General Anupong opens his heart on the southern situation
By the News Desk
Army Commander-in-Chief General Anupong Paojinda who is due to retire at the end of September gave a lecture to class 2 students of King Prajadhipok on the restive situation in the far South. On the same occasion, he gave candid answers to a host of questions raised by the students who comprise senior officials, executives of private firms and senior journalists.
The Q and A are as follows:
Q: What are the tactics used by the insurgents?
A: There are three tactics: terrorism, inciting violence and guerrilla activities against civilians and government officials.
Q: What are our tactic?
A: Through normal judicial process – that is through the use of the criminal law.
Q: What are the conditions that contribute to the situation down there?
A: There are two dimensions – the mental side which concerns historical, racial and religious aspects and the thinking which concerns injustice and the feeling that the region is not developed compared to Malaysia.
Q: The oganisational structure of the insurgent groups?
A: From years of working experiences by the army, we have all the information. The insurgent groups have adopted a seven-stage strategy leading up to territorial secession. Until now, al the stages have been implemented starting even before the dissolution of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre in 2002 by then the government of Thaksin Shinawatra. The structure was in place and personnel trained, so once the centre was dissolved many of them were able to operate.
Q: What are the targets of the insurgents?
A: To win over the hearts and minds of the people in the three southernmost provinces plus four districts of Songkhla (namely Jana, Thepa, Sabayoi and Na Thavee) or about two million people. They do not intend to fight against the state the way the terrorist groups did in the past or to set up a people’s army to fight against the Thai army. But they change the tactic to mobilize people to their side to resist against the state. After that, they will internationalise the situation in the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Countries) and the UN like the cases of Eastern Timor and Ajeh.
Q: The number of the insurgents?
A: There are about 7,000 of them divided into about 1,000 hard-core members, about 2,000 operatives and the rest and united front members.
Q: How does the government deal with the problem?
A: The insurgents and their supporters are regarded as criminals and not terrorists. Using force to deal with them is wrong their movement is all about hearts and thoughts as mentioned before. The use of force cannot change that.
Q: What is the government’s approach to deal with the problem?
A: Every government has used “politics leading military” approach and HM the King’s suggestion of “understanding, access and development” . However, it must be understood that political approach does not mean any non-military means but it means a war without bloodletting – that no weapons are used for killings and that soldiers are capable of doing political work.
The target of the political side and the military is the same – that is the two million people with about 7,000 insurgents and their united front members attempt to incite unrest and to stage terrorism acts of all forms.
The present government has resorted to development. A special cabinet-level committee has been set up to develop five southern provinces as a special case with projects worth more than 60 billion baht to be channeled from various ministries and departments to implement the projects during 2009 2012. The ultimate is to try to win the hearts and minds of the people down there.
At this point, I would like to clarify about the allegation that the army is trying to prolong the unrest so as to exploit the budget because most of the budget are not allocated for the military. Our approach has been political approach that is through development. But I believe that this approach alone will be able to win over the thought of the people down there but not their hearts which are concerned with history and race. I think that we have to address thes issues about history, race and religion.
Q: What about the demand for the withdrawal of troops?
A: The insurgents and some groups of people there have been indoctrinated with the socialization process. The question is how to deal with it. The two million people are like a daughter and and we are like a father who has a daughter who will be on guard against any suiter who wants to deceive our daughter. The duty of the soldiers down there is to keep a close watch on our daughter. If the troops are pulled out, then which organization will look after the two million people. The most important thing is that the soldiers’ duty is to keep watch on the daughter. I do not deploy the troops to make war. Those who advocate troops withdrawal should give me an answer about which organization would replace them.
Soldiers approach the people under the “understanding, access and development” concept. We understand the people and the people understand us. We do not carry weapons into the villages but we bring along development projects.
Previous, there were social problems because most of the youths only pursued religious studies which made it difficult for them to get jobs. There are now about 200,000 youths who are outside formal education system and without jobs and more than half of them are involved in illicit drugs. And the Yalunnan Baru scheme is meant to bring these youths out of this cycle.
Q: How many troops are deployed in the region?
A: There are altogether about 60,000 of them, including 20,000 soldiers, 18,000 policemen and over 20,000 civil servants.
Q:How to deal with the 7,000 or so insurgents and united front members?
A: To create better understanding especiall among the united front members by bringing them into political schools to change their thoughts. To enforce the law to arrest the wrongdoers and, finally, the use of military force on limited scale.
Q: Why the use of martial law and emergency decree?
A: If normal law is used, you cannot make an arrest even in a generation. It is also difficult to make investigation. Therefore we rely on intelligence information and forensic science.
Q: Why so many security-related cases were dismissed by the court?
A: That is the judicial matter. We have to accept it is right when some were acquitted. That shows that the justice system is fair. It will be weird if all the arrested suspects are jailed.
Q: What about the proposal for a special administrative zone?
A: That is possible if the idea has no ulterior motives. But if this is the starting point of an idea of secession or a separate state, then my answer is No.
Q: What about the calls for troop pullout, negotiations and special administrative Zone?
A: If they can solve the unrest problem, then I agree with them. If it can be assessed that the soldiers down there have caused damages, then I will be the first to order troops withdrawal. About the special administrative zone idea, my question is will the restive problem comes to an end. And about negotiations, will the problem be resolved. Under the present precarious circumstances, the change of administrative system is a dangerous affair.