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Thai premier Surayud Chulanont has reacted to escalating violence in Thailand’s southernmost regions by traveling to the area and making his latest move towards ending decades of violence.

The insurgency in southern Thailand has received major media attention in the wake of a series of violent incidents centered in the three southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat.

The history of this separatist movement can be traced back to the early twentieth century when in 1902 Patani was annexed by Thailand (then known as Siam). Seven years later Thailand was given sovereignty over the region from a treaty with Great Britain. Patani was divided into the three aforementioned provinces, along with two districts of Songkhla, in 1933.

Patani was originally a Malay Sultanate and as a result more than three quarters of the population in the three southern provinces today are Muslim. Whilst having some linguistic and cultural similarities with the Malays of Malaysia, Thailand’s southern Malay community retains a distinct individuality and sense of independence.

As far back as the 1930s there has been a drive to establish an independent southern state. The movement has taken many forms and the ideology has shifted between a desire to establish this independent state and a desire to establish cultural autonomy. Separatist groups have continued to be active until the present day.

The resurgence of violence at the turn of the new millennium has cast a deathly shadow over Thailand’s southernmost area. The problems have not been helped by the words and actions of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his government who until 2004 insisted that criminal gangs, as opposed to insurgents, were responsible for the violence.

When martial law was declared in the southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat in January of 2004, the situation worsened as Thai troops and police were responsible for the deaths of more than a hundred Muslims in a series of attacks.

Attempts to set up a dialogue with the insurgents have been riddled with problems surrounding the anonymity of the movements’ leaders.

On August 31, 22 banks were simultaneously bombed in Yala, whilst on September 16 six motorcycle bombs killed four people in Hat Yai as attacks overran into the neighboring province. Bloodshed continued to spill onto the streets of the southern provinces as the military coup of September 19 approached.

The military coup and current political volatility in Thailand has done little to quell the friction in the South and attacks have persisted. On Thursday November 2, military-appointed Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont made a speech to 1200 Muslims in Pattani province apologizing for the problems created by the previous government, primarily resulting from the Kru Se Mosque and Tak Bai incidents which occurred in April and October of 2004 respectively.

The Kru Se Mosque incident occurred when 32 insurgents sought refuge in Pattani’s most sacred place of worship after a coordinated attack on 100 police outposts. Army commander Pallop Pinmanee ordered troops to storm the mosque and all 32 rebels were killed.

The Tak Bai massacre was spurred by a demonstration demanding the release of six men arrested for allegedly supplying weapons to insurgents. The demonstration became a massacre when the army used tear gas to control the crowd. Shooting began shortly after and scores of locals were rounded up, piled as many as five people high in trucks and driven for five hours. 85 men died in all, 78 of whom suffocated in the trucks.

The newly-installed premier’s pledge to rid the southern provinces of violence has thus far been unsuccessful as attacks continue to break out on an almost daily basis. Surayud stated that his government will only use peaceful means to end the century long tensions, although there has been no mention of the possibility of an independent state. Surayud has rather made clear that his intentions are to unify Thailand.

The Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre was recently revived, after a five year absence, and is now headed by Phranai Suwannarat who has been charged with instilling peace into the region.

The current government has been very vocal about the negative implications of the previous government’s actions, but as of yet it is unclear how the newly-revived body will tackle the situation.

Surayud has already done what Thaksin refused to: he has apologized. However, this is only a single step on an already long journey that will most likely take years to complete. If Thailand is to unify itself then measures must be taken to remove the feelings of alienation felt by the country’s Muslim population.

The author of this article can be found at WhatisMatt.com.

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