Sunday November 22, 2009

Southern sore still needs to heal

BEHIND THE HEADLINES
By BUNN NAGARA

Thailand’s worst problems have long gone south. But who will do the right thing?

WHAT do former president Jimmy Carter, actor Jet Li, footballer Hidetoshi Nakata, former Miss Thailand Cindy Bishop, singer Trisha Yearwood and singer-actor Rattapoom Tongkongsap have in common?

During the week at least, they joined 3,000 volunteers from 25 countries to build 82 homes for the poor in the San Sai district of Chiang Mai province, Thailand. The work was to honour King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who will celebrate his 82nd birthday next month.

Chiang Mai in northern Thailand is known for its cool climate. Fruit enthusiasts also know it for the best longan in the country.

Some may also know Chiang Mai as the home province of billionaire former premier and convicted fugitive in self-exile Thaksin Shinawatra. However, few if any know it for abject poverty.

Like in many other developing countries, Thailand’s rural populations are less endowed than their urban counterparts. And agricultural Chiang Mai is among the country’s rural provinces that was recently hit by violent storms.

Indeed, Thaksin’s efforts at alleviating poverty in the northern provinces contributed to a vital power base for his political career. It turned the northern region into his stronghold until today.

However, there was still a gap between what Thaksin had done and all else that still needed doing. There was also the question of whether his perceived generosity was genuine altruism, or largely for the self-serving purpose of building a loyal following.

The 3,000 international volunteers who paid their own way to the worksite no doubt operate within broader horizons. The Thai effort itself is only part of a larger joint campaign between the Carter Work Project and the Habitat for Humanity NGO: building 50,000 homes for the poor in the Mekong region covering parts of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, China and Vietnam over five years.

It is just one example of the amount and variety of work that NGOs can do in assisting government efforts at fulfilling basic needs. The present and previous governments have had their hands full just keeping abreast of public sector requirements.

Thaksin launched his poverty-fighting image in his home district of San Kamphaeng in Chiang Mai. The problem was that even as he rose in stature to the premiership, he failed to take on fully the wider national platform, allowing his special links to the north to cast him as regionally biased.

That meant an aloofness to Bangkok, where he did not win many friends. It also meant a greater distancing from the southern provinces, where differences in religion and ethnicity made for even greater mutual alienation.

Some of this has also affected the governments that came after Thaksin’s 2006 ouster. Even though the Democrat party is favoured in the southern region, this favour may come largely by default; Democrat leaders also tend to be Bangkok-based and have failed to win as much support in the south as they might otherwise have.

The interim civilian government of Surayud Chulanont, following the immediate post-coup military administration, was uncertain how or even whether to continue the handout schemes Thaksin had begun for poor rural households in the north. That uncertainty was inherited by the Democrat government of Abhisit Vejjajiva, which has had to learn on the job.

These contours and configurations of Thai politics are not without their political impact. But the impact is nearly always negative for just about any party or individual, often to a degree that resembles caricature.

For example, since Thaksin is loved in the north, he is even more despised in the south. The same equation applies to Abhisit, but inversely.

Worse, the hatred for particular leaders in certain parts of the country tends to be more intense and deep-seated than the affection for them in other parts. It may well be that the hatred is also better deserved, or the affection less so.

Last Friday Prime Minister Abhisit announced that he would proceed with a planned Chamber of Commerce meeting in Chiang Mai next Sunday despite a bomb threat. When his plan to visit the province was made known earlier, a Chiang Mai community radio presenter threatened his life on air.

Yesterday, a local pro-Thaksin “red shirts” leader in Chiang Mai vowed to mobilise 40,000 protesters from eight northern provinces to stop Abhisit’s visit. She said they would light 100,000 firecrackers “to unwelcome” him, but denied there were assassination plans.

Abhisit yesterday left Bangkok for a one-day tour of three other northern provinces. The local police chief said the prime minister’s security detail upon arrival comprised 1,500 police, military and volunteer personnel.

Meanwhile, Thaksin ally Gen (R) Chavalit Yongchaiyudh has been trying to tour neighbouring countries, unwittingly making national leaders uncomfortable by planning to meet them rather than his counterparts in the opposition parties. Chavalit recently became chairman of the latest pro-Thaksin party, Pheu Thai.

His thoughts for Thailand may yet prove fruitful: a measured autonomy for the southern provinces by way of a Pattani City Municipality akin to Chiang Mai’s. Better local governance could help defuse the explosive combination of separatist and extremist sentiments.

Ultimately, perceptions in the north and shenanigans in Bangkok are mere sideshows to the far more serious situation in the south, where poverty and militancy have peaked. If the Democrat government fails to act swiftly and appropriately, it could be outdone by Pheu Thai proposals or more bloodshed in the south, whichever is worse for the Bangkok leaders.

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