[Tlc] WASHINGTON POST: Rights Group Documents Brutality Of Insurgents in Southern Thailand

[Robert Albritton]

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.
RBA



At 11:10 PM 8/27/2007, Michael Montesano wrote:
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><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 
>
>
>Rights Group Documents Brutality Of Insurgents in Southern Thailand
>By 
><http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/nora+boustany/>Nora 
>BoustanyWashington Post Foreign Service
>Tuesday, August 28, 2007; Page A09
>Separatist militants in 
><http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Thailand?tid=informline>Thailand'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 
><http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Human+Rights+Watch?tid=informline>Human 
>Rights Watch report said today.
>
>Interviews with witnesses, family members, academics, lawyers, 
>journalists and human rights activists painted a bloody picture of 
>the predominantly ethnic Malay provinces of 
><http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Pattani?tid=informline>Pattani, 
>Yala, 
><http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Narathiwat?tid=informline>Narathiwat 
>and 
><http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Songkhla?tid=informline>Songkhla 
>from January 2004 to last month.
>
>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, 
><http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Asia?tid=informline>Asia 
>director at Human Rights Watch.
>
>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.
>
>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.
>
>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.
>
>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."
>
>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.
>
>"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."
>
>
>
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