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Sonthi (L) said the army was ready to cooperate with the reopened center to ease the unrest in the Muslim south. |
NARATHIWAT, Thailand — Four years after it was shut down by ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, a key center aimed at addressing the problems of the Muslim-majority south reopened on Wednesday, November 1.
Pranai Suwanrath, a Bangkok bureaucrat from the interior ministry, was named on Tuesday, October 31, to head the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center (SBPAC), reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Accompanied by with Interior Minister Aree Wong-arya, who oversees the SBPAC, Pranai will fly later Wednesday to the southern Muslim province of Pattani.
The center had been credited with easing the unrest in the 1970s by providing a forum where local political and military leaders could iron out their differences with residents.
But Thaksin, ousted in a bloodless coup on September 19, dismantled the body in early 2002, claiming it had outlived its usefulness.
The decision was one of many decisions taken by Thaksin that have been widely blamed for worsening the situation in the south.
Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country with Muslims making up five percent of the population and mostly live in the five southern provinces bordering Malaysia.
Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat are the only Muslim-majority provinces in Thailand and were an independent Muslim sultanate until annexed officially a century ago.
Thai Muslims have long suffered from discrimination in jobs, education and business opportunities.
Ready
Army chief and coup leader Sonthi Boonyaratkalin asserted Wednesday that the armed forces are ready to cooperate with SBPAC to ease the unrest in the south.
"The army is 100 percent ready, and I have received a report from the southern army commander that the defense ministry is ready to cooperate and to work," he said.
"There should not be any problems," said Gen Sonthi. "Almost all units are in the area. They just wait for SBPAC to give a framework" of tasks.
South Muslim leaders expressed cautious welcome.
"It's too early to say if the re-creation of the SBPAC can effectively resolve the unrest and restore peace," said Suhaiming Majea, secretary of the Narathiwat Islamic Committee.
"The SBPAC is just a structure, and everything depends on the policies they take," he said.
Gen Sonthi also agreed that ending the conflict in the Muslim south would take some time.
"Don't even think in terms of a time frame, because the problem has been ignored for decades, so it's not easy to change overnight," he said.
"It takes time to change people's beliefs and opinions," said Gen Sonthi. "But we will try as best and as fast as we can."
Sonthi and army-backed Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont are set to travel to the Muslim region on Thursday, November 2, to listen to local officials and villagers' complaints and advice.
"I am going down there in all sincerity, so if local residents have any ideas, please propose them to me," said Surayud, adding that he would welcome any and all proposals on how to end the unrest.
The new prime minister pledged on Wednesday, October 18, to reach out to Muslims in the troubled south and solve the conflict peacefully.
In 2004, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said the Thai government's failure to address Muslim injustices and open a genuine dialogue with Muslim leaders in the south is the real reason behind unrest in the country.
Experts have urged the Thai government to come to terms that Muslims in the south have an identity of their own but want to be seen as part and parcel of the society and not like second-class citizens.
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