Islamic extremists do play a minor role in violence in southern Thailand, but the Buddhist nation risks sparking a full-blown religious insurgency with its heavy handed tactics, Muslim community leaders say.
| "So when a bunch of guys in turbans cut a few people's heads off, don't do nothin'"... |
They blame increasing attacks on Thai security forces in the mainly Muslim south on criminal gangs and foreign-trained Islamic preachers preying on youths to oppose the government.
| So why don't you help root the bastards out? |
Razalee Kayamat, village chief of Kayahmati, a tiny settlement of rubber tappers and vegetable farmers, said foreign-trained Islamic preachers were exploiting the situation by spreading extremist teachings among youths. âThe extremist preachers have returned from Indonesia, Pakistan and Libya and are going around spreading lies among the youths,â he told Reuters on Monday.
| Interesting that Libya's included in that list. Indonesia and Pakland were expected, of course... |
Imam Hussain Azam Haji Talib | Oooooh...he's a pilgrim and a scholar...bet his beard is long 'n' flowing too... |
of the Narathiwat Central Mosque told Reuters there were a few extremist preachers in the area, but their influence was limited to young teenagers left to fend for themselves while their parents traded rubber and other goods in Malaysia. âThere is no religious crisis here yet, but the situation is explosive,â he said before lighting the fuse on the powder keg leading evening prayers on Sunday.
| In that case, I'd suggest having a heart-to-heart talk with the young teenagers and beating the living crap out of them... |
Revenge is also a powerful motive after last monthâs death of 78 Muslim protesters in military custody, killed by suffocation or crushed to death after more than a 1,000 people were arrested and crammed into army trucks. Muslims and minority Buddhists had lived in peace for years in the south, Imam Hussain Azam said, but he worried that hardline preachers and tough military action were a recipe for religious conflict.
| No, the hardline preachers are. The tough military action is an effect, not a cause. They don't teach you that in Koran school, of course... |
| There are only causes in the Koran, never any effects. |
Thai soldiers say they feel under siege in the three southernmost provinces, where Buddhists account for just 20 percent of the 1.8 million population. Motorbike-riding militants carry out almost daily shootings and arson attacks at roadblocks.
| Have you thought about moving in more Buddhists? Maybe some Shans and Meos, and a bunch of those guys with the pointy shoes you find hanging around street corners in Bangkok? |
Thailand blames radical Muslim teachers for the violence and has even offered free pilgrimages to Mecca for Muslim informants.
| ... powder looks dry to me, how 'bout a match? |
But Muslim leaders said criminal gangs stage some violence as a decoy, trying to distract security forces from normal policing. âThey have made us Muslims the scapegoats, but we are the victims.
| It's always that way, isn't it? I just can't figure why... |
| You prolly need one of the Learned Elders of Islam to 'splain it all to you...in Arabic, of course. |
"Now the Buddhist Thais and Chinese are also the victims of this situation,â said Imam Hussain Azam, speaking fluently in Thai and the Malay dialect of the region. |