The deeply disturbing video leaked on to the internet from the deep South raises many questions about what is happening in the struggle with the country's most serious security problem. Tens of thousands of people in Thailand and worldwide have watched the video on various media. Authorities must explain how such graphic images of the planned ambush, murders and looting of bodies were released. But the public must know what the government and its security forces intend to do about the ruthless lawlessness exposed so blatantly.
It was exactly a week ago that the military was once again congratulating itself on alleged progress in the South. Army commander Prayuth Chan-ocha, after a lightning visit to the region, claimed his soldiers were making advances. He expected attacks during Ramadan. Effective tactics by the military had forced the gangs in the South to change their tactics, and resort to car bombs instead of hit-and-run attacks.
During the week after those remarks, the anti-government forces violently increased their attacks. Ten soldiers and policemen were killed. Nine innocent and unarmed civilians were targetted, hunted, shot and killed. Entirely contrary to Gen Prayuth's confident assertion, all were killed in old-style ambushes and roadside bombs that the army commander claimed were no longer effective.
Gen Prayuth and his colleagues got one thing right. They predicted the gangs in the South would increase their attacks during the Islamic month of Ramadan, which began on July 21. But the information, whether it was military intelligence or a lucky guess, proved useless. Nineteen people were killed in a terrible week of violence.
The security forces even lost control of their own videos. The whole world now is watching what seems like control of the roads of the deep South by murderous bandits. Pro-terrorist forces out-numbered and out-gunned the Thai soldiers who _ the CCTV images indicate _ were poorly armed, poorly outfitted and definitely poorly informed by their superior officers.
It has been clear for years now that authorities including elected politicians have misled the public about events in the deep South. Each passing murder, beheading, assassination, car-bombing and act of intimidation has been met with soothing words. Overall, however, authorities, including every government since 2004, have taken a "no problem" stance. The truth is that thousands of deaths, billions of baht and hundreds of reassuring press releases have put the country at a serious disadvantage.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her security forces seem to feel, like their predecessors, that the low-intensity conflict in the deep South is not worth tackling directly. They are wrong. The war is sapping the nation's treasury, and destroying the lives, hopes and opportunities for millions.
The release on the internet of the savage Pattani ambush is a huge loss of image and credibility for the government, the professional security apparatus _ and Thailand. It shows a barbaric truth, that a team of merciless killers can attack and murder and loot at will, inside Thai borders.
This message cannot stand. It is predictable that police will claim they have identified the ambush team, and arrests are imminent. It happens after every major incident. But it is time for the prime minister to order security forces to come up with a plan to suppress such murderous violence, or to consider appointing a different security team capable of doing so.