The majority of people in the deep South think that the failure to bring defendants in the 2004 Tak Bai massacre case to justice would most affect the Pheu Thai Party, while the People's Party are most favoured in the next general election, according to an opinion poll.
The Nida poll, carried out by the National Institute of Development Administration, asked people in the southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat about the impact of the expiry of the 20-year statute of limitations in the Tak Bai case on political parties. The answers were as follows:
• 55.20% said the Pheu Thai Party
• 29.99% thought the matter would have no negative impact on any political party
• 4.69% said the Prachachat Party
• 1.97% said the Democrat Party
• 2.16% said the Palang Pracharath Party, the People's Party, the Bhumjaithai Party and the United Thai Nation Party (also known as Ruam Thai Sang Chart)
• 5.99% didn’t answer or were not interested
Asked if the justice failure in the Tak Bai case would affect their voting decision in the next general election, the answers were as follows:
• 39.55% said not at all
• 25.21% said definitely
• 23.62% said moderately
• 11.62% said slightly
When asked to name a political party that they want to support, the answers varied as follows:
• 50.14% said they had yet to find a suitable party
• 18.85% People's Party
• 13.68% Prachachat Party
• 5.44% Democrat Party
• 4.69% Pheu Thai Party
• 2.62% United Thai Nation Party
• 1.78% Palang Pracharath Party and Bhumjaithai Party
• 0.65% Chartthaipattana Party and other parties
• 0.37% didn’t answer or were not interested
The poll was conducted on Nov 5-8 on 1,067 people aged over 18 of various levels of education and occupations.
The Tak Bai violence erupted on Oct 25, 2004, when 1,500 local protesters gathered in front of the police station of Narathiwat's Tak Bai district to raucously demand the release of defence volunteers who had been detained for allegedly handing firearms to insurgents, while reporting it to the authorities as weapons theft.
As the number of demonstrators increased, security authorities decided to disperse the crowd, resulting in seven deaths at the spot and 78 more when over 1,300 protesters were squashed into military trucks bound for the Ingkhayutthaborihan Military Camp in Nong Chik district in Pattani. Suffocation was given as the cause of the many deaths.
The Tak Bai tragedy happened during former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's tenure.