South is one tough nut for NCPO to crack

South is one tough nut for NCPO to crack

Ramadan is supposed to be the holy month for all Muslims throughout the world, a month when they are to refrain from food, drink and other physical needs from sunrise to sunset, to practice self-restraint in order to cleanse the body and soul of impurities and to focus on God.

But not for radical militants, be they ISIS jihadists in northern Iraq, al-Shabaab militants in Somalia and Kenya, Boko Haram Islamists in Nigeria, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb or the Islamic militants in the three southernmost provinces of Thailand. Ramadan or no Ramadan, these extremists continue to kill and maim the innocent and defenceless, Muslim and non-Muslim, without any sense of guilt and without any regard for human rights.

And so, two female students of Sirindhorn College of Public Health in Yala province were shot dead in cold blood as they strolled through a flea market next to the Somdet Phra Yuparaj hospital in Yaha district in broad daylight on Wednesday, reportedly by two gunmen.

The innocent victims, 29-year old Sutheera Petchan, a native of Songkhla, and 21-year old Kulradee Petmark, a native of Nakhon Si Thammarat, had been trainees at the hospital since July 1 as part of their studies at the college. Altogether, 11 students from Sirindhorn health college were sent to the hospital for training.

According to eyewitness accounts, the gunmen had been waiting for the two victims at a tea shop opposite the hospital’s entrance. When the two students left the hospital and headed towards the flea market, they left the tea shop and followed them to the market and fired one shot each at point blank range from behind before fleeing into the bushes next to the market.

Police assumed the gunmen did not target the students specifically, but rather any health worker who left the hospital without a hijab. Unfortunately, Sutheera and Kulradee became convenient targets because they were Buddhists and did not wear the hijab.

For most of us, these cold-blooded murders were by no means a jihad, a valiant fight for a liberated homeland called Patani (not Pattani), or a freedom struggle. It was plain murder and an act of cowardice because the victims were utterly defenceless.

A similar incident took place on April 29 when two-month pregnant health worker Jariya Promnual was shot dead at a flea market in Sri Sakhon district of Narathiwat. One month later, on May 28, a bomb went off at the parking lot of Kok Po district hospital in Pattani injuring 10 people and damaging 60 motorcycles.

These three violent incidents against non-Muslim health officials in a matter of four months, particularly the murder of the two trainees, have shocked the health community in the restive region. The nine other trainees in their group were immediately recalled to the college.

The latest incident drew condemnation from various peace and human rights groups, particularly from the Justice for Peace Foundation.

Obviously, the attacks against health officials are insane and illogical as the majority of the population, who are Malay Muslims, will be directly affected if the officials ask to be transferred out of the region for fear of their safety.

It is not known whether security forces will now offer health officials protection in the same way they do teachers. But, so far, opinions among the officials are mixed with several preferring the communities as their shield.

Violence has continued on an almost daily basis since Ramadan began on June 29. The latest was on Thursday when militants ambushed a pickup truck in Yala’s Krong Penang district, killing the district’s deputy superintendent, Pol Lt-Col Atinan Ismael, and two subordinates.

As far as the National Council for Peace and Order is concerned, Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha, the council chief, first mentioned the southern unrest problem in his weekly national address on July 4. He talked about organisational restructuring to place the Internal Security Operations Command as the lead agency in policy affairs in tackling the problem instead of the National Security Council, as was the case during the Yingluck government.

On the policy implementation level, army deputy commander-in-chief Gen Udomdej Sitabutr was appointed chairman of all agencies concerned, namely the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre, NSC, the Strategic Committee for the Development of Southern Border Provinces and the police.

Although the NCPO has indicated it will pursue peace talks with the rebel groups, it has made clear it will not discuss self-determination issues or special administration issues with the rebels. Peace talks have also been renamed as happiness talks. But whether this new approach will draw the rebel groups to the negotiating table or not remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, bloodletting goes on in the troubled region. Any expectation of an early solution is wishful thinking.

Unlike other issues where progress has been made by the NCPO, the southern unrest problem is an incredibly tough nut to crack.


Veera Prateepchaikul is a former editor, Bangkok Post.

Veera Prateepchaikul

Former Editor

Former Bangkok Post Editor, political commentator and a regular columnist at Post Publishing.

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