Thai PM turns to origami for peace in restive Muslim south<\/p>\n
Nopporn Wong-Anan, Reuters\/Bangkok<\/p>\n
Struggling to end 10 months of unrest and bloodshed in
\nThailand's Muslim south, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has
\nturned to origami to shore up support for his security policies
\nahead of a 2005 general election.<\/p>\n
The unconventional peace initiative, in which 63 million Thais
\nare being urged to make paper birds to stop the violence which
\nhas claimed nearly 500 lives, has become an overnight national
\nsensation with everyone from children to soldiers.<\/p>\n
Around 10,000 troops in the south and hundreds of thousands of
\nhealth ministry volunteers are busily folding paper birds.<\/p>\n
Electronic road signs in Bangkok are urging Thais to get
\nfolding, so the Air Force can \"bomb\" the south with a hoped for
\n63 million symbols of goodwill on Dec. 5 to mark the birthday of
\nKing Bhumibol Adulyadej.<\/p>\n
\"I agree with the prime minister that these paper birds will
\nhelp relieve some tension down there,\" factory worker Mana
\nSeekasin, 47, told Reuters as he put a paper dove in a huge box
\noutside Government House in the capital.<\/p>\n
But analysts and Islamic leaders say goodwill gimmicks will
\nnot ease the unrest if the mainly Buddhist government continues
\nto ignore entrenched state prejudice and religious discrimination
\nin the Muslim-majority south bordering Malaysia.<\/p>\n
\"The key obstacle to solving problems in the south is that the
\nmajority of Thais look at Muslims as second-class citizens,\"
\nNational Islamic spiritual leader Sawas Sumalyasak said on
\nFriday.<\/p>\n
\"Using religion to treat people differently is against the
\nconstitution,\" said Sawas, who is also president of Thailand's
\nCentral Islamic Committee.<\/p>\n
Thailand's three southernmost Malay-speaking provinces, where
\n80 percent of the population is Muslim, has always had an uneasy
\nrelationship with Bangkok.<\/p>\n
The region was home to a low-key Muslim separatist insurgency
\nin the 1970s and 1980s, but fresh violence exploded in January
\nthis year when gunmen raided an army camp, killing four soldiers
\nand making off with more than 300 assault rifles.<\/p>\n
Since then, symbols of the Thai state, from schools to monks
\nto Buddhist and Muslim policemen or civil servants have come
\nunder almost daily attack from gunmen or arsonists.<\/p>\n
Thaksin, who won a landslide election victory in 2001 and who
\nlooks set to repeat that success in February, has employed a
\nvariety of strategies to ease the unrest, but everything from
\nmartial law to lavish cash handouts has failed.<\/p>\n
Analysts fear the longer the violence drags on, the higher the
\nchances international militant groups such as al-Qaeda, or its
\nSoutheast Asian affiliate Jamaah Islamiyah, might get involved,
\npossibly taking the fight to Bangkok.<\/p>\n
The violence took a new twist on Oct. 25 when soldiers clashed
\nwith thousands of protesters in front of Tak Bai police station
\nin Narathiwat province. Seven Muslims were killed in the clashes,
\nbut another 78 died of suffocation while being transported to an
\narmy camp.<\/p>\n
Since then at least 30 people, almost all of them Buddhists,
\nhave been killed in apparent revenge attacks.<\/p>\n
Thaksin's origami scheme is not favored by all.<\/p>\n
\"I disagree with the idea of making birds from banknotes and
\nsending them to Muslims because Muslims never help non-Muslims,\"
\nwrote one person identified only as \"Army\" on www.manager.co.th.<\/p>\n
\"Therefore we should put spells on pieces of paper we use to
\nmake birds for those vicious Muslims.\"<\/p>\n
Recipients of the gesture in the deep south, whose problems
\nThaksin has variously blamed on drug dealers, gun-runners, local
\npoliticians, Muslim teachers and separatists, also want something
\nmore concrete.<\/p>\n
\"Paper birds mean nothing here,\" said Narathiwat Islamic
\nCouncil President Abdulrahman Abdulsahad, adding that his office
\nwas still getting reports about protesters missing since the Tak
\nBai incident, and of survivors suffering kidney failure.<\/p>\n
\"The government should make it clear who is responsible for
\nmissing people and help those who need urgent kidney treatment,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/thai-pm-turns-to-origami-for-peace-in-restive-muslim-south-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}