Nine out of ten people in the restive southern border provinces think the government is not sincere in its handling of the insurgency problem, according to the results of Bangkok Poll revealed on Monday.

The poll, commissioned by Bangkok University, was conducted on 427 people aged 18 or more in Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla provinces from Aug 7-14.  The margin of error was given as plus or minus 5.

Asked if they thought the government was sincere about solving the problems, a huge 90.4 per cent of the respondents said "no" and only 9.6 per cent said "yes."

A majority, 59.2 per cent, thought the government is not on the right track in trying to solve the problem and 34.7 per cent were still uncertain.  Only 6.1 per cent said the government's approach has been correct.

When asked whether a curfew would help reduce the violence in the region, 43.4 per cent thought it would not be of any help, 16.7 per cent believed it would, and 39.9 per cent were uncertain.

Asked if they were satisfied with the government's security forces operating in the area, 70.5 per cent said "no" and 29.5 per cent said "yes."

More than 90 per cent of the respondents said they could not see any sign there would be an improvement in the situation in the next three to six months.