Unusual calm in deep South
The second half of August was unusually calm for the deep South with less bomb attacks and shooting incidents.
Even on August 31 which coincided with Malaysia’s national day, there were no serious violent incidents as anticipated by the Thai security – a far cry from the same day last year when Malaysian flags were found hung in over 200 public spots in the three southernmost provinces.
The most violent incident of the period took place on August 16 when suspected militants shot up a police pickup truck of Narathiwat’s Rue So district killing four police officers in the vehicle.
The other violent incident occurred on August 19 in Pattani when a primary school teacher and a Muslim teacher of a private Islamic school were separately shot dead.
The Isra news desk talked with several concerned authorities to gauge their views about the sudden drop of violent incidents during the second half of August. The followings are the explanations which may be right or wrong.
The Thai military has started unofficial peace talk with the New Pulo separatist group which was left out from the peace talk process between the government and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional separatist group brokered by Malaysia which started on February 28. It was suspected that the New Pulo separatists were responsible for several violent incidents in the region in their attempt to undermine the peace talks between the government and the BRN.
A Malaysian figure who played a key role in the peace talks between the government and the BRN quietly visited Thailand and met the two negotiating teams with a strong assurance that the process must go on despite the violent incidents.
The Malaysian government has demonstrated its readiness and willingness to cooperate in earnest with its Thai counterpart to bring about peace in the three southernmost provinces in line with the policy earlier made clear by Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.
In a show of Malaysia’s sincerity and commitment towards the peace process, a reliable source said that Kuala Lumpur quietly returned to Thai authorities a number of suspected militants wanted in Thailand under the condition that the Thai authorities must keep this information confidential.
The beef-up of security ahead of the Malaysian national day might also contribute to a drop in violent incidents.
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Caption : Malaysian flags were found hung in over 200 public spots in the three southernmost provinces, 31 October last year.