Bangkok - Eighteen-year-old Alif Umar`s greatest wish is to see peace return to his beloved hometown in Pattani`s Nong Chik district. However, Alif must accept the harsh reality that the southern violence is too complicated for an overnight solution.
While hundreds of thousands of Muslim and Buddhist youths are trying to learn to live with the bombings and gun attacks that occur on a near-daily basis, Alif has gone one step further by depicting the grim situation through a painting, his favourite hobby.
Through a water-colour painting titled ``Hope and Peace``, Alif`s work shows several roads blockaded with barbed wire together with the famous Krue Se Mosque and a Muslim lady covering her face with her hands while praying for peace. It also includes a traditional ko lae fishing boat, flying a national flag and a yellow flag carrying the royal emblem of His Majesty the King.
``I want everyone to know that although I live in a remote area, I am also a Thai. I love my country and His Majesty the King just like everyone else,`` the teenager said.
Alif`s drawing is among 100 works of art on display at the Thai Health Promotion Foundation exhibition under the theme ``Reflections of My Mind: Colours for Peace.`` The illustrations which made it to the exhibition were chosen from more than one thousand paintings drawn and sent in by youths in the three violence-plagued southern border provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat.
Unlike Alif, Nihayatee Hajiwaebaka, also from Pattani, chose to paint a picture of dead soldiers. The 12-year-old Muslim girl said she felt sorry for them because they came to protect villagers but died because of the unnecessary violence.
Most of the paintings reflect the dark side of the violence, with children painting pictures of Buddhist monks holding guns, burning houses, schools and rubber plants. Some even drew paintings of their parents` funerals, beheaded bodies and soldiers covered in blood.
Kwanta Plodpinya, a former art teacher at the Pattani Vocational College, said she started the project two years ago by introducing a painting class to more than 1,000 students so they could express their feelings on the situation.
``Children can speak their minds through art better than talk,`` she said.
``The southern violence has traumatised these kids for too long. It`s time for adults and policymakers to do something to help them.``
Source: www.bangkokpost.com (5 April 2008)
