Jokes about YouTube and Thawil help ease tension at peace talk
A few jokes have helped ease the tension at the third round of peace talk on June 13 in Kuala Lumpur between the Thai government and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional separatist group. They have also helped save the talk from collapse.
A source close to the Thai peace delegation attributed the improvement of the peace talk atmosphere to two Thai representatives, one of them General Niphat Thonglek, defence deputy permanent secretary. During a break after a tense discussion, the general told Hassan Taib, head of the BRN delegation, that the next time that the latter would post a new video clip on the YouTube he should invite the Thai army general to join him.
The BRN clip has already logged over 100,000 hits and Mr Taib is already a wellknown figure among Thais, said Gen Niphat jokingly prompting the BRN leader to let out a laughter. The source said that atmosphere at the meeting improved after the break.
Mr Taib was asked by the Thai side during the break to persuade the other delegates to consider accepting the Thai delegation’s demand that the BRN must urge insurgents in the field to scale down violence during the fasting month of Ramadan. The source said the BRN leader agreed to do his best.
Another Thai representative who was instrumental to improving the atmosphere at the meeting was Pol Col Thawee Sodsong, secretary-general of the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre, whom the rebels appeared to have trusted.
During the meeting, the source said one Thai representative cracked a joke, saying he would propose a sixth demand to the meeting – that was to prevent Mr Thawil Pliensri to be reinstated as the chief of the National Security Council to replace Lt-Gen Paradorn Pattanathabutr. The joke caused a big laughter among the delegates of the two sides, especially Paradorn.
Mr Thawil was former head of the NSC who was axed by the Yingluck government. However, the Central Administrative Court recently ruled his abrupt transfer illegal and ordered that he be reinstated. The government said it would appeal the ruling to the Supreme Administrative Court.
The source further said that the Malaysian facilitator for the peace talk and former director of Malaysia’s intelligence agency, Mr Dato Sari Ahmad Samsamin Hasim, asked the BRN delegation not to raise the independence and separatism issues at the peace talk.
His request dissatisfied the BRN delegates and heightened tension at the meeting, said the source, adding that the talk ended with both sides agreeing to reduce violence during Ramadan. He described the third round of talk as both a success and a failure for the Thai side.
The success was that there was an agreement on the scaledown of violent incidents. As for failure, the Thai side’s demands were not discussed at the meeting. The demands include: recognition of the right of peaceful co-existence of people of all races and religious faiths in the three southernmost provinces; recognition of the right to safety of lives and properties and their protection from all forms of violence; a halt to the hate campaign and the use of violence to resolve the conflict.
The source said that the BRN delegation categorically rejected an opinion poll of residents in the deep South which showed that most of the respondents disagreed with the idea of self-rule for the region and the use of violence to resolve the conflict.
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Caption : Clarification meeting of Thai peace delegation before the peace talk.