Natmuddin: "Thais should have more patience towards peace process."

Thai people should have trust and more patience towards the peace talk processs between the government and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) separatist group, according to Natmuddin Uma, an advisor on southern unrest problem of Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung.

          The former MP of Narathiwat sat down for an interview with a member of Isranews agency after his house came under grenade attack twice on the nights of April 7-8 by unidentified assailants who were suspected to be separatists.  He was not hurted but his house sustained minor damages from the M79 grenades fired from a launcher.  A third bomb attack from the same type of weapon took  place on the night of April 9 after this interview.

          Natmuddin said he didn’t think the grenade attacks had anything to do with his job as Mr Chalerm’s advisor because there are altogether nine advisors.  He said he had no personal and political conflicts with anybody and admitted that he had no idea what were the motives of the attacks.

          Regarding the peace talk process, the ex-MP stressed the importance of trust building as the first step towards peace dialogue.  "Before entering the peace talk, the two sides must have mutual trust with each other.  If the BRN do not have trust, why did they join the talk?"

          He praised officials of the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre, Internal Security Operations Command and the local administration for the trust-building efforts leading to the peace dialogue.  However, he pointed out one problem which could derail the peace process – that is most Thai people do not have much patience and they want to see immediate result from the dialogue – that is an abrupt end of the violence "which is impossible."

          Before the two grenade attacks, Natmuddin said he was in Malaysia visting his daughter and had a chance to meet with a Malaysian official who was involved in helping broker peace talks between the Philippine government and the Moro rebels in Mindanao.  He said that the Malaysian official spent more than a year in the Philippines, approaching and talking with every stakeholder while gunshots and explosions were taking place.

          "Unlike we Thais, the Filippinos have patience.  And in the end a peace framework brokered by Malaysia was signed between the two rivals," said the ex-MP, adding that it is wishing thinking that peace will be quickly restored because there is not a single command among all the separatist groups.  But he insisted that the government had talked to the right group of separatists.

          As for the hard-core separatist groups which still reject the peace process, he suggested that the government should try to approach the groups through the local officials namely the district officers, kamnans and village heads.

          Natmuddin, however, said that the role of these local administrators should be changed – that is they should not get involved in crime suppression which should be left to the police.  "These local officials must be accessible by both good and bad people and they should get involved in trust-building efforts which will help the peace talk process," he added.

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Caption : Natmuddin, while checked the scene of grenade attack in a house near his home.