Bangkok - The violence continues to fester in the South, and thus escalates the country‘s greatest security threat almost by the day. The lame-duck government which came into office promising new policies is now about to leave, without making a difference which can be seen. The promises by military officers, chiefly ex-army commander Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, to locate and negotiate with the gangs terrorising large parts of the South have proven empty.
But while violence continues to claim innocent lives in Thailand‘s South, two neighbours and close allies are currently demonstrating activist policies that have almost ended terrorist activities in one country, and may soon end a Muslim revolt with some similarities to the one in Thailand‘s South in the second.
The Philippines, which negotiated a peace settlement with Moro rebels in 1996, has opened fresh talks with a second group which refused to recognise the first agreement. This unusual decision, to recognise and bargain with rebels who held out against the original settlement, could yield results.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (Milf) claims to have legitimate grievances both against the Manila government and the older Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), which signed the 11-year-old agreement. That pact provided some limited self-government, but did not satisfy the more insistent and stubborn Milf.
The Malaysian government has agreed to act as a go-between and facilitator of the talks, which opened last week in Kuala Lumpur. This is not because Malaysia has any hand in Milf, but only because both President Gloria Arroyo and Milf trust Malaysia. The Philippines government has already won important concessions. Probably the most vital has been an Milf determination to oppose, even on the battlefield, the radical terrorist organisations _ the al-Qaeda-sponsored Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah.
JI, whose former operations commander Hambali was captured in Ayutthaya more than four years ago, has planned but failed to carry out terrorist attacks in Thailand. But it has killed literally hundreds of innocent civilians in bombings and other violence in Indonesia and the Philippines. After Indonesia stepped up operations against JI following the 2002 Bali bombings, several leaders of the group fled to nearby southern Philippines to operate. Milf, in addition to agreeing to peace talks with Manila, has helped in the hunt for the terrorist leaders.
Indonesia, meanwhile, has just completed a largely peaceful Ramadan. Violence by terrorists and fundamentalist nihilism by radical Islamists has almost stopped. Huge credit for this is due to combined pressure by law enforcement agencies _ police and, especially, the courts.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last week refused to entertain pleas for clemency on behalf of the three most prominent Bali bombers, who soon will be executed. They have been sentenced by the courts and the sentences will be carried out soon by firing squad, he said. Arguably, however, even more credit for the calm in Indonesia must go to the huge majority in the Muslim nation, who have opposed radicals and Islamists at every step.
No two countries or rebellions are the same. That said, the examples of the Philippines and Indonesia merit close attention. Instead of allowing the Muslim rebellion to poison the nation, the Philippines has taken the hard choice to recognise the rebel groups. It is likely Manila will have to cede some local power to the rebels, but the nation will stay intact and the violence will stop. Then, a largely united Muslim population will certainly show, as it has in Indonesia, that it will not support any terrorist attacks on innocent people.
As President Yudhoyono said, Indonesia has a long way to go to defeat the terrorists. But measurable progress has been made. The same cannot be said for Thailand‘s South, where a faceless enemy of decency and tolerance has actually escalated killings and drive-by murders of Muslims who dare to oppose them.
Two of the many possible courses of action in the South include talking with insurgent leaders and seeking greater cooperation from communities to rein in the violence. The current policies have shown few signs of success.
Source: www.bangkokpost.com (19 November 2007)
