SOUTHERN VIOLENCE: FAMILIES OF DETAINEES VOICE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 001197 SIPDIS NSC FOR PHU E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/14/2018 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL PTER TH SUBJECT: SOUTHERN VIOLENCE: FAMILIES OF DETAINEES VOICE ANGER AND FRUSTRATION REF: BANGKOK 1167 (LOCAL OFFICIALS VIEWS) BANGKOK 00001197 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: DCM JAMES F. ENTWISTLE, REASON 1.4 (B) AND (D) Summary and comment: -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The plight of families in the deep south that have had members detained as the result of counterinsurgency operations was the focus of a seminar at Prince of Songkhla University in Pattani that we attended in early May. The seminar organizer, the Cross Cultural Foundation (CCF),told us that they did not believe the government could effectively deal with the unrest in the deep south unless it also reached out to the families of those suspected of being behind the violence. During the seminar, families highlighted problems ranging from financial hardship to emotional turmoil resulting from having a family member detained by security forces. Police and military representatives listened to their problems and responded in matter-of-fact terms that they were doing their best to bring security to the region. The wife of an ethnic Malay Muslim religious teacher serving a jail sentence in Cambodia on terrorism charges accused the U.S. of conspiring to have her husband incarcerated. ¶2. (C) Comment: There was a subtle but general belief among family members that the U.S. was somehow behind the turmoil in the south, a deeply ingrained myth which we continue to work to correct. Although we received an invitation from CCF to attend this seminar in Pattani, our presence came as a surprise to both the organizers as well as the attendees. Despite the anti-U.S. undertones, our presence was well-received; one of the two most vocal critics of U.S. policy during the seminar is a regular contact on the South whose views are well-known to us. We concur with CCF's assessment that effectively working with the families of suspected insurgents will need, at some point, to become part of the RTG's counterinsurgency effort; the participation of police and military representatives in this event was a positive sign. End Summary and comment. Coping with the loss of detained family members -------------- -- ¶3. (SBU) On May 4, we traveled to Pattani at the invitation of the Cross Cultural Foundation (CCF) to attend a book launch and seminar about the plight of families in the deep south that have had members arrested and detained as the result of counterinsurgency operations. The seminar was held at the Islamic Studies College at Prince of Songkhla University. In addition to the expected contingent of Thai representatives from the NGO human rights community, presenters at the seminar included police, military, as well as family members of detained insurgents and militants. The seminar was attended by about 75 people, the vast majority ethnic Malay Muslims. We were the only foreign mission in attendance at the event; the only western aid organization present was the ICRC. ¶4. (SBU) According to the seminar,s organizer, CCF held the seminar in order to raise awareness of the problems women and children in the deep south face when their fathers, husbands, or other family members are detained for suspected involvement in the insurgency. There is little or no safety net for these families outside of the religious or NGO communities, and they are often stigmatized by state authorities and neighbors due to the association with the insurgency. According to CCF, these families are losing out on educational and livelihood opportunities and must deal with a range of mental health issues. Effectively addressing the violence in the South, according to CCF, will require paying attention to the plight of these families. ¶5. (SBU) The first half of the seminar was devoted to giving these families a chance to tell their stories. It was a highly emotional session, with women whose husbands had been BANGKOK 00001197 002.2 OF 002 detained describing their lives though tears, anger, and frustration. The second half of the seminar allowed government representatives to respond to the previous panel members. There was no apparent tension in the room during their response, and the audience appeared to receive them well. For their part, police and military representatives took the accusations in stride. ¶6. (SBU) Instead of responding directly to accusations of wide spread injustice, the police representative on the panel read through a list of cases where the police had detained militants, and described the activities for which they had been arrested or detained. The primary message was that the police were merely doing their job by arresting and charging people accused of violent acts. A military spokesperson from the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4 also did not respond to the previous accusations. Staying on message through a twenty minute presentation, he said the military was in the south to help increase security for people and was adopting a newer softer approach to the violence. Subtext: U.S. somehow involved? The Cambodian connection -------------- -------------- ¶7. (C) Although the prevailing theme that ran throughout the seminar was the continuing sense of injustice felt by Malay Muslims, a secondary more subtle theme was that the U.S. was somehow responsible for the southern violence. In particular, Mrs. A-Aesoh Hajji Jehming, wife of a Thai-Malay Muslim teacher jailed in Cambodia on terrorism related offenses, gave voice to the still widely held belief of U.S. involvement in countering the insurgency. She assailed U.S. counterterrorism policies generally, and questioned the existence of organizations such as Jemaah Islamiyah and Al-Qaida. Talking about her own situation, she said notions that her husband could be involved in terrorism were simply not credible, and asserted that the U.S. was responsible for her husband's incarceration in Cambodia. ¶8. (C) Note: In December, 2004 a Cambodian court sentenced two Thai Malay Muslim religious teachers to life in prison for conspiring with JI to attack US and British interests in Cambodia. Based partially on the opaque nature of the closed Cambodian court proceedings, there continues to be widespread skepticism both among Malay Muslims and within the RTG that the two are guilty. The Vice Governor of Yala province continues to assert to us that the two are innocent; he has been working with Princess Sirindhorn to intercede on the families, behalf with the Cambodian government. A deputy head of the Thai National Intelligence Agency also asserted to us in early 2009 that the RTG felt the evidence against the pair was weak. CCF's working notes on the case, based on a 2006 trip to Cambodia, suggest that among the evidence presented by the Cambodian authorities in the trial was intelligence received from the FBI from interrogations of JI operational commander Hambali. CCF shared its notes with us; we forwarded them to EAP and Embassy Phnom Penh. End note. ¶9. (C) Ayub Pattan, an embassy contact and former head of Isara news service, followed Jehming on the panel. Ayub supported Jehming,s contention that accusations her husband had conspired to engage in terrorism were not credible. Ayub condemned US counterterrorism efforts, then went on to went on castigate the RTG for not addressing the grievances of Malay Muslims in the south. During a break, we engaged both A-Aesoh Jehming and Ayub Pattan regarding their feelings about U.S. involvement in the south. Both were surprised at our presence at the event but indicated a willingness to engage on the subject at some time in the future. JOHN