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The Conflict in Southern
Thailand can be solved in a peacful way":
Summary of the Second Thai National Workshop, Had
Yai, 28-29 March 2003.
Apart from being geographically different from the rest of Thailand, with
its thick jungles, dramatically shaped mountains and countless beautiful
islands, the South has its own economic, ethnic and political features.
The south, which is flanked on two sides by the Andaman Sea and the Gulf
of Thailand, is lined with sandy beaches and palm-fringed islands lying
just offshore. The wealth of the south has, for centuries, been based on
its rubber and tin industries. This situation is rapidly changing with
the advent of tourism; it is now the fastest growing tourist region within
Thailand. The majority of the population of the four southern-most provinces,
are Muslim, about 4 % of the total population of Thailand. In the past,
conflicts in Southern Thailand were dominated by ethnic and religious issues.
However, recent clashes between police and demonstrators who were opposed
to the Thai-Malaysian Gas Pipeline Project has brought the ‘public
policy conflict’ into the limelight.
The Second National Workshop of SEACSN Thailand was held from March 28-29,
2003 at the BP Grand Tower Hotel, Had Yai, Songkla province. The main objective
of the workshop was to bring together various stakeholders in the Southern
region. They were invited to come and share their opinions, concerns and
interests which in turn, may lead to a peaceful way of resolving the current
conflicts.
The workshop was attended by about 150 participants from various sectors
e.g. academics, monks, Muslim leaders, NGOs, and community leaders. The
workshop was co-hosted by the Prince of Songkla University (PSU) so; the
President of PSU was one of the guests of honour who deliver the welcome
address to participants. Dr. Kamarulzaman Askandar the Regional Coordinator
for SEACSN was also present, to introduce the SEACSN. The workshop was
opened by Professor Saneh Jamarik, Chairman of the Thailand National Human
Rights Commission. Professor Saneh also kindly presented the keynote address.
Some of the main points of the keynote address, about the conflicts in
Southern Thailand, were:
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He saw the conflicts as structural conflicts, which
had carried on for more than forty to fifty years. |
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Conflicts had happened because the people in power
did not understand social transformation. |
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The Thai people did not really understand Thai society
and the social process to cope with conflicts. |
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Globalisation played a part in these conflicts. |
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The Government did not fully observe the constitutional
rights of local communities. |
Subsequently there were two panel discussions: one on ‘peaceful participation
of development’ and the other one on ‘mixture of cultural differences’.
The last session of the first day was the academic paper presentation of
case study conflicts in Southern Thailand.
The second day began with the keynote address by the former Deputy Secretary
General of the National Security Council. This was followed by the group
presentation of a very interesting research project on ‘Building
peaceful values and attitudes within school curricula in Southern Thailand’.
The last session of the workshop consisted of three small group discussions
on 1) Conflicts from Development 2) Cultural conflicts and 3) The role
of education in conflict management.
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