A senior police officer booted out of Pattani

Reports about devastating flood in Pattani early this month appeared to have eclipsed an interesting event which took place in the southern province during the same period – that was the abrupt transfer of the acting superintendent of the Muang district police, Pol Col Narucha Suwanlapha, out of the province.

The police colonel’s quiet removal which went unreported in most national newspapers stemmed from a petition to the provincial governor, Mr Niphon Narapitakkul, by a group of tambon and village heads who called themselves the kamnan and phuyaibaan club, on November 3.

They accused Pol Col Narucha of acting improperly and incompetency for his failure to contain criminal activities in the province such as drug peddling, thefts and snatchings and other violent crimes.  But the main cause of their disappointment with the police officer stemmed from the latter’s refusal to co-sign a document certifying that Mr Sakarin Wae Daoh, head of Village 8 in Tambon Pakaharang, Muang district, was killed by suspected militants despite the fact that two other officers representing the military and the local administration body had already signed the document.  The missing of another signature from the police colonel has prevented the victim’s family to receive financial help from the state.

One day after the petition was received by the governor, Pol Col Narucha was transferred to an inactive post at the southern border police operational centre.  He was replaced by Pol Col Thanongsak Wangsupha, deputy commander of Pattani provincial police.

The police colonel’s removal was greeted by the village and tambon heads in the province.  Mr Wae-uma Waedoloh, head of the group, said that the quick decision taken against the officer would help ease the insurgency problem in the violence-prone region.

He complained that the group had not received good cooperation from Pol Col Narucha and was treated with contempt by the officer.  Also, the officer’s refusal to sign the document amounted to an act of persecution against the dead victim, he addede.

Pol Col Narucha insisted that he had his own reason for not certifying the victim’s cause of death and that there was no need for him to agree with the other two officers.  He also denied that he deliberately intended to persecute the victim.

Pol Col Narucha was appointed the acting police superintendent in Pattani on April 27 succeeding Pol Col Manas Sikasamat who was abruptly transferred out of the province after a car bomb exploded about 100 metres from the district police station on April 21.  One police officer died and about 50 were injured in the bombing incident.

Meanwhile, flooding as a result of depression has caused extensive damage to farming and business sectors as well as residential areas in the three southernmost provinces.  More than 100 houses were destroyed, leaving the occupants homeless and unable to celebrate the start of the haj pilgrimage scheduled on November 16.

70-year old Mr Yapa Arwae who lost his house in the depression said that from now on he had to seek temporary refuge at a mosque in the neighbourhood.  He said philosophically that the loss of his house had brought abouth both good and bad changes.

The good change, he explained, is that he will have to stay at a mosque together with several of his neighbours who also lost their houses.  “We live together, eat together, help each other and share the same ordeal and we witness unity amog the people.”

“The bad thing is that I have no home any more and I have nothing left,” he lamented.

Uzman Daloh whose house in Pattani’s Muang district was demolished by the depression complained that he had not received any compensation from the state apart from the token assistance provided by the tambon  administration organization.

Mr Niras Arwae, the president of Lame Po tambon administration organization, said that after the initial help his office would try to help the flood victims restore their livelihood and to make a living.

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Caption : Pol Col Narucha Suwanlapha