COMMENTARY
The South: Consult the locals first
- Published: 18/06/2009 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: News
Remember the public's reaction when the idea of setting up a special administrative zone for the Muslim-dominated South was introduced five years ago? The proposal came from former PM Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh. And boy, how that was torn to shreds!
The criticism stemmed partly from his image problem. The Establishment did not trust his political ambitions. The public was also weary of his patronising and vague talking style which barely hid his ulterior motive, which was to keep himself in the power game.
But the deeper problem is the mainstream society's ethnic prejudice and ultra nationalism, which make people immediately lump political decentralisation together with secessionism.
The political sensitivity is so fierce that even the highly popular former PM Anand Panyarachun, in his capacity as chair of the now-defunct National Reconciliation Commission, had to repeatedly stress that his peace commission's special administrative zone proposal was not autonomy, but a form of power-sharing. No matter who said it or how it was phrased to make it appear more palatable to mainstream society, this alternative model always fell flat afterwards. Will PM Abhisit Vejjajiva make a difference this time around?
Gen Chavalit's proposal followed the Krue Se massacre in 2004, to appease the southern Muslims' hurt and fury. PM Abhisit's proposal, though he is reluctant to call it a special administrative zone, comes after escalating violence following the Tak Bai verdict which frees the military from one of the country's most severe state crimes against the southern Muslims.
A pregnant woman shot to death. A score of teachers killed. Soldiers ambushed. A farmer beheaded. Police stations, tea shops and mini-buses bombed. Indiscriminate killings at a mosque while people were praying. A monk shot to death during an alms round.
Is this an-eye-for-an-eye revenge? Is it a step closer to secession? Or is it the work of local mafias and some bigwigs in uniform to perpetuate the atmosphere of violence in order to protect their power turfs?
Or is it all of the above? No one knows. What we know for a certainty, however, is that no one is safe now in this seeming all-out war in the deep South.
Let's look at the feedback on Mr Abhisit's proposal. The military has remained silent. Buddhist organisations have expressed opposition, claiming that it would eventually lead to secession. Meanwhile, the new political party Matubhum, consisting of southern Muslim politicians, has welcomed the idea and urged the government to promptly pass the Democrat-sponsored bill to establish a special administrative body in the deep South.
Wait a minute. What bill? Do people there know about this? Have they been consulted? Is this going to be the same old ball game of daddy-knows-best when talk about people's participation is mere empty talk and a policy that crucially affects the locals' livelihood remains in the politicians' hands without heeding the voices of the locals?
The same goes for Mr Abhisit's promise to pour development money into the far South to appease local frustrations. But will it? Does he realise how the so-called development projects in the past have destroyed the natural environment, the locals' ways of life, and trust in the government? Has he asked what kind of development the locals want?
Actually, the local anxiety is rising amid talk about dams and other mega projects which will benefit only big business, construction godfathers and the local political elites.
The deep South certainly needs a kind of self-government. But by whom, and how? Sharing a faith does not mean the southern Muslims have uniform needs. And if the special administrative zone is a miniature of top-down bureaucracy that favours the local elites' vested interests, the new order will not lead to better human security and human rights protection for ordinary people.
Empowering civil society and fostering community rights will provide the balancing factors. Unfortunately, this element of democracy is sorely missing in the special administrative zone move because the powers-that-be, Buddhist or Muslim, do not listen to little people's voices.
- Sanitsuda Ekachai is Assistant Editor(Outlook), Bangkok Post.
Email: sanitsudae@bangkokpost.co.th
Relate Search: Abhisit Vejjajiva, political
About the author
- Writer: Sanitsuda Ekachai
