Forget the curfew idea

EDITORIAL

Published: 11 Feb 2013 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

It is always good to find a solution to a serious problem. There are times when troubles continue, apparently without end, until finally the problem is resolved. Right now, the most serious security threat to the nation is the nine-year conflict in the far South. On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung is to make the case that the one missing link in resolving the worst of the violence in the troubled deep South is an overnight curfew. Unfortunately, he is wrong.

Curfews don't work against long-term problems. Government security forces know that, because the army and the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC) all have experience with curfews in the South. The country knows it, because the 1976 curfew in Bangkok failed to halt the next year's military coup. Police know it because of attempts at grounding youths at night who ignored the curfew.

Just over two years ago, then-prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva promised a 20% reduction in Bangkok crime as one of his "nine gifts" for the New Year. Quickly, the head of the Juvenile Observation and Protection Department suggested a new curfew to ban under-18s from public places after 10pm. By then, authorities knew that such curfews only tie up police in senseless roundups of curfew breakers instead of battling the real crimes that the curfew supposedly addressed.

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JusMe
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Discussion 6 : 11 Feb 2013 at 11.576
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The latest bombing and deaths occurred at 7:05 a.m.

What sort of curfew might Chalerm want to impose to prevent that?
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peterl
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Discussion 5 : 11 Feb 2013 at 11.545
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This editorial is long on why a curfew is not a good idea and short on suggesting an alternative response to the southern insurgency - which seems to be getting worse by the day.
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jck
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Discussion 4 : 11 Feb 2013 at 09.164
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More nonsense from Mr Chalerm and now apparently backed by the PM to impose a curfew. The one “missing link” as Mr Chalerm calls it would be to remove him from any responsibility in the South, where he is so reluctant to set foot, and assign Gen. Prayuth to the South full time with absolutely no other responsibilities than eliminating the terrorists. Only then can a proper dialogue start.
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felixqui
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Discussion 3 : 11 Feb 2013 at 07.063
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Since Chalerm's brilliant solution to the drug problem is a stunning success, the same thinking should obviously work equally well with the South: find a policy that is a well demonstrated failure, preferably one that is also economically, socially and politically costly, and pursue it expecting a totally different result. What could be more sensible?

And the benefits don't end there: the time not wasted on thinking of some new solution can then be spent more productively out of office. Works every time.
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buster
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Discussion 2 : 11 Feb 2013 at 05.252
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Remote controlling the south is like fishing without bate.
one hopes and waits.
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Victor
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Discussion 1 : 11 Feb 2013 at 03.131
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Curfew in the deep south, like traffic laws everywhere in the country, will not work if not fully enforced.
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Forget the curfew idea | Bangkok Post: opinion