Militant or martyr? | Bangkok Post: opinion

COMMENTARY

Insurgents have 'a deep pain' in their hearts

Published: 18 Feb 2013 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

A two-minute video clip of the funeral of some of the 16 dead Islamist insurgents from the failed attack on a marine outpost in Narathiwat's Bacho district was posted on the YouTube social network last Friday _ just two days after the attack.

Titled "Untukmu 16 Syahid Pahlawan Patani" (Kingdom of Warriors for 16 Martyrs) the clip shows a large group of Thai Malay Muslims attending the funeral held at a cemetery with several of them chanting "Allah Akbar" (God is Great).

The clip in question has provoked an uproar among Thai Buddhists who feel the dead are murderers of innocent people and not heroes as perceived by their Muslim families and friends.

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FiveBill
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Discussion 49 : 15 Apr 2013 at 09.0949
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Have we all not heard the expression, "One man's terrorist is anther man's freedom fighter"?
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facts_only
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Discussion 48 : 22 Feb 2013 at 11.4548
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"A background check of the dead victims shows several of them were involved in the Tak Bai incident of Oct 25, 2004 which ended tragically with seven protesters killed by gunfire by security forces"

85 people died at Tak Bai. Not 7.

"Members of the Thai security forces who are responsible for the deaths of 85 protesters eight years ago today at Tak Bai in southern Thailand must be brought to justice...Seven were shot dead, and a further 78 were crushed or suffocated to death in army vans transporting them to a military detention camp." - Amnesty International, Oct 2012
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D1063N35
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Discussion 47 : 21 Feb 2013 at 08.3747
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Read the current opinion piece on the Bkk Post 'get though with the trawlers'. Besides the racism, and other humiliations stemming from a supremacist ideology, which are lacking from this article, you can never expect to even approach the conflict seriously.
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bangmodken
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Discussion 46 : 19 Feb 2013 at 11.1146
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There has been much speculation about the continuous killings in the South,which often seems random. On rare occations Bangkok Post and The Nation prints articles about other possible culprits behind some of the killings. Mentioned are para-militaries/vigilante revenge killings,oil-smugglers,drug-gangs,local political feuds over positions/government contracts and aggressive land-grabs by influentials using the same tactics as the insurgents.
The police mostly just blame shootings and bombings on insurgents without ever having investigated anything. The majority of victims are muslims.
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Smithy
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Discussion 45 : 19 Feb 2013 at 09.4145
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geoffo, not every killing in south of thailand is related to insurgency. like everywhere in thailand, there are personal/business conflicts which end in violence. also sometimes the killers are not actually who they seem. sunni/shia is not issue in south thailand. not like pakistan. also can guess insurgents don't have much money. this is why they have to steal guns. saudi arabia (salafi) is very different islam to south thailand (syafai mix with anamist).
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brilliant
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Discussion 44 : 19 Feb 2013 at 07.4244
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The one other incident that everyone is forgetting that created ill will is the "kidnapping" and murder of the human rights attorney for Muslims, Somchai Neelapaijit. He was in Bangkok to make complaints about torture and the illegal holding of suspects. Of course, conveniently hew was killed by "rogue" cops and the mastermind,which is an oxymoron in Thailand, never found.
Of course the PM at the time, who had everything to gain by his disappearance, said "Oh, don't worry. I understand he had a fight with his wife, and will probably be back home in a day or two."
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spiceman
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Discussion 43 : 19 Feb 2013 at 03.4043
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Khun Robins #25, do you think TS was right to replace a highly effective, time-proven strategy, recognizing the Islamic way of life and language of the deep southerners, with his own ill-conceived and disastrous strategy? The goal of the old strategy was to give them the reason to continue to be a part of Thailand in exchange for a semiautonomous rule. However, TS' goal was to give them an offer they could not refuse of imposing the majority's Buddhist way of life, language, and economic development on them. And when they refused, he crushed them mercilessly at Tak Bai, and things all went down hill from there.
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DickFarang
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Discussion 42 : 19 Feb 2013 at 00.1542
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Some wars you cannot win: Think of Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Northern Ireland.
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geoffo
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Discussion 41 : 18 Feb 2013 at 22.2741
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Everyone has an opinion but no one knows for certain what these people are after. They kill any and all people, of any age or sex, Thai or Muslim.

Are they Sunni or Shi'a. Are they part of the Malaysian PAS who have tried for 25 years to form a new Islamic state in Kelantan. PAS also began by looting an Army camp for arms.

30 years ago the people fighting in the South were Communists-funded by the Chinese. 60 years ago they were anti-Japanese-funded by the West.

Who is supplying the money. Fingers are pointed at the Saudi's. Is this fair? I don't know but someone does.
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musashi
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Discussion 40 : 18 Feb 2013 at 20.3740
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Your idea is good. Ex-PM Anand proposed a solution (that included language issues) to the then-PM TS.

It was accepted, only to have the plans scuppered by Prem for nationalistic reasons. Soon after, the ex-army chief Sonthi promised to end the southern violence only to have the army involved in both the Krue Se and Tak Bai incidents. Next the Dems and the PADs quickly jump on the bandwagon to pin the blame on TS instead of the army.. and the coup came swiftly thereafter.

Which government can implement a good solution if the army stands in the way all the time?
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Militant or martyr? | Bangkok Post: opinion

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