New Thai Govt Considers Self-rule for Insurgency-plagued South

Thailand is considering granting partial autonomy to its Muslim-majority provinces, which for the past four years have been the scene of a bloody Islamic insurgency, the new interior minister said Tuesday.

More than 2,900 people have been killed since early 2004 in nearly daily drive-by shootings and bombings that have swept the three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, the only ones with Muslim majorities in Buddhist-dominated Thailand.

Villagers take part in a self-defence training session using government-issued weapons in southern Thailand's Pattani province. (Photo: Reuters)

A recent escalation in violence presents a major challenge to Thailand's new government, which took office last week. Military and political measures imposed by previous governments had little success in curbing the violence.

While conceding that some degree of self-rule in the south "is a possibility," Interior Minister Chalerm Yoobambrung said independence for the region was out of the question.

"Thailand is one state that can't be divided, but we must find a way to make the situation better," he said. "We can't sit still and wait to be killed."

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, whose Cabinet was sworn in last week, refrained from commenting on the matter, saying autonomy was a "delicate issue."

"We want to hear from senior officials, including military officers, on the situation in the region before we come up with any policy," said Samak, who is also defense minister.

Despite a lull in southern violence in the second half of 2007, it has surged this year.

Srisompob Jitpiromsri, a political scientist at Prince of Songkhla University in Pattani, said 55 people were killed and 100 injured in January, compared to 27 people killed and 37 injured in December.

Chalerm said intelligence suggested the militants were planning to expand their violent campaign to southern Thailand's tourist and commercial hub, Hat Yai, in Songkhla province. In April 2005, two people were killed by a bomb at Hat Yai International Airport.

In the latest case of violence, a Muslim district chief and his son were shot and killed in a drive-by shooting Tuesday in Narathiwat province's Rangae district.

The insurgency takes advantage of long-standing sentiment among southern Muslims that they are treated as second-class citizens. Two successive Thai governments have failed to quell the insurgency despite the presence of 40,000 troops and police officers.