Violent conflict in Thailand’s deep south as been ongoing since 4 January 2004—15 years of killing and bombs. It’s seen approximately 7,000 dead and almost 13,500 injured, with martial law and an emergency decree implemented over the region from 2004 and 2005 on respectively. These massive numbers can make people feel like the situation is hopeless, but the upcoming election on 24 March has brought people together to advocate for peace.

The deep south—generally use to refer to three provinces: Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat—has been ruled by Thailand since 1785, when the Kingdom of Siam conquered the former Sultanate of Pattani. Unlike the majority Buddhist population in other parts of Thailand, the south is home to Malay Muslims who have since struggled to assert their identity and status amid “Thaification” cultural assimilation efforts. Structural violence in the form of the unequal distribution of resources has also led to a higher rate of poverty in the south compared to other regions of the country, stoking further resentment.

A separatist insurgency emerged in the late 1940s and early 1950s, but escalated into armed, violent conflict in earnest in 2004. Rights groups like Human Rights Watch have since called out both the armed insurgents and the Thai military for targeting civilians, attacking places of worship, and carrying out extrajudicial killings.

The upcoming election sees the participation of 77 political parties across Thailand. But only a small number of parties are working in the deep south. In the three southern provinces, 11 seats are up for grabs.

“I wish I could walk into Parliament as a member”

“I wanted to run for the election but the [Thai] constitution doesn’t allow me to do so because I was in jail [for a] security case in Pattani province. I need to wait ten years after I leave prison [to be able to run]. I’d like to say that I was not involved with any rebel groups,” Anwar Ismail, a former prisoner, tells New Naratif.

Anwar identifies himself as a peace activist and alternative media worker in Bungaraya News, a website covering culture and the Muslim community living in the deep south. In 2013, he was arrested and accused of participating in the Pattani nationalist movement, then sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was released on 7 January 2018, after almost four years behind bars.

“While I was in the prison it made me think about fairness. I met so many people who were victims like me, and also I [talked to] some of the masterminds of rebel groups. All of them wanted peace and justice,” Anwar says seriously.

Unlike the majority Buddhist population in other parts of Thailand, the south is home to Malay Muslims who have since struggled to assert their identity and status amid “Thaification” cultural assimilation efforts

Anwar’s recent stint in prison isn’t his first run-in with the authorities in southern Thailand. In August 2005, when he was a student activist, he was arrested with 11 friends in Yala province because the military suspected that they had joined a separatist group. He was later bailed out and eventually won his case in court.

Since leaving prison, he’s joined the Future Forward Party as a volunteer. He says he chose that party—a newcomer committed to transitioning Thailand to a full democracy and ending the cycle of military coup d’états—because he sees it as a model for future generations.

He also says that several political parties had invited him to stand for elections under their banner, but it’ll be quite some time before he’s allowed to do any such thing. Under Thailand’s 2017 constitution, adopted by the military junta, a person who has been sentenced to prison less than 10 years before the election date cannot apply to the House of Representatives unless the sentence was for a petty offence.

Instead, Anwar’s wife, Romuera Saeyae, has joined a party.

“I wish I could dress in a suit and walk into the Parliament House as a member. I want to re-write some unfair laws and also [champion] policy for local people. In addition, I want to encourage members of Parliament House to understand our identity as Muslims and give us a chance to find a solution [to the conflict] in a peace process, ” Anwar says. “I respect the politics [that takes place] in Parliament House, not in the jungle.”

From human rights lawyers to candidates

Anwar isn’t the only activist to want to get into politics. This election period has also seen some human rights lawyers stepping forward in a bid to enter the House of Representatives.

Abdulquhhar Aweaputeh, a former lawyer at the Muslim Attorney Centre Foundation (MAC), has worked in the deep south for years. He’s decided to join the Bhumjaithai Party with three other lawyers.

“I’ve been working in the deep south since 2004. I worked with almost a thousand security cases. I found that most of my clients were poor and victimised. They were arrested under an emergency decree and martial law which allows the authorities to detain any suspects for 37 days. Over 300 cases complained to the foundation that they were tortured while in military custody,” says Abdulquhhar.

“The only way to resolve the problem is to amend the law and change the policy”

It got to the point where he felt that representing his clients wasn’t enough. “I realised that helping in the justice process was not a solution for the southern border. The only way to resolve the problem is to amend the law and change the policy.”

Assistant Professor Srisompob Jitpiromsri, director of Deep South Watch, which monitors the ongoing conflict, tells New Naratif that “I have seen so far some activists running in the election because they think that democracy is the solution for all.” Regardless of the result, he hopes that, after the election, the government will continue the peace dialogue, and come up with a policy to resolve the violent conflict.

The peace process

In February 2013, a peace dialogue process was initiated under the Pheu Thai Party led by then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. It was the first formal peace dialogue between the government of Thailand and the Pattani fighters, then represented by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional Melayu Pattani (BRN).

The first dialogue session brought up five demands from the Pattani fighters: BRN would be recognised as the representative of those involved in the insurgency, Malaysia would mediate the process, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and other NGOs would act as witnesses. Rights of the Malay Pattani community would be guaranteed, and political prisoners would be freed. No Thai government—be it Yingluck’s administration or the military junta—has so far agreed to these demands.

After the May 2014 coup that unseated Yingluck, the peace talks continued under the military junta. The resistance groups engaged in the dialogue changed too: an umbrella organisation, comprising six Pattani movements, known as MARA Patani, is now participating in the dialogue, while the BRN have refused to be part of it. The Thai government and MARA Patani met 20 times between 2013 and 2018, using Kuala Lumpur as a neutral venue, with the Malaysian government playing facilitator.

When Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad visited Thailand in October 2018, he pledged his support to helping Thailand broker peace in the south. He’d also appointed a new facilitator for the process: Abdul Rahim Noor, a former Special Branch Commissioner and National Police Commissioner with previous experience in helping the Thai government reach a peace agreement with the Communist Party of Malaya in the Cold War period.

But despite the commitment from the facilitator and multiple meetings, observers have said that little progress has been made. Although Deep South Watch says that there has been a reduction in the number of violent incidents, there has been no Memorandum of Understanding or any such agreement signed between the southern groups and the Thai government. Much time was spent in meetings talking not about a peace process, but arguing over the terms of reference of the talks themselves. Without the BRN’s participation and agreement to honour any discussion, there are also doubts over whether the dialogue will relate to realities on the ground.

It’s expected that the peace talks will continue following Thailand’s long-awaited election. For people like Alwar and Abdulquhhar, the hope is that they will continue in a context where there are parliamentarians with a commitment to a lasting peace in the south to help break through stalemates and push the process along.

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Hathairat Phaholtap, Wist, was a senior journalist from Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS). She has been working as a journalist for 16 years, covering politics and human rights issues.

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