General Akkanit: Peace talk process with the BRN is a failure
The official signing of the peace agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on March 27 may provide hope to or inspire several parties concerned in Thailand that the peace process in the restive Deep South may lead to an end of the senseless violence and restoration of durable peace.
Hope and inspiration aside, that may be wishful thinking. The truth is that we are still a long way from the Philippine lesson. The peace talk process between the government and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional which began last year in Kuala Lumpur has been, so far, a failure, according to the assessment of General Akkanit Muensawat, former chief of the border coordinating committee.
General Akkanit said that if the peace talk process is to carry on, there must be a major structural overhaul of the process, especially the role played by Malaysia which the retired general described as insincere given his background as a key member in solving the problem of Communist Party of Malaya for Malaysia.
He made an assessment of the benefits gained from the peace talk process for the Thai government, the BRN and Malaysia in its capacity as the facilitator.
The benefits gained by the Thai government are: an improved image for the government in the eyes of the international community and the people in the Deep South that the government has an intention to resolve the conflict through peaceful means and the peace talk process has provided a channel for official peace talks between the government and the rebel group.
For the BRN, the peace talk process has upgraded the status of the BRN from an illegal organization to one which was more widely recognized. The process has also earned the BRN more support from the locals aspiring for the liberation of the Patani homeland. It has sparked off awareness among the locals about the right to self-determination.
As far as Malaysia was concerned, the peace talk process helped boost the image of Malaysian government during the election and also helped strengthen Malaysia’s aspiration to be the ASEAN leader.
If the peace talk process can lead to the creation of a special administrative zone or an autonomous region in the Deep South, a buffer zone will be created separating Thailand from Malaysia.
According to General Akkanit, the Thai government’s handling of the peace talk process with the BRN was utterly amateurish as it lacked consultation with relevant agencies such as the Foreign Ministry, the army, the Internal Security Operations Command and the National Intelligence Agency. The peace talk was handled by just a handful of people among them National Security Council chief Paradorn Patthanathabutr and Pol Col Thawee Sodsong, secretary-general of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre.
The Thai peace talk negotiating team is inexperienced, not resourceful and lacks even a peace talk roadmap. General Akkanat said the team was totally unprepared even on the day when the peace talk agreement was signed in Kuala Lumpur on February 28, 2013.
The general noted that members of the peace talk team barely had consultation before each meeting with the rebels. Before entering the meeting room, he said Lt-Gen Paradorn would ask his colleagues what did they have to talk about.
There were no informal meetings over lunch between the Thai negotiators and the rebels which would have been helpful in trust building. Also the Thai team did not have any mandate from the government.
General Akkanit noted that the open peace talk was against Thailand’s long held policy that the talk with the rebels should be held in private because it was a domestic issue. He suggested a new organization answerable to the prime minister to be set up to hold talks with the rebel groups similar to the one in the Philippines.
As for the role played by Malaysia, the retired general said Malaysia was not a mediator or facilitator but a promoter of the peace talk process.
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Caption : General Akkanit Muensawat