OIC summit facing sensitive issues

OIC summit facing sensitive issues

Don Pathan, The Nation, Asia News Network, Bangkok

It is not very often that the 57-member states of the
Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) can agree on something.
But thanks to the Thai government's mishandling of the violence
in the three Muslim-majority provinces in the South, the OIC is
likely to finally have an issue behind which most, if not all, of
its member states can rally.

The upcoming OIC meeting is expected to hear all about the
harsh situation facing the Thai Muslims living in the deep South,
a vast majority of whom are ethnically Malay.

Official Thai sources said there is a very good chance that
separatist groups will be permitted to raise the case of southern
Thai Muslims before the OIC ministerial meeting later this year,
when topics such as the Tak Bai massacre and the storming of the
Krue Se Mosque will be on the agenda.

They said Malaysia, the current OIC chair, had been
instrumental in getting these issues on the table.

Moreover, given the level of violence in the region and the
Thai government's unconvincing responses to the growing chorus of
criticism from the international community, one can be sure that
the plight of Thailand's southern Muslims will find a few
sympathetic ears when the OIC foreign ministers gather.

Thailand, in its capacity as an official OIC observer, is
expected to attend the gathering. The Thaksin government has for
the most part ignored the group's meetings, that is, until the
violence in the Muslim South started receiving international
attention.

One of the crucial issues in this case is who has the
authority to speak on behalf of the people in the three
southernmost provinces.

OIC norms permit Muslim groups from non-Muslim countries --
such as the Moros from Southern Philippines -- to have some sort
of official presence at its meetings so that they can make their
case.

For the time being, the OIC is said to be considering which
exile groups or individuals it would permit to speak on behalf of
Thailand's Muslim-majority South.

Regardless of who is selected to play this role, exile groups
such as the Pattani United Liberation Organization (Pulo), the
New Pulo, the Barisan Revolusi Nasional and so on, will have a
new lease on political life now that the plight of the southern
Muslims has reached the level of an international forum.

However, with sympathetic ears come headaches for Thai
diplomats in Muslim countries as well as political and financial
support for the exile groups.

Wan Kadir, or Dr Fadir as he is known among his associates and
friends, immediately comes to mind as one of the more visible
faces to have emerged from the troubles in the South.

The head of Bersatu, an umbrella organization that groups a
number of Thai Muslim separatist and exile organizations under
one network, told The Nation in an interview in Malaysia last May
that he had given up his armed struggle. He said he no longer
desired a separate homeland for the Malays in the three
southernmost provinces of Thailand and would like to return to
the Kingdom to work for a peaceful conclusion to the long-running
troubles that have plagued the South.

But bickering among political heavyweights forced Thaksin to
shelve the idea. Malaysia, where Wan Kadir was working as a
university professor at the time, told him to return to Europe
and lie low.

That was in May last year. Today, a number of Thai officials
still think it would be good to have him back in Thailand.

The idea, said several officials, is to show Muslims that the
country is open-minded enough to let him come back and start
working toward ending the chapter from which Wan Kadir emerged as
a key player.

At the same time, the current generation of underground
separatists, which has been characterized by its use of radical
and militant methods, will have to be dealt with accordingly.

Over the past 14 months, more than 600 people have fallen
victim to the violence in the region, and the authorities do not
seem to have a clue as to how to curb this new emphasis on
violence.

Bangkok made a big mistake by ignoring the OIC over the past
four years. The admission into the organization as an official
permanent observer was a stamp of approval for the predominantly
Buddhist country's handling of the Muslim minority.

But today, this is no longer the case. The government's
all-or-nothing attitude has effectively forced the issue back
onto the OIC table and could very likely open a new chapter in
the history of Thailand's restive South.