As dust from the latest car bombing is settling down, grim prospect remains
The last time that Yala’s municipality was struck by a car bomb was on March 31, 2012 in the commercial area located at the junction of Ruam Mitr and Chong Rak roads killing ten innocent people and injuring about a hundred.
For the last two years, there was not a single case of car bomb in the municipal area hence giving the town’s people a false sense of security and safety until Sunday April 6. The lull was shattered when a powerful car bomb and three other smaller bombs went off killing one passer-by and wounding over 20 others. Several old shophouses were set afire.
Three more bombs, believed perpetrated by the same group of insurgents, exploded on the following day. One of the bombs set fire to a warehouse causing damage estimated at about 100 million baht.
The double bombing incidents have rendered a rough awakening to the town’s folks that any dream of peace, temporary though, is just a delusion. The militants are capable of unleashing their terrorist acts whenever and wherever they wish and civilians remain a target.
But was the town well prepared to cope with effects of the violence not to mention the terrorist acts? The answer seems to be written on the wall. Believe it or not, the only functional fire truck equipped with elevated cabin to deal with high-rise fires was borrowed from the disaster prevention and mitigation office in Prachuab Khiri Khan and still not returned to its owner.
Over 200 billion baht have so far been poured into the restive region for the past ten years to cope with the insurgency problem and for development projects. Yet, there isn’t one well-equipped fire truck and the one currently available belongs to Prachuab Khiri Khan. The standard argument for the lack of budget allocation for the fire truck is that the local administrative organization should bear the burden of procuring the vehicle.
That seems to be easier said than done given the depleting revenue collection by the provincial administrative organization or the tambon administrative organization due to dampened economic situation. New investment is rare due to the insurgency problem. Which sensible entrepreneurs will invest anyway not knowing when their businesses will be struck by a bomb or they themselves are killed or injured.
Take a look at the shophouses in the townseat and you can notice the concrete block erected on the footpath in front of most of the shops. The concrete block was intended to protect the shops from motorcycle bombs.
The latest target of Sunday bomb attacks was old town section with many of the shophouses have been in operational for 3-4 generations. One of them is Tae Chun Kwang owned by a Thai family of Chinese descent.
The old lady who owns the shophouse asked Senator Anusart Suwanmongkol when he paid a visit there in the aftermath of the bombing incident whether her family should move elsewhere.
The senator was short of an answer though. He disclosed however that several old businesses in the province had closed down as their owners moved away to other provinces which are safer and peaceful.
For instance the Sin Sin popular noodle shop has relocated to Phuket. The owner of another wellknown old food shop, Chuan Chim, has reportedly decided to move to Bangkok after his shop was bombed three years ago.
Senator Anusart said that there are now nine dead victims from the senseless violence awaiting to be cremated and, as a local politician, he will have to attend almost every funeral.
Besides bomb attacks, militants also committed gruesome murders since March. The gruesome incidents included the shooting of female civilians and torching their bodies and the beheading of a female assistant headman.
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*Photo by Nasueroh Jeha