Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and a smouldering central city (crackdown-related arson, done by certain groups within
the protest movement, caused damage estimated at US$15 billion).
In 2011, general elections were held and Thaksin's politically allied Puea Thai party
won a parliamentary majority making his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, prime minister.
Troubles in the Deep South
Starting in 2001, Muslim separatist insurgents have been waging a low-scale war against
the central government in Thailand's southernmost provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and
Yala. These three provinces once comprised the area of the historic kingdom of Pattani
until it was conquered by the Chakri kings. Under King Chulalongkorn, the traditional
ruling elite were replaced with central government officials and bureaucrats from
Bangkok. During WWII, a policy of nation-building set out to transform the multi-ethnic
society into a unified and homogenous Thai Buddhist nation. This policy was resisted in
the Deep South and gave birth to a strong separatist movement fighting for the independ-
ence of Pattani. In the 1980s and 1990s, the assimilation policy was abandoned and then-
prime minister Prem promised support for Muslim cultural rights and religious freedoms.
He also offered amnesty to the armed insurgents and implemented an economic develop-
ment plan for the historically impoverished region.
Thaksin was the first prime minister in Thai history to complete a four-year term of office.
The Thaksin regime took another approach to the region, which still ranks among the
most economically and educationally depressed in the country. Greater central control
was exerted; this was viewed as a thinly disguised policy to break up the traditional
stronghold of the Democrat Party. The policy succeeded in weakening relations between
the local elite, southern voters and the Democrats who had served as their representative
in parliament. However, it did not take into consideration the sensitive and tenacious
Muslim culture of the Deep South. In 2002, the government dissolved the long-standing
inspectorate and the army-run joint civilian-police-military border security office - a unit
often lauded for maintaining peace and stability and providing a communication link
between the Thai government and the southern Muslims. In its place the Thai provincial
police assumed control of security, though they lacked a perceived moral authority and
the support of the local population. In 2004, the government responded harshly to
demonstrations that resulted in the Krue Se Mosque and Tak Bai incidents, which togeth-
