Ruth Streicher - Uneasy Military Encounters: The Imperial Politics of Counterinsurgency in Southern Thailand

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Ruth Streicher

Uneasy Military Encounters

The Imperial Politics of Counterinsurgency in Southern Thailand

Southeast Asia Program Publications

an imprint of
Cornell University Press
Ithaca and London

Contents

1. Chapter 1
   Policing History: A Military Handbook on the Southern Provinces
2. Chapter 2
   Checkpoints: Racialized Practices of Suspicion
3. Chapter 3
   The New Path to Peace: Disciplining Religious Subjects
4. Chapter 4
   Guarding the Daughter: Patriarchal Compromise and Military Sisterhood

Acknowledgments

In March 2010, when I first arrived in Yala, one of the provincial capitals in Thailands southernmost provinces, my train was two hours late and I realized that my phone received no signal. Suddenly, a woman came walking toward me: Are you Ruth? I had never met Ajan Arin Saidi before. She was the friend of a friend and a lecturer at the Prince of Songkhla University in Pattani. She had not only offered to pick me up, waiting for hours at the train station, but also arranged for accommodations at a university dormitory and provided me with a list of contacts for my stay. My phone, she explained, had been disconnected because emergency regulations in the three southern provinces required that SIM cards be registered under a Thai identification carda tacit reminder that I had just entered a special zone.

Ajan Arins welcome exemplifies the generosity with which I was received by so many people in this conflict region. My thanks go to her and to Amporn Marddent, who put me in touch with a number of people who became key to my research. The team of Deep South Watch at the Prince of Songkhla University, in particular Srisompob Jitpiromsri and Daungyewa Utarasint, supported my research in many different ways, and introduced me to Beding and his family in the village of Tanyong Luloh, who became dear friends. Surainee Waba generously put me up in her apartment during my longest stay in Pattani; her cousin Leena Ngafa became my dear roommate and helped me out whenever I got stuck with translations. The team of the Asian Muslim Action Network, especially Usman Binhasan and Rohanee Daoh, were of great help. At a later stay in Yala, Wannakanok Phitaedaoh kindly let me stay in her house.

Without the openness and curiosity of many soldiers stationed in southern Thailand, this book could not have been written; I have, however, decided to anonymize all military personnel mentioned in this book because of the sensitivity of the conflict context. I owe particular thanks to the team at Yalannanbaru and the soldiers at Wat Lak Mueang, as well as to the task force 11 at Yala and the female rangers unit at the Ingkhayut Camp in Pattani. In Bangkok, Kasian Tejapira and Jularat Damrongviteetham lent their invaluable assistance.

The germ of this book originated as my doctoral dissertation at the Freie Universitt Berlin. I am indebted to the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies for funding through a scholarship by the German Research Foundation. Cilja Harders has supported this project from its inception with enthusiasm. I owe special gratitude to Schirin Amir-Moazami, who was closely involved with the book in its different stages and has greatly supported my research. Paul Amar, Mark Askew, Allaine Cerwonka, Jovan Maud, Jan Bachmann, and Sven Trakulhun read and commented on different chapters of the book; my friends Moritz Konradi, Sonja Neuweiler, and Christine Rollin aided by debating my work in a long series of dinner discussions. Vorawan Wannalak tirelessly assisted in translating documents and tracing the original meaning of certain Thai terms. Daniel Nethery, Mark Rusch, and Usman Shah assisted in editing.

A German Academic Exchange Service fellowship enabled me to spend a year at the University of California, Berkeley, where I had the privilege to study with Saba Mahmood and Penny Edwards and, thanks to Sarah Maxim, greatly benefited from the activities and the discussion of my work at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies. A fellowship funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation enabled me to further develop the book. Ruth Mas not only convinced me to pursue this project but also read the whole manuscript and made invaluable suggestions for its improvement. She has been a critical source of brilliant ideas and friendship throughout the process. Ruth also introduced me to Natalie Rose, who, through countless rounds of editing, helped me to clarify my arguments and restructure my writing; she never ceased to ask important questions and make incisive comments even in the final stages of this project. Thank you!

At Cornell University Press, I am grateful to my editor, Sarah Grossman, who supported the project with great commitment; to the two anonymous reviewers, who took great care and time to make important suggestions for the improvement of the manuscript; and to the members of the editorial board, who made additional helpful suggestions.

My daughter was born the day after I had sent off the book proposal. It is to her and to my partner, Nils Riecken, that I owe my greatest gratitude.

Abbreviations

BRN	Barisan Revolusi Nasional
BRN-C	Barisan Revolusi Nasional Coordinate
ISOC	Internal Security Operations Command
NCPO	National Council for Peace and Order
THB	Thai Baht
USD	United States Dollar

Note on Transliteration and Referencing

I have transcribed all uses of Thai terms in accordance with the Royal Thai General System of Transcription using the transcription tool provided by the online dictionary Thai-language.com. There are notable exceptions: I deploy conventional spellings of well-known peoplefor instance, King Vajiravudh instead of Wachirawut; moreover, when transcribing personal and family names I have followed, when known, the preferences of those individuals.

Following Thai studies conventions, Thai authors are referred to by their given names, not surnames; in accordance, all citations by Thai authors are alphabetized in the bibliography and elsewhere by given names.

Figure 1. Map of Thailands southern border provinces. Source: The Australian National University, College of Asia and the Pacific, CartoGIS Services.

Introduction

Policing the Imperial Formation

In August 2016, the conflict in southern Thailand received a sudden and unexpected moment of global media attention. A series of bomb and arson attacks launched across seven central- and upper-southern Thai provinces on August 11 and 12 killed four people and wounded thirty-five, several international tourists among them. In the following days, media reports around the world presented the image of Thailand as a devastated tourist destination; the bombings had shattered the Thai smile, the tropical travel paradise was in danger, and many foreign offices issued travel warnings.

The Thai militarys counterinsurgency strategy in southern Thailand is one of the reasons the August 2016 bombings caught foreign media unawares. As this book will show, the counterinsurgency has included a careful public relations strategy that presents the southern Thai conflict as a minor unrest. During the insurgency, nearly seven thousand people have been killed and many more wounded since 2004, making the conflict one of the most deadly in Southeast Asia. Insurgent attacks targeting both civilians and security forcesmost of them small-scale bombings, roadside ambushes, and shootingshave largely been restricted to the southernmost provinces, but there have been several coordinated bombings beyond the main area of conflict. The Thai militarys counterinsurgency campaignthe largest in Thai history, deploying over sixty thousand security personnelhas so far not been able to meet its proclaimed goal of stopping the insurgency.

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