Watch out, MARA Pattani may be a deception!
The headline which reads "Watch out, MARA Patani may be a deception" is not intended to discredit this movement which is made up of six groups of government opponents intent to hold peace talks with the government.
This article is meant to give a reminder that every time when there is a report of possible peace talks with the government by a new movement, it will give rise to expectations among the people in the Deep South of the peace prospect that they have been desperately yearning for decades but has never been realized.
The people in the restive region will be disappointed again if the peace talks fail again this time round. That is why this article was written to point out the weakness of MARA Patani in the perspectives of various organizations toward the potential peace process with the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha which has casted doubt about the movement.
MARA Patani is the umbrella organisation made up of six groups of government opponents namely the political wing of the BRN, three sub groups of the Pulo, the BIPP and the GMP. It should be noted here that the BRN Coordinate, the armed wing of the BRN which has been waging war against government forces and civilians for the past several years, is not involved in MARA Patani.
Even among the three Pulo sub groups, Thai security officers said that none of the sub groups pose a real threat to the government for their lack of credible armed elements. Samzuding Khan who commands the Patani Liberation Army is not included in the three sub groups, they said.
It was also pointed out the setting up of an umbrella organization such as MARA Patani was not the first of its kind. Bersatu, for an example, was set up two decades ago under the leadership of Wankadae Jehmun and has now been disbanded.
But the collapse of Bersatu was due mainly to internal conflicts, particularly concerning Dr Wankadae himself who has now led the BIPP, one of the six groups which made up the MARA Patani. Viewed in this context, MARA Patani can be seen as "an old wine in the next bottle" and it may end up in the same fate as Bersatu.
The Thai government and Thai security authorities have not taken the Mara Patani seriously. They have not considered MARA Patani as the grouping which has no real say over the armed elements which have been terrorizing government forces and civilians alike in the restive region but just a grouping set up at the prodding of Malaysia in its capacity as the facilitator of the peace process to carry on with the peace talks.
Former BRN militants recently told Isra news agency that the BRN was not interested to join the peace talks unless the government overhauls its policies regarding the three southernmost provinces.
This explains why the government has been cool to the establishment MARA Patani and its planned peace talks with the government due to kick-start in June. So far, there is still no progress on peace talks and about when the process will resume.
An informed source said that aides close to the prime minister were suspicious of the Malaysia-brokered peace talk and had counter-proposed that unless a ceasefire was observed during the month of Ramadan the government would be willing to sit down for talks with MARA Patani.
The same source said that some militant groups were reluctant to join the talks because they were not certain how long the interim government would be in power.
Meanwhile, informal peace talks between government opponents and local authorities led by Lt-Gen Prakarn Cholayuth, commander of the Fourth Army Region appear to be proceeding satisfactorily.