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“This
is a disappointing result. We should have won some,” said a
stunned Thaksin. (Reuters)
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PATTANI,
Thailand, February 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Thai
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose party emerged with a
landslide victory in general elections, on Monday, February 7,
recognized humiliating defeat in the Muslim-dominated south as a
“wake-up call”.
“This
is a disappointing result. We should have won some,” a stunned
Thaksin told reporters in Bangkok after indications that none of his
party’s 11 candidates would make it to parliament, Reuters reported.
“This
is a wake up call for the government that people are not happy,” he
admitted.
However,
a defiant Thaksin insisted he would not alter his approach to what he
described as a “law and order” problem.
Critics
at home and abroad have accused Thaksin's government of using
heavy-handed tactics against Thai Muslims.
On
October 25, a total of 87 Muslims died after Thai troops broke up a
protest at Tak Bai in the southern province of Narathiwat with tear
gas, water cannon and gunfire.
The
majority of victims suffocated or were crushed after being bound and
left for hours on trucks.
On
Tuesday, July 27, the government threatened to shut
down some Islamic boarding schools in the south,
claiming they are used as training camps for separatist fighters.
In
April, security forces opened fire at Muslims killing at least 107
young Muslims in the bloodiest day in the history of this troubled
region.
Change
Hopes
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Voting
in the Muslim south was held under the close watch of thousands of
police and troops. (Reuters)
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Thaksin
had put up strong candidates well known in the region and expected a
belief widespread in Thailand that only a ruling party member of
parliament has the power to change policy would see several of them
elected, Reuters said.
But
most voters said they had lost faith in Thaksin, who has refused to
apologise for incidents such as the killing of the 87 in custody.
“I
want to change the government. I want to know if other people can do a
better job,” Suhaila Chudeng, a 23-year-old housewife, told Reuters
after she voted.
The
turnout at many polling stations in the region was 80 percent, up from
an average of 60 percent at the 2001 poll, election officials said.
“It
is all about the Takbai incident,” a provincial election commission
chief in one of the three provinces told Reuters.
“I
want a government that can start working right away, so I am not going
to vote for candidates who will only be barking in parliament,” said
51-year-old Muslim merchant Niabdulzi Samae as four soldiers with
M-16s in ready position looked on.
Voters
in the far south cast their ballots under the close watch of thousands
of police and troops.
Early
nationwide returns showed Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party winning at
least 362 of 500 parliamentary seats, the main opposition Democrat
Party 91, current TRT coalition partner Chart Thai 30 and the
newly-formed Mahachon one.
With
ballot-counting well underway in the south Monday, the Democrats were
on track to clinch nine seats, with Thai Rak Thai winning none and
just one going to Chart Thai.
Thailand
is a predominantly Buddhist nation but about five percent of the
population is Muslim, and most live in the five southern provinces
bordering Malaysia.
Muslims
in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, the only Muslim majority provinces in
the Buddhist kingdom, have long complained
of discrimination in jobs and education and business
opportunities.
The
south was a rich Malay kingdom until it was overrun by the Buddhist
kingdom of Siam in the late 16th century when it declared its full
independence from its earlier status of semi-independence under the
rule of the Thai kingdoms of Sukhothai and Ayutthaya.
In
1909, it was annexed by the Kingdom of Siam as part of a treaty
negotiated with the British Empire.
Both
Yala and Narathiwat were originally part of Pattani, but were split
off and became provinces of their own.
