BANGKOK: After nearly a decade of conflict that has left thousands dead, Thailand is considering handing over limited powers to its Muslim-majority south in an effort to persuade rebels to lay down their arms.
Thai officials will meet with the two main insurgent groups today in Kuala Lumpur for a third round of talks that have so far failed to end near-daily violence in the region bordering Malaysia. To find a breakthrough in a war largely forgotten by the outside world, despite more than 5,500 deaths since 2004, Thai authorities have floated the idea of handing some local decision-making to three southern provinces dominated by Malay-Muslims.
“We’re not talking about autonomy but about local administration,” Bangkok’s lead negotiator Paradorn Pattanatabut, head of the National Security Council, said.
“They have their own identity (in the south) so local administration might be suitable to recognise that identity, culture and religion,” he said, but added that the idea would not be on the table at this week’s talks. His comments revived an idea previously raised by the government but later shelved.
Bangkok and the tourist hotspot of Pattaya already have a form of locally-elected administration able to make bylaws, levy taxes and manage their budget.
Full autonomy for the south remains taboo as the constitution insists the Buddhist-majority kingdom must not be divided.
While that over-arching principle is in place, some experts doubt whether the insurgents will end their violent campaign.
Moreover, concerns among the Thai elite, political and military, mean it is far from certain that Yingluck will press ahead with a potentially divisive policy.
Some in the south, where both Buddhist and Muslim civilians have borne the brunt of the conflict, see Paradorn’s proposal as a distraction from the wider issues of alleged abuses by Thai security forces and the perceived denigration of Malay Muslim culture.
At the same time there is a growing realism among some of the south’s wider population that limited local power would represent progress of sorts.
Some experts warn that the fragile peace process could collapse altogether in the absence of an impartial mediator empowered to help draw up a roadmap out of the conflict. AFP
