Comments on: Nothing much new

By: Srithanonchai

Srithanonchai — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 11:14:24 +0000

Bangkokpundit: No, I haven’t found any free pdf download so far. In fact, East-West Center policy papers used be free on their web site. But after they teamed up with ISEAS, one will have to pay the latter $S10 for the right to download the piece.

By: bangkokpundit

bangkokpundit — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 10:56:13 +0000

Srithanonchai: Thanks. I don’t know why for the life of me I didn’t do a Google Scholar search. Have you now been able to find a free PDF download?

Marc: That is journalists for you. Thank you for your reply. Having skimmed through the abstract of Asian Security paper I find it interesting.

By: Marc Askew

Marc Askew — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:41:59 +0000

To Bangkok Pundit and others Regarding Der Spiegel misquotes of Askew

Thanks to Bangkok Pundit for bringing the Der Spiegel passage to my attention – I have not encountered this piece, fortunately. In response to your query as to whether it represents my views – actually no – it is a complete mash of whatever I said to one Der Spiegel journalist in Pattani in June/July last. I have never laid the blame for the outburst of violence in the south to Thaksin, except to highlight that he laid a few of the immediate conditions. Strangely, this misrepresentation comes after I gave this journalist a copy of my monograph (Conspiracy, Politics and a Disorderly Border) where I question simplistic analyses like this.

By: Srithanonchai

Srithanonchai — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 07:03:18 +0000

For those who want to read more:

Askew, Marc. 2007. Conspiracy, Politics, and a Disorderly Border: The Struggle to Comprehend Insurgency in Thailand’s Deep South. Washington: East-West Center. (Policy Studies 29 – Southeast Asia) xi+100 pp.

Askew, Marc. 2007. “Thailand’s Recalcitrant Southern Borderland: Insurgency, Conspiracies and the Disorderly State.” Asian Security 3 (2):99-120.

By: nganadeeleg

nganadeeleg — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 08:33:33 +0000

If true, these reports of ‘training’ are disturbing:
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news.php?id=282538

Yala-based Centre for Muslim Lawyers coordinator Adilan Al Ishak said the arrests and subsequent forced-training were creating chaos among affected families while resentment from the local community towards the government was rising.

“This is not the way to win the hearts and minds of the people,” he said.

Adilan said the military operation aimed at winning the south started in Bannang Satar district on June 18 and so far, more than 500 people had been arrested in four provinces.

“First, they were held for seven days under the martial law and another 30 days under the emergency law. But instead of charging them in court or releasing the villagers, the authorities are sending them for training which is against the law and a violation of human rights,” he said.

Adilan said that from accounts given by detained villages, the detainees were given only two choices, either go for job training or risk being charged in court for involvement in the ongoing violence.

He said that though family members were allowed to see the detainees, many could not afford to go as the training centres are located in other provinces.

“But why is the military sending the villagers to undergo handicraft skill or vehicle repair training when they have steady jobs? We are not even sure now if they will be released after four months,” he said.

A social worker, Lamai Manalearn, said a 74-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy were arrested from a village in Nongchik, Patani.

“This was the first time people from the village were arrested. The old man told me he was asked to sign a paper before he can be released but instead of going home, he was sent for job training in Surat Thani,” she said.

Thai army spokesman Colonel Akara Tiproj, however, denied that the villagers were being forced to attend the job training, saying instead that it was for enhancing their labour skill and proper teaching of religion.

“We didn’t force them but explained the need for them to attend the training. But we have released several under-age detainees as we don’t want to be criticised by human rights groups,” he said.

By: Frustrated

Frustrated — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 06:27:41 +0000

Awzar
I agree that the report doesn’t provide much direction for the future – its recommendations are useless but it does identify the Islamic presence in the beheadings, killings of teachers etc. This needs to be confronted by the mainstream Islamic community and perhaps then progress can be made. Unfortunately you are still avoiding this issue in your post.

By: Ex-Ajarn

Ex-Ajarn — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 04:50:14 +0000

It is obvious the military dictatorship has no plans on dealing with the violence. Instead of protecting the citizens of the country, the soldiers are playing at politics and working to get their fingers in the pies created by private Thai companies.

Sonthi and his gang have apparently decided to let the Buddhists in the South to their fate. Without a change in policy, the extremists will achieve their goals of driving out all Buddhists from the areas of terror and Thailand’s claim to the area will obviously be weakened.

Direct military confrontation with the extremists surely isn’t a perfect strategy, but the current strategy and appeasement and apathy has resulted in the deaths of far more civilians than the previous strategy of confrontation (but the military is much safer working in government house in Bangkok rather than where they are needed in the South).

These reports are a waste of paper; the extremists will not change a strategy that is working just because some papers gets shuffled in Western countries.

On the other, if there was as much outrage within the Thai and international community over the beheadings and torture as there has been over Thaksin playing fast and loose with the tax laws, there might be enough pressure to force a change in policy.

By: Awzar Thi

Awzar Thi — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 03:09:30 +0000

Frustrated: Thanks for your remarks. I made no comments about Islamic ideology or otherwise because the subject of my observations was not the conflict in the south but the HRW report. The question is, what can this report achieve? The answer is nothing: first, because it is addresses the actions of persons who cannot be held accountable or subjected to pressure for change through methods available to HRW or any other rights group, and secondly, because it fails to offer any sort of really useful in-depth analysis through which suggestions can be made for changes to institutions designed to address the conflict in the south. This is manifest in the facile recommendations described in the original post.

It is also for this reason that, as Serf points out, ” 1,oo1 such reports on Burma/Myanmar have achieved absolutely nothing”.

Human rights advocates must begin from a place where it is possible to achieve something through their efforts. Otherwise, what is the point?

By: Frustrated

Frustrated — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 22:02:42 +0000

I agree with #2 comments that “anything that could be considered disturbing about Islam is quickly thrown down the memory hole.” And I feel that #1 comments is further evidence of this. Sure the state’s role in this conflict is not following human rights obligations but does this mean you cannot identify the presence of an abherrant Islamic ideology or Al Quaeda presence causing much violence. Where Awzar Thi is your discussion of this ?

By: Matt Wheeler

Matt Wheeler — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 10:07:43 +0000

I don’t understand Prof. Askew’s objection to this HRW report. Given Prof. Askew’s evident disdain for armchair academics and terrorism deniers, one would think that he would welcome a report that puts the victims of terrorism at the center of the story and is clear and exact about the identity and aims of those responsible for terrorist violence. Certainly, the recommendations are not likely to effect changes in militant behavior. Then again, four years of fitful suppressive measures by the police, army and marines haven’t had much effect on their behavior, either, so what are we going to demand of a human-rights report?

The substance of the report, meanwhile, would appear to favor Prof. Askew’s own assertion that “there is a new style of full-scale ‘total war’ going on here in Thailand’s south”. To that extent, the report should be helpful in correcting a skeptical discourse that Prof. Askew finds dismaying.

I think Prof. Askew minimizes the significance of the interviews with BRN-C militants. I am not aware of any other reports or studies that make use of interviews with militants not in custody. (I’d be grateful if other readers could direct me to any.) These interviews are significant precisely because they can’t be dismissed as military or government reporting, and because these militants are presumably still active. The reticence of BRN-C to proclaim the aims of their violence (in a form other than leaflets and graffiti, which can be produced by anyone for any number of reasons) has made it easier for some skeptics to avoid acknowledging the nature of the conflict.

Prof. Askew wants people to accept the fact that “Islamic people’s war” is underway in the deep South. Given that the HRW report is based in part on interviews with active militants that make this point quite forcefully, and otherwise emphasizes the human cost of the violence, it’s not clear why he is so anxious to discount it.