Muallaf soldiers live a dangerous life
Although there is no official statistics of the number of Muallaf soldiers or Buddhist soldiers who converted to Islam and married with Muslim women killed or maimed in the Deep South, it is no secret that they are constantly living a dangerous life.
According to Colonel Pramote Prom-in, spokesman of the forward command of the Internal Security Operations Command, many of these Muallaf soldiers were slain by suspected insurgents while they were travelling.
The latest victim was Yutthana Jueyuerae, a 27-year old former paramilitary ranger based in Ruesoe district of Narathiwat, who was shot dead by a lone suspected insurgent on June 10 during his wedding ceremony in Kok Pho district of Pattani. Eyewitnesses said that the killer who was mingling among the wedding guests embraced the victim and shot him at point-blank range six times with a 9-mm pistol before escaping in a waiting motorcycle.
Five days afterward, 26-year old Pol Lance Corporal Isma-ae Arwae of Ruesoi district police, also a Muslim convert, was seriously shot as he was about to attend a wedding ceremony of his own at the house of his bride-to-be in Bacho district, Narathiwat. Instead, his uncle was killed and his father was also injured.
Only July 8, 50-year old paramilitary ranger, Sgt-Maj Manasae Yusoh, also a Muslim convert, was shot dead by two assailants believed to be suspected insurgents as he was attending a wedding party in Ra-ngae district of Narathiwat.
Muallaf soldiers or other governments who converted to Islam in order to get married with Muslim women have been targeted for attacks by suspected insurgents because they were suspected to be government spies and to make use of their marriages to get information about the insurgency movements through the relatives of their women.
The targetting of Muallaf soldiers may have stemmed from several cases of Muslim women getting cheated by married government officials resulting to unwanted pregnancies, abortions or broken marriages. One recent outrageous case of this cross-cultural relationship involved a group of soldiers who secretly videotaped a young Muslim woman in an indecent act with one of the solders and the VDO clip was posted on the internet causing an uproar among many Muslims in the restive region.
Mahama Yusoh, a villager in Kok Pho district, explained that several Muslim women were attracted to government officials or soldiers because the latter were more financially secured with permanent jobs compared to young Muslim men many of them were unemployed or addicted to drugs.
Besides being targeted by suspected insurgents, several Musallaf soldiers who were married to Muslim women have been living under heavy pressure from the women’s families resulting to separation or suicide. There was a case in Ban Pa Tae in Yaha district of Yala about a government official who decided to quit government service and to convert to become a Muslim in order to marry his Muslim woman. The man turned to become a rubber tapper to make a living and regularly got into quarrels with his Muslim wife and family. In the end, the man ran away and was last heard of having committed suicide.
Despite the everpresent threats from suspected insurgents and possible boycott from families of the women, several lonely-hearted officials and soldiers were willing to take the risk and get involved in sexual relationship with Muslim women.
A 48-year old army captain, a Muallaf soldier, said he was married to a Muslim woman for two years now after he had servered in the region for more than seven years. A widower himself, he said he met his woman, also a widow, when she arrived at his office to claim compensation for her dead husband. Soon their relationship blossomed to become love and they decided to get married.
Asked about the threats from suspected insurgents, the soldier admitted that he was afraid and had to be constantly on the alert with a gun always handy. Although his wife’s family gave them a house, he said he did not live there and only went there once a while.
He said that sometimes he thought he might just be too paranoid and asked if the threats were real or just imagination. He didn’t get the answer but there is one reality – that is several Muallaf soldiers who were married to Muslim women were killed or maimed.