Thai Parliament Debates Policy for Southern Provinces
BANGKOK, (TNA) Feb 20 - Democrat MPs vocally opposed the Interior Minister’s plans to turn Thailand’s southernmost provinces into a ”special administrative zone” and urged the government to restore the process of justice, promote education and rid the region of mistrust and fear among local villagers and between the local population and the authorities.
On the third day of debate on the government policy in parliament, Democrat MP Anwar Salae of Pattani province said he disagreed with Pol. Capt. Chalerm’s initiative to turn Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani provinces into what he termed a ”special administrative zone” in a bid to resolve the chronic unrest in the Deep South region.
Neither should the interior minister declare the southernmost provinces as ”religious towns” as he had planned, said the Democrat MP. The Pattani parliamentarian said the unrest in the southernmost provinces was not caused by religious conflicts between the predominantly Muslim ethnic Malay residents and local ethnic Thai Buddhist villagers.
The Buddhists might not be able to co-exist with their Muslim neighbours if the interior minister’s planned ”religious towns” plan ever takes place, the Democrat MP said.
Mr. Anwar suggested that the government bring to justice all officials earlier charged with killing or harming local villagers throughout the southernmost region, promote education, raise up the teachers’ salary and put an end to all mistrust which still exists among the residents of the southernmost provinces of different religions as well as between the local people and the authorities.
Democrat MP Pirayos Rahimmula said the southernmost insurgency had apparently aggravated since the time of the previous Thaksin administration over the past several years during which numbers of innocent villagers were killed, injured or gone missing at the height of government crackdowns on the separatist movement.
Democrat MP Abdulkarin Dengrakina of Yala province called on the Samak government to empower a committee to investigat