INIGO GILMORE SCRIPT: THAILAND INSURGENCY


Class is over for the day and it's time for a sing
along.....

The teachers at this government school are Buddhist,
the students Muslim. And they're hoping to inspire
their pupils - and their loyalty to the state - with
nationalistic songs, in praise of Thailand.

On the surface, at least, it's a harmonious
picture..But behind the smiles there's another story.

Teachers and pupils alike live in real fear of
insurgents who are armed with a very different kind of
message...

SOT
SCHOOLBOY
A teacher at a school near here was shot dead right in
front of his class. He was still holding a piece of
chalk when he fell down dead.  .

SOT
SCHOOLBOY
I think the people who killed the teacher at Barang
school should all go to hell.. (second boy)

SOT
SCHOOLBOY
Maybe they got the wrong ideas  in their head about
religion..Maybe that's why they do this


The dead teacher from Barang school was a close friend
of this man - Preecha Noradee - himself a Buddhist and
a school principal.

He says he's on a hit list and he discreetly showed me
the government issued gun he now carries with him
everywhere...

He explained that he keeps the weapon buried in his
clothes so as not to unnerve the children.

SOT
Preecha Noradee
Teacher and school principal

Both muslim and buddhist teachers are now allowed to
carry guns to school,so we can protect
ourselves...Everyone's  a target.

SOT

Preecha Noradee
Teacher and school principal

I think they're targeting teachers because we're role
models for the children, so killing teachers or
burning down school disrupts the whole community.Their
aim is to make a loud noise in the media and forcing
schools to close is big news..."

But for the insurgents teachers like Mr Noradee are
valid targets - they're brought in from outside and as
such are seen as symbols of a Thai government that
cares little for ethnic Malays, their language or way
of life...


SOT
INIGO GILMORE
PTC

Nearly 80 teachers have now died in 3 years of
violence as schools like this one become a frontline
in the conflict. And With insurgents going after such
'soft' targets the authorities are having to adapt to
their unorthodox tactics....

I had come to southern Thailand to investigate a
conflict about which little is known - or understood.

This is a very different Thailand to the more
familiar, idyllic tourist destination of glossy
brochures.

Scores are  injured and killed here in almost daily
bombings, shootings and beheadings.

Suspicion runs deep here among the local populaton,
mostly ethnic Malay Muslims.

More than 2000 have died since a disparate group of
separatist insurgents launched a campaign of terror
and intimidation against the largely Buddhist
government - and Muslims who collaborate with them..

On the morning I arrived  a policeman died and 18
others were injured  in this bomb attack in the city
of Yala......

Insurgents exploded a bomb in a motorbike - and then
detonated a second device after police arrived at the
scene

This video shop was badly damaged and the owner, a
Buddhist, is clearly agitated...

SOT
Napaporn Srisichotipon
Video shop owner

"I think someone is trying to stir things up..i don't
know who's the real target.noone really knows.

"But I don't want to SAY TOO MUCH because I may get in
TROUBLE.!!!!

The next day, a visit by Thailand's armed forces chief
who had come to reassure the population..

In contrast to the outsted government of Thaksin
Shinawat, the military-installed goernment that
succeeded him has offered an olive branch to the
fragmented separatist movement.

SOT
General Sonthi Boonyaratglin
Commander-in-Chief of Royal Thai Army
(and head of the Council for National Security)

"I'm here today to give support to our soldiers who
are here on a difficult mission,  and to explore new
ways to stop the violence.."

It's a concilitory message the army chief is spreading
round the region..

But intention is one thing, implementation quite
another
And analysts argue that on the ground the military's
vision has changed little...

Recent  human rights reports have accused soldiers and
police of collective punishment of the local
population, using brutal methods to suppress the
insurgency - and in the process perhaps only
exacerbating the conflict..

SOUNDBITE.

PUNDIT

SOT..

PROFESSOR Srisompob Jitpiromsri
Prince of Songkhla University
(political science department)

It look like they have a gap big gap between policy
and practice. the communities and villagers..they just
see the same style of operation of military and
police.

In this village in Pattani province we met a family
whose son was taken - and badly tortured..

Out in the villages it is hard to find anyone who will
admit to supporting those behind what is a largely
faceless insurgency.

But there are plenty who are ready and willing to tell
you about human rights abuses at the hands of security
forces..

In this village in Pattani province we met the family
of Sukri Adam, who was recently arrested in connection
with the beheading of an old man in the area - a
grisly murder claimed by an insurgent group.

His sister wept as she claimed her brother, a
university graduate, had been falsely accused and then
badly tortured in detention in an attempt to wring a
confession from him

SOT
Deh-roh Adam
Sister of detainee, Sukhri Adam

".He's innocent yet they beat him badly. Why did they
do this to him?

It's a question I wanted to discuss with the young
English teacher but at the  prison where sukhri is
being held, I was refused permission to interview him

But some human rights activists managed to get
pictures of Sukhri following his alleged torture and
his case has become something of cause celebre.

This activist claims Sukri is just one of many who
have been tortured by police and the military, since
the new government took power, suggesting that little
has changed..They're claims that we were unable to
independently verify....

At military headquarters in Yala officials admitted
that Sukri's case had raised questions - but insisted
his was the only one

SOT
Col. Acra Tiproch
Military spokesman

"It's only one case....."

The military spokesman insisited that Sukri's case had
been used by the media to exaggerate the scale of the
problem.

At night the mosque in Pattani appears like a soothing
oasis of calm, cut off from tide of conflict, that
ebbs and flows all around.

And these are the images many Muslims here want the
world to see - peaceful citizens, preoccupied only
with prayer.

At this mosque, at least , the Thai national flags
flutters beside the crescent moon of Islam..But it's
an image insurgents here have vowed to banish, from
the land they claim as their own...