In the end, by the end of Friday, October 25, the forlorn hope for “a miracle” expressed by Justice Minister Thawee Sodsong that some of the 14 people wanted in relation to the 2004 Tak Bai massacre, where 7 Thai-Malay-Muslim protesters died during the protest dispersal and 78 died of suffocation while being transported to a military camp in Narathiwat province due to suffocation, didn’t not materialized before the 20-year statute of limitations expire.
In the immediate aftermath of the statute expiry, Defence Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said on Saturday, the Tak Bai case is closed.
Yes, no police can now arrest any of the 14 people, which include then Tak Bai district police chief Pol Lt Gen Saksommay Phuttakoon, then Narathiwat governor Vichom Thingsom, and most notably, then Fourth Army Region Commander Gen Phisal Wattanawongkiri, who eventually became a Pheu Thai MP only to resign after the arrest warrant was issued, but for relatives of those killed, they told the Thai press they cannot simply forget how their loved ones died while being transported (like animals) piled on top of one another, hand tied to their backs, on the back of army trucks.
To the separatist movement, it is another pretext and justification for them to continue to wage the armed insurgency in hope of establishing a free and independent homeland of Patani.
The BRN (Barisan Revolusi Nasional), a secessionist movement, quickly announced via its spokesman that the failure of the Thai state to bring any of the 14 to justice was a result of the Thai government’s protecting these people from the reach of the justice system.
This writer will not speculate on whether the Thai state had willfully protected the 14 people or not although one can fairly conclude that they have utterly failed to arrest even one of the 14 and it will definitely raise suspicions.
What Thailand needs is not a “miracle” as the Justice minister said earlier this week but empathy among the general Thai public, particularly the predominantly Buddhists, or non-Thai-Malay Muslims.
Instead of trying to ensure that there’s equal justice for all, some ultranationalist Thai Buddhists lash out at fellow Thais who expressed empathy as supporters of the separatist movement and terrorists. They asked why people like myself do not make noise when Thai Buddhists, soldiers, and police were killed in Narathiwat, Pattani, and Yala provinces.
I told them I feel sympathetic to any loss of lives, and all should face justice, but the Tak Bai case was clearly a failure by the state, which should have protected its own citizens, and it led to many needless deaths – at best a crime committed by the state through its negligence.
They are unable to remove their ultra-nationalist lenses and see that from the views of some Thai-Malay-Muslims, their violent struggle is aimed at gaining independence for the former kingdom of Patani (that’s how they spell it in English, with one “t”, not Pattani) and it’s not that different from when General Taksin waged a war to repel the Burmese invaders from Siam in 1767.
A mid-term solution for Thai civil society is to support moves that would make Thai-Malay-Muslims feel less of a second-class citizen and decentralize the deep south in hope that the vast majority of them can feel proud of their dual identities. Failing to achieve this means more people on both sides will become casualties of the ongoing decades-long conflicts.
The Thai government has failed. Now, we cannot allow the general public to fail as well. We all should strive to support equal rights and decentralizations for our brothers and sisters in the deep south for this is the just thing to do.
For example, one of the 14 wanted until October 25 was then the governor of Narathiwat province. Governor Vichom was appointed by the Interior Ministry in Bangkok. I wonder if the governor of Narathiwat province at the time would have handled the situation differently if he or she was elected by the local people.
As long as Thai-Malay-Muslims feel that they are second-class citizens, it is pointless to be wishing for peace, or a miracle, in the deep south.
The post No “Miracle” for Tak Bai Massacre Case appeared first on Khaosod English.