In 2007, the government of Surayud Chulanont signed a joint press
statement with the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).
It said they would work together
to enable "the people of the southern border provinces to assume the
responsibilities over their domestic affairs through a decentralisation process
that allows the people to practise their own cultural and linguistic specificity
and manage their natural resources in full respect of the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of Thailand".
In the view of many stakeholders,
it was a bold statement and the right thing to do, since it touched on the
heart of the Malay-Muslim insurgency in the three southernmost provinces.
Credit should be given to the then-administration for having the courage to
acknowledge the historical, cultural and ethno-nationalist nature of the
conflict.
The statement also made reference
to the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of Muslim lawyer Somchai
Neelaphaijit, and noted the dropping of charges against 58 protesters arrested
during the Tak Bai massacre in late 2004. That incident ended in the deaths of
more than 80 people, 78 of whom suffocated because they were stacked on top of
each other in the back of military vehicles.
Like it or not, the 2007
statement will eventually become the guiding principle for bilateral relations
between the OIC and Thailand. While it is easy to say that the current government
did not itself sign the joint communiqué, it is nevertheless an international
norm that governments' successors must abide by agreements it signed, or refute
them officially.
The Thai government, it seems,
does not have the will to renounce the 2007 statement because it realises it
was the right thing to do.
Reneging on promises made to the
Malays of the southernmost provinces will cost them little in terms of
political capital. But at the recent OIC ministerial meeting in Djibouti, the
organisation reminded Thailand that it has not forgotten about the promises
made in 2007.
The OIC's complaint is that
nothing has changed. And in its final resolution issued from Djibouti, which
the Thai delegation tried hard to change, the OIC employed strong language,
including phrases such as "meagre progress", to describe Thailand's
contribution so far to what Bangkok promised five years ago.
The OIC also "regrets"
the use of the Emergency Decree in the region, and notes the "limited
progress" in introducing Malay as a language of instruction in public
schools. In this regard, locals in the deep south describe the Thai state
effort as preparing them for karaoke lessons - using the Thai alphabet in
classrooms rather than Jawee (Malay written in Arabic script).
In its latest resolution, the OIC
also notes the government's "mounting reliance on undisciplined
paramilitary units accused of committing illegal acts", and warns of the
consequences of "increasing ethnic and religious polarisation".
In the past, in an effort to
bring peace to the troubled region, Thailand sought help from Muslim countries
in Asean. But after five years of sounding like a broken record, the time has
come for our diplomats to change their tune. The standard line among Thai
officials is that the Malay-Muslim separatists and their supporters embrace a
wrong version of Islam and teach a distorted version of Thai history.
The authorities don't seem to
realise how arrogant that sounds - Buddhists telling Muslims how to practise
Islam. Perhaps if our officials paused for thought and encouraged our society
to come to terms with the fact that the Malays of Patani embrace an entirely
different cultural and historical narrative from the rest of the country, it
could be the beginning of a peaceful discourse. Until that happens, one can
forget about seeing peace in the Malay-speaking south.
Editorial Desk
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