It happened in Yala township and Ban Joh Kladee
Ten years ago on April 28, hundreds of Malay Muslim men attacked 11 security checkpoints, including the Krue Se checkpoint, in Yala, Pattani and Songkhla culminating to a bloodletting which left 108 people from both sides dead.
Ten years have passed and, sadly, nothing has changed ever since. There are no answers which could be used as a lesson about what exactly happened that day and how it happened and turned out to be one of the worst tragedies in the restive deep south.
Although there were no major violent incidents on this year’s April 28 to commemorate the Krue Se incident as speculated, there were bad news about the conduct of the authorities.
The first bad news. The Cross Cultural Foundation submitted an open letter to the commander of the Fourth Army Region complaining about the conduct of a group of paramilitary rangers in their search of the house of Ardeal Dammae in village four, Tambon Tha Sab in Yala’s Muang district on April 26.
Quoting the statement from the mother of Ardeal Dammae, Cross Cultural Foundation said that the suspect was physically assaulted until he became unconscious merely because he could not find the SIM card of his cellphone.
The foundation also said that about 100 men were involved in the search of just one single house, causing panic among people in the same neighbourhood and that some of the authorities did not take off their shoes which, to the Muslims, was regarded as a show of disrespect.
The second bad news. The search of Ban Joh Kladee in Yaha district of Yala on April 28 by a combined force of policemen and troops. The foundation said that there was no advance coordination with the village head to witness the broad daylight search of all the houses in the village which were mostly occupied by women and children. Again, some officials did not take off their shoes when they were in the houses.
The Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre clarified that the authorities strictly adhered to their code of conduct in their house searches and that the officials took off their shoes every time they entered a house.
However, the SBPAC’s clarification contradicted with the statements of most of Ban Joh Kladee villagers when they lodged complaints with Mr Piya Kitthavorn, deputy secretary-general of SBPAC, during his fact-finding visit to the village.
Several sectors in the society have hoped that members of the security forces should have improved their conduct in their performance of duties ten years on since the traumatic Krue Se incident. It appears that there are still some officials who have not changed and who still have negative attitude towards the Muslim people.
Which explains why the separatist movement has increasingly attracted more supporters and young men to join their ranks whereas the state has steadily lost popular support among the locals? And why the state cannot change the negative attitude of the locals towards the authorities despite the heavy presence of security forces in the region?
There was however a piece of good news when a soldier jumped into the canal to help a drowning boy in Mayo district of Pattani. The incident was widely shared in the social media.
It is hoped that the good deeds performed by the majority of the security forces are not ruined or tainted by the misconduct of the minority.
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Caption : The entrance of Joh Kladee village in Yaha district of Yala.