Showing 1 - 10 of 13
Path to peace needs respect
Oped, Editorial, Published on 05/05/2022
» The relatively calm Ramadan in the restive deep South reminds us that peaceful dialogue, not arm-twisting or fighting battles, is the real recipe for ending conflicts.
Tantrums sink peace efforts
News, Editorial, Published on 06/02/2019
» The failure of the government to kickstart peace talks on the South is a disappointment to all involved. The Malaysia-based Mara Patani negotiating faction said on Sunday it won't talk until a new Thai government is formed. Peace talks were already barely moving but Sunday's events mean there will be no chance of any official movement for at least six months.
Stop attacks, or stop talks
News, Editorial, Published on 26/05/2017
» The bombing of a Big C Supercenter in Pattani on May 9 has perversely put the government on the back foot. The car bomb attack which wounded 59 innocent civilians has been condemned worldwide for its savagery. It also raised political questions without clear answers for Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and the regime. How the military proceeds in the coming days will probably determine whether there is even a slim chance of ending the southern violence.
Police chief owes us an explanation
News, Editorial, Published on 14/05/2017
» While anyone who launched the bomb blasts targeting civilians at a Big C Supercenter in Pattani province that resulted in at least 61 injuries last Tuesday must be condemned, security officers have to be held responsible over what seemed to be their lax operations.
No hope for separatism
News, Editorial, Published on 06/01/2017
» The latest statistics and statements from the deep South paint a depressing portrait of that restive region. While the military regime places the low-intensity war among its top security problems, it has actually stacked more layers of stultifying bureaucracy on the debilitating violence, now in its 14th year. Nor was there even a shred of optimism from the army commander's message for the new year, saying he hopes to tame some of the violence within a few years.
Gambling on Udomdej
News, Editorial, Published on 27/12/2016
» Today's cabinet meeting is likely to make key decisions related to operations to tackle violence in the restive deep South, and the money being spent there. Ministers will be asked to hear and make decisions on yet another roadmap to tackle the southern unrest. Even more controversially, they are likely to be asked to place the management of the entire multi-billion-baht budget supporting government actions in the South in the hands of one interesting man.
New setbacks in the South
News, Editorial, Published on 12/09/2016
» It has been another bad week for the government in the deep South. Separatists are believed to be behind a vicious bombing attack that killed a five-year-old schoolgirl, her father and another bystander. It shocked the nation and drew outrage from around the world. Another bomb blew apart a railway car and stopped all rail traffic between southern Thailand and Malaysia. Then, men claiming to represent the bombers, told the press they were trying to sabotage efforts to negotiate peace in the violent region.
South peace suffers blow
News, Editorial, Published on 02/05/2016
» On Friday night, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha unexpectedly brought up the situation in the South during his weekly address to the nation. He was terse and he was blunt. He called the 12-year war "a sad and terrible waste of lives", and in that one sentence criticised attempts over the past year and a half under his regime to renew peace talks with Malaysia-based separatists. Dialogue appears interrupted for the time being.
A less rigidly military approach is needed
News, Editorial, Published on 24/04/2016
» Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's decision to change the personnel in charge of security in the southern provinces has the potential to disrupt the continuity of the effort to bring peace to the region.
Peace efforts bear no fruit
News, Editorial, Published on 03/03/2016
» The country is now into its fourth year of peace talks to end the deadly conflict in the deep South. Except that it is clear that peace talks have not really begun.