This week I am in Southern Thailand, or the ‘Deep South’ as its referred to by the Thai media. It has been conflict afflicted for quite a few years thanks to a separatist insurgency. The three largely muslim southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat have been in state of what is effectively a civil war, but in reality is a fight between a few die hard separatists who believe that the deep south should rightfully be self governing as a Sultantate and be more closely aligned to Malaysia. The Thai authorities refuse to countenance that of course and they pour millions of dollars worth of aid each year into containing the violence. The conflict started in 1948 but it has really picked up in intensity since 2001.
Driving into Yaring, which is known as being ‘ground zero’ for the conflict, I noticed that there were a number of similarities between 1980’s Belfast and 2017 Southern Thailand, soldiers with automatic weapons at check points on almost every corner, armoured Police cars, heavily fortified barracks and police stations with makeshift grenade screens and hundreds of metres of razor wire, but then I thought about the differences; friendly locals, good food, great weather, incredible beaches and the like, so, nothing at all like Belfast then….
All the beaches along this part of the coast are the same – deserted and clean.
Damage from the conflict is repaired almost immediately by the local government and this is an extension of the ‘broken windows’ theory where damage and vandalism left, leads to further civil disorder and attracts criminal activity. A by product of this is lots of fresh paint and new buildings in the area, so there is somewhat of a silver lining.
There are weekly attacks and just today a car bomb exploded just outside a hotel that the media claims was popular with western tourists. I don’t know about that because I only saw one westerner there the whole time I was in the area and Caucasians do certainly draw the eye. I am not going to post pictures of what happened, but you can see for yourself here
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/security/1246622/pattani-bomb-blasts-leave-scores-hurt
It’s really not a good idea to be taking pictures of all the road blocks in the city so I kept the camera down and tried to look harmless. I did however manage to snap one check point not far from the village we were visiting.
Just a normal checkpoint in the country!
The locals or ‘Bangso Yawi’ as they are called are very traditional and devout, but excluding the few who have actually taken up arms, they are not at all extreme in their views. The countryside is similar to North Eastern Malaysia, mostly flat and covered with rubber trees and palm oil plantations. As the country narrows before it reaches Malaysia there are beautiful beaches both on the East and the West sides. Small fishing villages that have racks of very smelly drying fish are all along the coast and there are very few cars or trucks, which is in complete contrast to the northern cities.
Fishermen working on their boats before going home and sleeping through the heat of the day.
I spent quite a while working in the North East of Malaysia in years past and I remember it as being distinctly less friendly than it is here. There was a lot of smuggling and cross border violence back then, but even though the insurgency hasn’t really dimmed in its intensity, with murders and bombings being common, the locals here at least haven’t lost their charm. We visited the village headman at his home and they made us very welcome, laying on a feast of organic fruit and coconut water fresh from the nut. For security reasons they asked us not to take photographs of them and they got very tense when an Army reconnaissance patrol rode past the house very slowly on motorcycles. Being naturally alert to tension in these circumstances, it did make me wonder just who we were working with.
I thought the black cloth was an emergency sail, but it’s actually a sun shade
Just like 1980’s Northern Ireland you never really knew for sure ‘who was who, in the zoo’ and special interests abound in a country like Thailand. But, the bottom line is – they want investment and infrastructure brings that. All in all, it was a good week and it seems certain that IED’s permitting, I’ll be back soon!
Very interesting read. Keep it up!
What a rich life you lead, Jerry, from bees to (potentially I guess) bombs. Happy to be following your journey, and have forwarded on your bee blog to a grandson who also is passionate about the critters and robs them of some divine honey from time to time.
Hi Christine, thanks so much for dropping into the blog! I am about the ‘winterise’ the bees and hopefully, help them through the colder months down here. I’ll try to post some pictures and hopefully, not get stung in the process! Take care. x