Thaksin said he did not blame local officials

By Kazi Mahmood, IOL Southeast Asia Correspondent

KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Muslim leaders in the Southern provinces of Thailand have chastised the central government of Thailand for its failure and inability to end violence in the Muslim majority south of the country, which borders Malaysia.

One of the leaders, Abdullah Habru, an analyst at the College of Islamic Studies, Pattani, said the government had been too slow in explaining the recent violence in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, reported the Bangkok Post on Friday, May 2.

Muslims has always criticized the central governing body for taking the wrong steps to end violence in the region that was once plagued by separatists.

According to Habru and other leaders, the government was not only guilty of lax security, but it also performed poorly in working with Muslim communities to find proper solutions to the problems affecting the people in the region.

‘Ninja Gang’

The anger of the Muslims are barely contained when the authorities in the south rejected rumors that a gang called the “ninja gang” for their outfit, were responsible for robberies, rapes and burglaries in some Muslim majority southern areas recently.

Police, it is said, did not act swiftly to investigate the rumors while the crimes went on without punishment, creating fear among the communities.

Abdullesak Alee, secretary of the Narathiwat Islamic Committee, said there was no clear-cut security policy to tackle long-time violence in southernmost areas, according to the Bangkok Post.

The government still failed to bring the majority of Muslim people into the community-based program to improve relations with authorities and security staff, Abdullesak said.

Nimu Makaje, deputy chairman of the Yala Islamic Committee, also blamed the resurgence of violence on the government's unclear direction in implementing security policy.

Many officials from different agencies were deployed to work in the area but did not understand Islamic culture and could not get along well with the people.

The current problem resulted from the authorities' failure to take preventative steps when there were early signs of violence a few months ago, such as the spread of “ninja gang” rumors in the three provinces.

Southern provincial student and civic groups on Thursday, May 1,  called on Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to scrutinize assets of local administration officials, police and politicians who have served in the South in the last 15 years.

The groups said troubles in the South persisted because the region was governed by “non-native'' officials who thought of nothing but their own interest, said the Bangkok Post.

Muslims accused these officials of making personal gain through corruption, drugs and contraband while local communities blamed oppression of local people by state authorities for the violence that erupted again in Muslim-dominated Yala and Narathiwat recently.

On March 28, Manso Baedingwae, a Narathiwat Cultural Office staff member, was shot dead by a local police officer.

Bariya Yusoh, 17, and Abas Sa-ih, 16, both students, were killed on April 18 in Narathiwat's Reuso district allegedly by Sanchai Phetkua, a police investigator.

Muslims also suspected authorities were behind the abduction of Muslim villagers in Yala's Yaha district.

However, Thaksin said he did not blame local officials. The desire to seek revenge stemmed purely from personal conflict, not the way police were treating people.

The south has been a restive province for years until a major crack down on separatism led to the dismantling of the Pattani United Liberation Army (PULO).

Most of the top members of PULO are now in jail in Bangkok. The groups is less active in separatism these days.