Southern Thailand issues

Muslin insurgency in Southern Thailand

Main issue on southern Thailand that is widely known is the issue of insurgency
in southern Thailand. The provinces in southern that are affected by the issue are
Yolo, Pattani and Narathiwat. These three provinces are home for Malays ethnic
and the government of Thailand has used the term Thai Muslim to address them.
The Muslim population is the largest minority in Thailand which comprises
approximately 6 percent of the whole population in Thailand. There are several
factors which have brought Muslim insurgency to take place in the southern
Thailand.
Economic and social factors have contributed for the rebellion to happen. The
southern provinces are reported to have lower incomes than the rest of the
country and generally the levels of education are the lowest in the provinces.
This is an important issue as the citizens of southern provinces are being treated
unfairly by the government. Zachary Abuza, an independent researcher on
Southeast Asian security explains that the conflict is mainly about the cultural
identity of the region's ethnic Malay Muslim community as they strongly resisted
assimilation into the Thai society. They want to continue to fight against the
government to defend their cultural, religious and linguistic rights (Dominguez,
2015). The efforts of making Southern Malay Muslim into the family of national
Thai has never been successful and during the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s,
the three provinces which are Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat existed as zones of
protest. They prefer not to conform to the official policies of Thailand's
government (RAND, 2008).
The insurgency has been initiated since 1960's and between 1960 and 1998,
various of militant separatist movements have been operated in the southern
Thai

provinces.

Despite

different

ideological

and

operational

outlooks

characterize by these groups, they had something in common which they were
motivated by a common desire to shape out an independent Muslim state with
Pattani as the center (RAND, 2008). They are showing their protest by creating
conflicts, ambushes, kidnappings, assassinations, sabotage and even bomb
attacks. They want their area to be known as the area that remained beyond the
sovereign control of Bangkok and also to put pressure towards the central
government for the political demands of Malay-Muslim separatism to be

acknowledged. There are three major groups during this period which were
Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) that was established by Ustaz Haji abdul Karim
Hassan, Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO) established by Tengku Bira
Kotanila, and also new PULO formed by Arrong Moo-reng and Hayi Abdul Rohman
Bazo.
In the late 1990s, the separatist movement began to slow down. Then, a new
series of separatist attacks began when Thaksin Shinawatra became prime
minister in 2001. The government of Thaksin Shinawatra has caused bloodshed
because the government responded to the issue in aggressive ways. He
attempted to re-establish a top down political structure over the southern
provinces (Reuters, n.d). Martial law was imposed by the military in the insurgent
provinces and conflicts happened between security forces and insurgent lead to
over one hundred death during April 2004 (Macan-Markar, 2004). This shows the
mishandling by government in tackling the issue. During the administration of
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the attacks regarding insurgency have
remained high and estimation of 6,500 lives were killed which were mostly
civilians until 2015 (Dominguez, 2015). According to Dominguez (2015) bomb
blast and drive-by shootings, targeting local and national authorities have been
clear tactics employed by the insurgents.
Government's inability to identify the culprits behind the insurgent attacks is one
of the biggest obstacles faced by them. This is because no group has claimed to
be responsible for the attacks and no specific groups step forward to demand for
any concessions. According to Bajoria and Zissis (2008) the government has
attempted to solve the problem by negotiating with major separatist groups
which

are

Barisan

Revolusi

Nasional-Coordinate

(BRN-C),

Pattani

United

Liberation Organization (PULO), Bersatu, and also Gerakan Muhahedeen Islam

Pattani (GMIP). This is a good way to handle this issue; however the issue of
insurgency has never been settled. Until today, the people in the southern
Thailand are affected with the Muslim insurgency in Thailand. On September
2016, it was reported that two people killed and eight injured in bomb attack in
Narathiwat which shows the high level of seriousness about the issue and the
Muslim insurgency is a problem that should be settled quickly (Thai, 2016). The
problems that are happening at southern Thailand need more than negotiation.
Other factors such as political, economy and social factor should be revised in
order to end the insurgency of southern Thailand.

References
Thai PBS reporter (2016), Two killed and eight injured in bomb attack in Narathiwat.
Retrieved December 5, 2016, from http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/two-killed-eight/injured-bomb-attack-narathiwat

Domnguez, G. (2015). A look at southern Thailand's smoldering insurgency.

Retrieved December 4, 2016, from http://www.dw.com/en/a-look-at-southernthailands-smoldering-insurgency/a-18591878
Hoekstra, A. (2016). A look at southern Thailand's decades-old conflict.
Retrieved December 4, 2016, from http://www.dw.com/en/a-look-at-southernthailands-decades-old-conflict/a-36176775
Bajoria, J. and Zissis, C. (2008). The Muslim Insurgency in Southern Thailand.
Retrieved December 4, 2016, from http://www.cfr.org/thailand/musliminsurgency-southern-thailand/p12531
Macan-Markar M. (2004). Thailand makes its mark in blood. Retrieved December
4, 2016, from http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/FD30Ae01.html
RAND. (2008). The Malay Muslim Insurgency in Southern Thailand. Retrieved
December
4,
2016,
from
http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/OP198.html.
Reuters. (n.d). Thailand: Conflict Timeline. Retrieved December 4, 2016 from
https://www.insightonconflict.org/conflicts/thailand/conflict-profile/conflicttimeline/