Growing Separatist Fervor in Thailand-A Pattani Republic?

THAILAND (DNSI)-With the recent upsurge in terrorist and guerrilla activity in the Thai south, the big question here in Bangkok is, "Who are the guerrillas and what are their political goals?" The leader of the Islamic community in Thailand refuses to comment on the situation, as do all other Muslims here. A Muslim friend of mine, who was born in the south, offered to give his view of the problem.

Rashai (not his real name) was born during World War II in Kalantan Province when it was still a part of Thailand. He attended a British colonial school where he learned English and migrated to Bangkok four years ago because of better job opportunities here. He has relatives who are still living in the south whom he corresponds with.

"The guerrillas in the south want a Pattani Republic set up comprising the same borders as the Kingdom of Pattani did before the Thais annexed it," Rashai explains. "The people of the south are fanatics," he continues; "they want to throw the Buddhists out, and the Thai government is playing into the hands of the guerrillas."

Rashai described how the people of the southern provinces of Narathivas, Yala, and Pattani are not only Muslim, but also of Malay ethnic stock who speak Malaysian dialect rather than Thai. "Not only do they consider themselves to be Malay, but the Thai government reinforces that feeling by appointing Thai Buddhists from Bangkok who can't speak Malay, which increases the feeling of domination."

Rashai's feelings are appreciated by the Thai government which now forces all the officials appointed to the south to undergo a cultural sensitivity program in which they are taught Malay as well as Islamic culture and law. But after almost 200 years of Thai domination, such efforts may be both too little and too late.

The three provinces were once an independent state, called the Kingdom of Pattani and ruled by a Malay Sultan. Starting in 1787, an expanding Siam demanded tribute from the sultan, but in 1808, the people revolted. The Thai army crushed the revolt and the Thai king divided the kingdom into provinces and appointed Thais as governors. In 1909, the British signed a treaty with the Siamese recognizing Thai sovereignty over the area. Thus, saved from the fate of British colonialism, the Malays in Pattani were handed over to a more enduring form of colonialism-Siamese expansionism. Since then, the area has been seething with banditry and anti-government activity, directly proportional to the amount of control exercised by the Bangkok government.

From 1938 to 1946, roughly equivalent to the Japanese hegemony in Asia, the Thais enacted a series of laws designed to "integrate" the Malays into the Thai culture. All Malays were required to adopt Thai names as well as wear Thai dress. The Malay language was forbidden to be used in business or government, thus depriving the Malays of access to those fields.

With the change of the government in 1946, the laws were repealed, but the damage had been done by alienating the Malays.

Rashai explains how the religious division almost exactly corresponds to the economic and ethnic levels, with the Malays in the south on the bottom of the scale and the Thais and Chinese occupying the middle and upper economic Brackets. "This isn't necessarily because of a discriminatory policy," he asserts, "as the situation is quite the same in Malaysia; but in Pattani, the people think that they're being discriminated against when they see all the local officials are Buddhists from Bangkok."

Another rankling point is Bangkok's calling the Muslims in the south "Thai Muslims." "It's a misnomer," declares Rashai, "and one that allows the Thais to ignore the whole central issue of insurgency there." Unlike the Muslims in Bangkok, who are mostly

Thai, the ones in the south are ethnically Malay. "It isn't just a religious problem, but a cultural one as well,"

After the granting of independence to Malaysia by the British, Malay aristocrats from the Thai south appealed to the U. N. to allow them to join the Federation of Malaysia, but the new Malaysian government, faced with a "confrontation" from Indonesia and a fragile electoral division between the Chinese and Malays, disowned the irredentist movement.

The biggest problem of the Thais, Rashai feels, is how to handle the terrorism. While the Bangkok government admits that not all Muslims are separatists and surely not communists, the very mechanics of a counterinsurgency effort necessitates that all villagers in the region be regarded as potential terrorists or guerrilla sympathizers, which increases anti-government Buddhist /Thai hostility. "The moderate Muslims who are loyal to the government, but desire reforms are having their positions eroded by the polarization which the heavy-handed suppression forces are causing," explains Rashai.

What is the solution? Rashai had a single word-"autonomy." The Malaysian government doesn't want trouble with the Thais over the region, explains Rashai, so there should be no fear by the Thais that an autonomous Pattani region would join the Malaysian Federation. He feels that giving the Malays control over local affairs would not only win their loyalty, but deprive the communists of their loyal support. "The people aren't communist, or pro-Malaysia but only anti-Thai, and the Thais could rectify that situation in a few weeks by granting them a bigger voice in government."

( Copyright Dispatch News Service International )