From the Thai-language press
- Thairath editorial: To solve or make problems?
- November 12, 2005
It is accepted that Mr. Kosin Ketthong, Assistant
Interior Minister, proposed to migrate people from
the Northeast to the three southern border provinces
to solve the land problem and unrest. But what is
unusual is that even the Air Chief Marshal agreed
with this idea.
That proposal was the way to solve the Communist
problem in the era of Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat,
a dictatorial idea. This idea might be followed
by government officials up to now. We do not know
how many Esarn people migrated to the south and
whether it was a success in merging the different
cultures.
The Thai government policy of merging races and
ethnicity in the past was a success in North and
Northeast because these two regions have the same
root of ethnicity, language, religion and culture
that is the same as the central people. And it was
success to merge the Chinese race in the central
and other regions as Chinese are migratory and a
minority in Thailand.
But it is difficult or impossible to merge people
in the deep south because of differences in ethnicity,
language, culture and due to the fact that Muslim
people are the majority in the deep south. Buddhists
are a minority with a ratio 80:20 so migrating people
with different religions and language in the south
will make problems instead of solving them.
All Thais have freedom as the constitution states
to choose where to live in the kingdom and they
should not be forced by government policy. In the
past, the migration of some Esarn people might have
been no problem, but for the event of the unrest
nowadays, the unrest group tries to separate from
the nation in every way.
If this is government policy, it will become a boon
for the bad intention group who will incite local
people to resist and accuse the government of trying
to grab land and resources of local people and imperil
the life and culture of Muslim people by bringing
in different religions. This may lead to extending
the conflict and reinforcing the support group for
the terrorists.
This idea is a way of dictating problem solving
and comes from the opposite direction of the proposals
of the National Conciliation Commission that emphasizes
peace and reconciliation and promoting respect for
a variety of religion, culture and giving communities
the right to arrange resources by religious belief
and not by merging.
More on Troubles in
the South
More on the secret
prison
To solve or make problems?
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