NCJ Number
196871
Journal
Jane's Intelligence Review Volume: 14 Issue: 9 Dated: September 2002 Pages: 16-19
Editor(s)
Christopher C. Aaron
Date Published
September 2002
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article examines the complex dynamic damaging Thailand’s stability and attempts to identify the reasons attributed to the recent unrest and violence in Thailand’s southern regional provinces.
Abstract
Developing into a significant security challenge for the Government of Thailand is the recent wave of violence that exists in the southern region of Thailand. The southern region has had a long history of Muslim disaffection and low-level separatist and criminal violence. Thailand’s corruption and violence is connected and tied in with its business, organized crime, venal politicians, and State officials. A chronology of recent violence in southern Thailand is presented. Understanding who is responsible for the violence and the reasons behind the violence has become difficult with Government officials contradicting one another and the lack of a unified Government policy. This article discusses five reasons or explanations in understanding the recent violence in southern Thailand: (1) Muslim separatist factions; (2) organized crime groups; (3) rivalry between the army and the police; (4) local vendettas against a generally mistrusted and unpopular police force; and (5) combinations of all of the above. Thailand’s southern crisis of 2002 underscores several key points: the security of the border provinces remains hostage to social disaffection, rampant organized crime, official corruption, and economic ramifications.