Government told to be well-prepared for peace talks
The government should be more well-prepared in carrying on the peace talks with the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) separatist group in light of the latter’s 38-page English-language document clarifying its five demands.
The above suggestion was voiced by Pattani Senator Woravit Baru and Democrat MP for Narathiwat Surachet Wae-arsae during a television talk show on the subject entitled "Special Administrative Zone" broadcast by Nation TV on September 17.
Senator Woravit said he didn’t understand why the government has not taken any actions pertaining to some of the BRN’s five demands which are acceptable such as decentralization of administration. Thus when the BRN made a demand for special administrative zone for what it called the Malay Patani which covers Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla, the government reacted with strong objection and deep suspicion, he added.
The senator claimed that he used to warn the government some time ago that the self-determination problem could be contentious issue. The issue needs not be rushed and should be discussed in the academic circle extensively covering all aspects, including legal and historical.
Woravit noted that since the document clarifying the BRN’s demands was mostly academic and concerned the ethnicity issue, academic discussion of the demands should be the first step in the search for answers to the demands before the entire demands are put forward before the parliament.
The suggested academic discussion should involve more than governmental agencies such as the Council of State, the government’s legal arm, the Attorney-General’s Office and the Foreign Ministry because there are several related aspects which should be addressed such as cultural and racial.
From his private talks with some separatist leaders, Senator Woravit assured that the separatist groups did not aspire for an independent state for their homeland but they wanted self-determination which is within the scope of the Thai Constitution.
Meanwhile Democrat MP Surachet said the ball is now in the court of the government and it depends on the government how to proceed with the peace talks and how sincere it is.
He said he used to ask the government in the parliament what is it objective in engaging in the peace talks with the BRN. If the objective is for the sake of peace, then this is good, he said, adding that he felt Lt-Gen Paradorn Pattanathabutr, the chief of the Thai negotiating team, was merely a messenger.
If the government is determined to carry on with the peace talks, the Democrat MP said that the BRN’s five demands should be raised for discussions among all security agencies instead of each agency reacting separately to the demands.
As for the special administrative zone concept, Surachet said that the appropriate modality to address this issue is the election of governors of the far South.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caption : (left) Woravit Baru (right) Surachet Wae-arsae