Buddhists Under Siege

[Zaad]

Hi,

 

An article on the South of Thailand in 'TIME magazine' 6 Dec. 2004. A summary of the ongoing happenings and what more to expect.

 

Village chief B.P. 49, is one well-armed Buddhist. Holstered under his baggy shirt is a .38-cal. revolver, and at home he keeps an assault rifle to protect his wife and teenage daughter. B. is taking no chances. Two weeks ago, his friend R.T. 59, was abducted from their remote village of Ai Ti Mung in troubled Narathiwat province. His decapitated corpse was found the next day. "I think he was still alive when they cut his head off".

 

Last month police and soldiers shot dead six Muslim protesters in nearby Tak Bai, and another 79 perished on military trucks ferrying them to an army camp. Since then more than 30 people have been killed by unknown attackers in what Buddhists fear is an escalating campaign to drive them from Southern Thailand. In response, Buddhists are arming themselves - and not just the villagers. Every Sunday a Thai businessman drives his armor-plated car to a navy firing range outside Narathiwat town, where he and other local Buddhists practice how to shoot.

 

While a bankmanager and a bookshop owner blast away with sleek Italian-made shotguns, the businessman - who doesn't want to be named - takes out a Walther PPK pistol and deftly peppers a target with bullets. "We are being victimized and killed everyday. The government has no power to stop this, which is why we must protect ourselves".

Demand for firearms in Narathiwat has pushed prices up to 30%. "These days we carry a gun everywhere, it's like living in a western".

 

In the Buddhist village of Tung Kha, 54-y-o headwoman P.S. sits in the shade of a postcard-perfect temple, watching soldiers fill sandbags. She lives in a dread of Islamic militants. "They want to chase the Buddhists out - her eyes welling with tears - we're just sitting here, waiting to be killed".

 

With the military stretched thin across the south, some Buddhists have sold up and moved out while others have taken their security into their own hands. In the remote mountains region along the Thai-Malaysian border, Buddhist villages now resemble fortresses. Most men are armed with government-issued rifles, and take turns manning checkpoints outside the village. They turn back any car or motorbike carrying Muslims, including those who have traded in the villages for decades; "We can't trust anybody anymore, the enemy is all around us".

 

Even Buddhist monks and temples have been targeted. Across the south this year, four monks have been murdered (one was beheaded) and temples have been bombed, burned and shot at. Soldiers now routinely accompany monks on their morning alms round.

The southern death toll is up to nearly 500 this year, and there's no end in sight to the violence. "We really wished to solve the problems by peaceful means, says P.M. Thaksin Shinawatra in a recent radio address. But people still use violent ways, so we have to use both ways"....

 

 

It really is sad what has become of the once so beautiful South.