FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AS-266-2006
October 25, 2006
A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
THAILAND: Prime minister ignorant of the Philippines & the south
The Bangkok Post of October 24 quoted the interim prime minister of Thailand, General Surayud Chulanont, as saying that he will adopt methods used by the Philippine government to deal with insurgency in Mindanao when tackling the violence in the southern provinces of his own country. “I will take the lessons the Philippine government has successfully learned to cope with its problem back to Thailand to study,” he reportedly said after meeting with the president of the Philippines, adding that both countries had a similar issues with “minority Muslims”.
These comments reveal the extent of the prime minister’s ignorance both about the situation in the Philippines and also that in the south of his own country.
The only lessons to be learnt from the Philippines are how to ensure long-running and intractable violence through systemic neglect and deceit. The 1996 peace agreement signed between the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front (not Abu Sayyaf, as the prime minister is reported to have said), has failed the people of Mindanao. Various schemes set up under its auspices have never been properly realised. Talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front have stalled since the authorities have refused to negotiate over regional autonomy. Abu Sayyaf, which remains active, is itself alleged to be the product of a failed covert counter-insurgency operation.
In both Mindanao and the southern provinces of Thailand, the real problems are not about “minority Muslims” but about basic issues of justice and impunity. These are problems that exist across both the Philippines and Thailand as a whole, but are particularly acute in those areas of persistent conflict. In both places, millions have been disconnected and impoverished by malicious and irresponsible central government polices, by the maladministration of justice, and by local officials allowed to run riot.
While General Surayud travels around Asia purportedly looking for solutions to the problems in the south, his best hopes are back in Thailand. In May 2006 the widely-respected National Reconciliation Commission, established by the former government, made detailed proposals on how to stop the conflict. The included the following:
1. Set up three special bodies to solve the violence, one to coordinate policy, one to help develop the region economically, and one to allocate money for reconciliation work.
2. Set up an unarmed security force comprising of civilians, soldiers and police.
3. Transfer and “deal decisively” with incompetent government officials and others found to have abused their power.
4. Rebuild the judicial system to ensure public confidence, efficiency and the rule of law.
?lt;br />The government of the Philippines has not done these things in Mindanao. So why is the prime minister of Thailand talking about adopting its methods?
?lt;br />The Asian Human Rights Commission urges General Surayud to stay at home. He should read the report of the National Reconciliation Commission, meet with its authors, and go to talk sincerely with people in the south. The commission’s report is the most considered and comprehensible plan for ending the fighting to date. It must be the starting point for any further work.
There are three further obvious preconditions for peace in the south: first, the emergency regulations in force there–which contrary to its rhetorical commitments to peace the military government of Thailand has just renewed–must be lifted, and martial law removed from the rest of the country; second, genuine civilian government and constitutional rule must be returned to Thailand; third, United Nations experts must be granted access to see the situation for themselves. In the absence of any of these, we can expect no letup in the killings, abductions and bombings that continue to plague Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and beyond.
The fighting goes on in the southern Philippines as it does in southern Thailand because of misguided policies and harsh practices that only further isolate local people and strengthen the hands of those prone to violence on all sides of the conflicts. Whatever it does, the government of Thailand must under no circumstances apply the lessons of Mindanao to the south: this is nothing other than a recipe for more of the same.
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