</font>
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Thailand?tid=informline">
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#0000FF"><u>Thailand</a></u>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">'s mostly Muslim southern
provinces have stepped up a decades-long, low-intensity insurgency into a
wave of brutal bomb attacks, assassinations, machete hackings and, in
some cases, beheadings and mutilations in the past 3 1/2 years, an
extensive
</font>
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Human+Rights+Watch?tid=informline">
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#0000FF"><u>Human Rights
Watch</a></u></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> report said
today.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Interviews with witnesses, family
members, academics, lawyers, journalists and human rights activists
painted a bloody picture of the predominantly ethnic Malay provinces of
</font>
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Pattani?tid=informline">
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#0000FF"><u>Pattani</a></u>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">, Yala,
</font>
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Narathiwat?tid=informline">
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#0000FF"><u>Narathiwat</a></u>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> and
</font>
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Songkhla?tid=informline">
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#0000FF"><u>Songkhla</a></u>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> from January 2004 to last
month.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Of the 2,463 people killed in attacks
during that time, a total of 2,196, or 89 percent, have been civilians.
"Violence against civilians is being used by separatist militants to
scare Buddhist Thais away from these provinces, keep ethnic Malay Muslims
under control and discredit the Thai authorities," said Brad Adams,
</font>
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Asia?tid=informline">
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#0000FF"><u>Asia</a></u></font>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times"> director at Human Rights Watch.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Village-based militants who call
themselves the Patani Freedom Fighters have emerged as the core of a more
violent generation of separatists bent on carving up the southern border
provinces between ethnic Malay Muslims and so-called
"infidels." They claim the land is a religious "conflict
zone" that must be freed from what they term a Buddhist Thai
occupation.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">More than 3,000 attacks have targeted
civilians since January 2004, including attacks on schools. Teachers,
public health workers, hospital staff and infants in their mothers' arms
have been victims of violent rampages that have terrorized
inhabitants.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Summary executions based on ethnicity
have been carried out by green-clad gunmen with assault rifles, who
ambush victims along country roads, the report said.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Ethnic Malay Muslims suspected of
collaborating with Thai authorities or known for their opposition to the
militants have also come under attack. Those Malay Muslims are treated as
"traitors or hypocrites" for betraying what Human Rights Watch
described as "a radical blend of Malay nationalism and Islamist
ideology."<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">One example was the killing of the
son of one Muslim Malay village chief. Usman Jaema told Human Rights
Watch that his 15-year-old son was hacked with machetes and axes in
January 2004 by separatists who wanted to warn the chief not to oppose
their operations.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">"There are around 10 Muslim
youths in this village who join the militants. They have been trained to
become guerrilla fighters. They do not like me," Jaema was quoted as
saying. "After the attack, my villagers look down on me. They said I
could not protect my own son, then how could I be able to protect them?
Some of them even said that it might be practical to give support to the
militants to ensure their safety."<br>
</font><br>
<br><br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Tlc mailing list<br>
Tlc@lists.ucr.edu<br>
<a href="http://lists.ucr.edu/mailman/listinfo/tlc" eudora="autourl">
http://lists.ucr.edu/mailman/listinfo/tlc</a></blockquote></body>
<br>
</html>