National Security Council (NSC) chief Paradorn Pattanatabu concedes the Malaysia-facilitated peace talks with the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) cannot solve the southern insurgency overnight.
Paradorn: Govt must stay the course
In an interview with PRADIT RUANGDIT and PATSARA JIKKHAM, however, he insists people should not lose faith in the talks and the government will stay the course.
The NSC believes the sustained violence in the far South was a sign of resistance from insurgents on the ground to the talks. Is that right?
Correct. The BRN core leaders admitted to us they could not get through to all the rebel groups. There are militant groups who disagree [with the talks]. It appears there are many factions under one insurgent umbrella.
However, the Thai side must not waver. We must remain steadfast and be patient. We must stick to the law [in countering insurgency in the far South] and continue with the talks. We must not strike back with violence in an eye-for-an-eye fashion.
The situation will improve as the talks progress. The BRN is a large organisation and in the past month, since the talks commenced, we're getting a clearer picture of who is instigating the unrest. With such clarity, we [the government and the BRN] will be able to manage ourselves better.
At [today's] talks, will the NSC offer a specific approach such as setting up a committee on the reduction of violence?
No. We won't get to that just yet. But we'll talk facts to help identify what insurgent groups are responsible for the violence.
In the first round of talks, we told the BRN that the insurgents must not target innocent people.We said if they used bombs, they could not control the sphere of destruction and innocent people are bound to get hurt.
After the talks, fewer people on the streets became the targets. Instead, they zeroed in on state officials. It will be difficult keeping officials and security officers out of harm's way.
And what will the NSC explain to the BRN regarding the criminal cases which insurgent suspects are facing?
At the first talks, the BRN maintained the government must ensure justice prevails. They said the violence was the result of injustices at the hands of state officials.
They recounted hurtful experiences of seeing officials almost jumping at the chance of issuing warrants for the insurgent suspects' arrest. But when the officials themselves had done wrong, warrants were nowhere to be seen.
As far as justice is concerned, we have to tell the BRN chiefs that if insurgent suspects refuse to turn themselves in to police, there will be problems. If cases are pending police investigation, the suspects may or may not be recommended for indictment. But if and when the cases reach the court, we must let justice run its course.
In the first round of talks, you laid out all the issues for discussion in the open. Doesn't that appear rather gimmicky?
That's a matter of opinion. What's important is cooperation from all sides. If we don't try to communicate to people about what we talked about or get the words out slowly or inaccurately, our credibility will take a battering.
Should we ask Indonesia to be part of the peace talks in the future?
We're not at a stage to decide that yet. Tackling the southern problems hinges on the unity in our campaign to manage the problems, and on cooperation from the neighbouring countries and from the Muslim countries.
How much support are you getting from residents?
The support has been positive. Opinion polls put the level of support for the talks at over 60%.
What is the road map for peace?
Basically, the initial phase involves talks to gain trust from people on both sides of the table. There could be some agreements to iron out. When we have complete trust, we move on to the second phase, which is negotiation. The ultimate step three is to translate what has been agreed upon into action.