Southern Thailand's restive provinces

The current crises in the southern region of Thailand is devastatingly heartbreaking. My stomach churns when I think of the death, violence, anger, fear, hurt and pain that our Thai Muslim and Thai Buddhist brothers and sisters in the south are experiencing. I cannot pretend to imagine what it must be like to experience this on a daily basis but I believe that most Thai people in other parts of the country also feel the pain.

Southern Thailand is so quintessential Thai, its strong agricultural base and land fertility combined with its skilled and hard working population make it in my view, one of Thailands' greatest assets. The produce from the southern region of Thailand is highly regarded as some of the best quality Thailand has to offer. The rich natural beauty defines the vision of a tropical paradise and the local people are genuine representatives of real culture and diversity.

When Thai people are suffering it is the duty and responsibility of leadership to elevate the burden. My view of the current leadership so far is good. So far, the government has been proactive in addressing the key issues of concern such as the economy. Although I do not agree with many of the strategies and measures implemented by this administration nevertheless the results seem to be temporally positive. Where I feel the current administration is not achieving its goal is on the matter of resolving the crises in the Southern region of Thailand.

In my opinion, the crises in southern Thailand is a mirror image of current events occurring around the world and I do not think anyone truly has a universally applicable answer. Thailand has committed extensive resources to address the crisis in the south and some programs are working to help improve relationships while other programs are ineffective and do more harm than good but there is a good general determination to address the issues of concern.

Peace can be such an illusive word, at this moment I think that many Thai people in the south would find reasonable solace in any effort by the current leadership to promote a new foundation of social healing. Healing could start with something as simple as saying " We are truly sorry for your pain" and "What can we do to help?" Southern Thailand. Posted by Patriot , Bangkok Post