rickfarang Posted December 6, 2004 Report Share Posted December 6, 2004 MESSAGES OF SOLIDARITY: Southern residents scramble to read notes written on air-dropped paper birds Messages from all over the country inscribed on approximately 98 million origami ?birds of peace? reached the hands of residents in the southernmost provinces yesterday, bringing joy and laughter the whole day long. After nearly a year of daily misery, residents of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat poured out into the streets to laugh and enjoy themselves while they hunted for the paper birds that fell from the sky from early morning. Some residents followed the paper birds into the rice paddies and forests, some climbed trees or up onto roofs looking for the origami birds folded by their fellow citizens. Some residents, unable to read Thai, asked security officials to help read the messages. Most residents in the deep South said they wanted to collect the birds not for any prize or reward, but because they wanted to read the different messages of goodwill from people in other parts of the Kingdom. Most said they would keep the birds as a memento of the day that millions of them rained down from the sky. ?I just want to read the messages of concern,? said Vishanu Leksaman, one of about 30 residents in Pattani?s Nong Chik district who plodded through mud to collect the birds in the rice paddies. One young student who cannot read Thai, Hawadi Waedueramae from an Islamic school in Pattani, took the birds she collected to a soldier in charge of security and asked him to read her the messages. The Nation Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted December 6, 2004 Report Share Posted December 6, 2004 Thailand's troubled south has been hit by fresh violence, just hours after army planes dropped 100m origami birds as a peace offering. A bomb exploded in Narathiwat province on Monday morning, injuring at least one soldier, police said. On Sunday, as the 50 planes made their drops, suspected Muslim militants shot dead a former prosecutor in Pattani. The bird drop caught many people's imaginations, but has been criticised by southern leaders as insufficient. Critics said the campaign - devised by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra - would not solve the complex problems that have caused the violence in the south, where more than 500 people have been killed this year. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4071229.stm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nervous_Dog Posted December 7, 2004 Report Share Posted December 7, 2004 I dodn;t like the idea, but am pleasantly surprised how well received it was down south, hopefully someone gets the free scholarship Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted December 7, 2004 Report Share Posted December 7, 2004 I liked the idea. Much better than dropping cluster bombs and I hope it solves the problems. Unfortunately I suspect it was nothing more than a clever piece of politics. Mr. T is now able to show that he tried but his peaceful gesture was rejected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsab Posted December 7, 2004 Report Share Posted December 7, 2004 I like the idea. As far as I know wife wrote one as well, but this part makes me feel a bit uneasy... "One young student who cannot read Thai, Hawadi Waedueramae from an Islamic school in Pattani, took the birds she collected to a soldier in charge of security and asked him to read her the messages." wtf, she is thai and can`t read thai. :: No wonder that there are so many problems. Even we foreigners try to integrate into thai society, so should the people in the south, muslim or not... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 7, 2004 Report Share Posted December 7, 2004 >>>Even we foreigners try to integrate into thai society, so should the people in the south, muslim or not... <<< we came to thailand by choice - the southerners didn't. there is a bit of a difference regarding integration. the kingdom of pattani was annexed by thailand. lots of people forget that thailand is not as homogenous ethnically as the central government and tourist propaganda makes us all believe. the nationalist/patriotic course along modern chinese influenced central thai lines of this government here is a dangerous path leaving out many ethnic minorities here who anyhow struggle to keep some of what little is left of their own identities. and i am scared that this symbolic little action is gonna be brought up at the next incident as a populist excuse for the government to crack down harshly and violently. as long as still hundreds of people are missing from the tak bai incident, and thaksin has not found it necessary to apologise for that desaster, i fear that the paperbirds are nothing but a selfserving move that is more aimed at uniting thais outside the south than decreasing the violence in the south. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samak Posted December 7, 2004 Report Share Posted December 7, 2004 isn't he a genious, Thaksin! with this masterpiece he is able to resolve 2 of the major problems of Thailand: restore peace in the south and replace all the birds killed by birdflue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 7, 2004 Report Share Posted December 7, 2004 :: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 9, 2004 Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 << the kingdom of pattani was annexed by thailand >> Only half. The Brits annexed the rest. And it was hardly an independent kingdom before that. It was a sultanate that had been tributary to Thailand for centuries. The reason the girl could not read Thai was because she studies at an Islamic religious school. This is part of the problem. Students all across Thailand study in central Thai. (e.g. It is my wife's second language.) The Islamic schools instead teach seperatism and sometimes radicalism. Which is the reason the radicals are constantly torching the Thai public schools in the south ... to force the students to attend Yahwee (Melayu) language Islamic schools. Malaysia is not getting too involved, since an independent Islamic republic of Pattani could make claims on the territory now in Malaysia! I just returned from Penang, and it is such a delight to see how everyone gets along there -- Chinese, Indian, Malay, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist. But that is NOT what PULO has in mind for the Malay provinces of Thailand. Notice that Muslims elsewhere in Thailand have no problems to speak of. The Narathiwat-Pattani problem is more ethnic than religious, and the seperatists play on things by trying to make it appear religious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 9, 2004 Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 p.s. I'm sceptical enough to wonder if this wasn't largely a ploy to distract the Thais away from a serious solution to the problems. Everyone -- and I mean EVERYONE -- was busy folding paper birds for weeks, all thinking they were doing their part for peace in the south. It kept them from thinking too much about the fact that this government has largely caused the mess in the south. The Malaysian border provinces were not in any turmoil under the previous government. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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