Thursday, March 22, 2007

“Islam Intends to Consume Thailand”

This article was written by a Westerner who lives in Thailand and has intimate and extensive knowledge of the country. He has asked to remain anonymous.


The Muslim Threat in Thailand

Map of PattaniThailand’s losses in its war with Islamofascism are causing massive suffering. The puzzle is why the Thais tolerate this heartbreaking tragedy, instead of putting an end to it.

What follows is an attempt to clarify the nature of the problem, the Thai responses to it, and the prospects for the future.

I. The Suffering

First we need to grasp the scale of Thailand’s agony. Here are a few numbers collected from the CIA’s website, a Bangkok English-language wannabe newspaper, and an anti-Iraq-war website. Some of these data are certainly wrong, but not by much.

Date of US invasion of Iraq: 20 March 2003
Beginning of recent cycle of violence in southern Thailand: January 2004

Dead US military, due to combat, since Iraq invasion: 2,619.
Dead Thais, due to southern violence, since January 2004: 2,088

Note: Thai deaths may include terrorists killed by police and military units, but my sources are unclear on that question.

Recent trend in southern Thai violence, reported in The Nation (Bangkok “newspaper”): “… the number of deaths per month soared from 49.2 before the coup to 64.6 after the coup.” The military seized power in Bangkok on 19 September 2006. (Reference: Nation, 19 March 2007, page 1A.)

Population of USA: 298.4 million
Population of Thailand: 64.6 million

For every Thai, the USA has 4.5 people.

The US military adventure in Iraq has been going on for just about a year longer than the Muslim insurrection in the south of Thailand. But in the shorter history of the Thai violence, the total number of dead there is fairly close to the USA’s military combat losses in Iraq, and seems to be closing the gap.

Can we compare the effects of the Iraq and Thai insurgencies? Probably. The population disparity between the USA and Thailand means, in my opinion, that the impact on Thailand of a single death in the southern insurrection is almost five times as great as the impact on the USA of the death of a single US warrior in Iraq. If we multiply Thai deaths by 4.5 in order to show what is happening to Thailand, we can see how the suffering of the two nations actually compares:

USA: 2,619
Thailand: 9,363

Adjusting for population size allows us to get some insight into the true level of Thailand’s misery.

Now consider the duration of each conflict, remembering that the USA has been in Iraq almost a year longer than the violence in Thailand has persisted:

USA, actual deaths per month, four years: 55 Thailand, adjusted deaths per month, 37 months: 253
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II. Contrast Provides Perspective

Bombing in PattaniThailand is bleeding at a pitiable rate. Islam is literally savaging the nation. Yet the Thai response to the systematic murder is a bizarre calm — a passivity that is much easier to see if it is contrasted with how another nation would cope with the same problem.

Consider these facts:

1. Iraq is on the other side of the earth from the USA.
2. Thailand’s increasingly bloody conflict with Muslims is taking place entirely within the borders of the country.
3. In Iraq, many Muslims are fighting alongside the USA, trying to establish a decent government. The USA is clearly not at war with Islam.
4. Islam is at war with Thailand. In Thailand, the only peaceful Muslims are the tiny minorities that live in the midst of overwhelmingly Buddhist populations. That superficial tranquillity is imposed on Muslims in, say, Bangkok by sheer numbers of non-Muslims, not by Muslim sentiment and the teachings of the Koran and the Hadith. In the south, virtually everyone opposes the police, the military and all attempts to safeguard the small Buddhist minority. It appears that Muslim death squads are now attacking schools in an attempt to infuriate the locals, who are told (and believe) that the people killing their children are soldiers and policemen.

What do you suppose the reaction of the US government and population would be if the Thai insurrection were raging in parts of Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma? What would happen, and why?

If you were born and reared in the USA, you are qualified to answer that question. If you are a Thai, you are not qualified.

I insist that the US response to the nightmare scenario presented above would be immediate and definitive.

In Thailand, however, the insurgency is being permitted to win.

III. The Failures

The Thais literally do not know what to do. Some bleat about irrelevant economic factors; some complain about injustice, shoddy public administration, incompetent civil servants and bad policing, all of which exist everywhere in Thailand; others ruminate on cultural isolation and “second-class citizenship.” The religious character of the war remains unacknowledged, for Thais consider all religions “peaceful” and “good.”

Sometimes Thais insist that a few hotheads in the south have been indoctrinated with fake Korans and other hoax texts. The solution was obvious: once every Muslim in the south has the real Koran, the evil teachings will be exposed and peace will prevail. This nonsense springs from Thai ignorance of the Koran. That document contains all the incitements to mass murder needed to inspire fanaticism.

Former — now deposed — prime minister Thaksin was accused of trying to deal too harshly with the insurgents; true, some of his policies did upset them and their allies. In fact he tried just about everything, beginning with his instinctive attempt to buy them off. Thaksin was, after all, a typical Thai politician, which means he knows everybody can be bought. So he promised the south populace handouts, a tactic that had bought him millions of votes in the rural north and northeast of the country. When the Muslims ignored his bribe, he was utterly baffled.

Thaksin’s gentle measures included sending an astronomical number of origami birds to the south, dropping them from airplanes. No, really. He also excused the slaughter of the insurgents’ sympathisers, and approved a failed program of assassinations that may or may not have survived his time in office. Nothing worked.

The current government removed Thaksin and initiated its southern policy by apologising to the people in the south — well, just to the Muslims, but not to the Buddhist minority, whose safety the government had not been able to and still can not ensure. That demonstration of weakness produced knowing smiles in the Muslim community. Then violence rose sharply. Islamists, smiling or not, do not fear apologies and do not respect weakness.

(For details on the insurgency and the Thai political/military situation, see the excellent post at the Counterterrorism Blog)

So the Thai government is stymied. While some of the military and police are achieving limited success rounding up suspects and locating a few weapons caches, overall the situation is deteriorating.

Why?

IV. The “Reasons”

The proximate causes for this catastrophic failure to deal with Islamofascism are visible. They include:

1. Militant ignorance. Thais literally do not want to know what Islam is.
2. Denial. If they are confronted with the text of the Koran and the teachings of Islam, Thais refuse to believe that any major religion could be so intolerant and bloody. Anyone who provides the facts is branded a “Muslim-hater.”
3. Fear. Effective military measures will anger the southern Muslims, Thais claim, and only make things worse.
4. Resort to magic. Thaksin’s voodoo-like origami and the faith that bureaucratic reorganization of the Bangkok regime will cool Muslim tempers are manifestations of an irrational mindset.

V. Examples of Thai Self-Deception and Incompetence

1. On page 4A of the same issue of the “newspaper” I quoted above, we find this fascinating item:

Malaysia to hang terrorists

Malaysia has introduced a new tough anti-terror law… mandatory death penalty… those convicted… of giving financial aid to… terrorists, would meet the same fate (hanging)… If there is no death (caused by terrorists), the convicted persons would be liable to (sic) a jail sentence of between seven and thirty years… Malaysia is currently holding over 100 people in detention under the (security law), more than 80 of whom are described as suspected Islamic militants. (Agence France-Presse)

This does not square with the officially-released statement of the Malaysian foreign minister that all Muslim nations should consider sending arms and other aid to Hezbollah, assisting that organization materially in its effort to exterminate Israel and the Jews. That Malaysian statement was strictly censored from the Thai news media (at the time, Thaksin was still in power). Thais were not allowed to learn just how bloodthirsty and hostile their southern neighbour is. Now we have Malaysian claims of total opposition to Islamic terrorism.

Censorship fosters ignorance, and that in turn makes people gullible. Even though I live in Thailand, I was aware of the ominous news from Malaysia (the Thai government was unable to block all the news websites that carried the report), so I don’t believe this recent story in the local “paper.”

Who is lying: the Malaysians? After all, they are telling the world that some folks, who may just be political opponents of the current regime, are in prison because they are Islamofascist terrorists. Is that claim true? (Hah!) Or is the Thai government misrepresenting yet again the nature of the government of overwhelmingly Muslim Malaysia? Did the generals in Bangkok plant a fake article in the press? Or how about the media giant Agence France-Presse? Can that outfit be trusted? Was it even involved at all?

I don’t know. I can only provide some guesses and ask a question.

In my opinion, Malaysia is certainly deceitful, and Thailand is willing to enable that malicious policy. Who benefits?

2. On 20 March 2007, another English-language would-be newspaper, The Bangkok Post, published an article (page 2, section 1) summarised here:

New Islamic bill ready for cabinet

A new bill aimed at restructuring Islamic organisations… has been drafted… “We believe that when the draft bill becomes law, it will not only help douse the flames of the southern violence but also make Islamic organizations… more united,” said Mr. Nideh Waba (advisor to the prime minister) “… and chairman of the private religious schools association in the three border provinces… “

(Thai officials) “are convinced that elected Islamic leaders had failed in their duty to create a better understanding about religious principles… and spread the true teachings of Islam… “ (A government spokesman) “said the present batch of Islamic leaders were neither united nor cooperative, and that the Islamic provincial committees have never had any clear policy directions from them for the South.”

Words fail me. The breathtaking stupidity revealed in this straight-faced news item is hard to characterise; my thesaurus is not up to the challenge.

The meddlesome, bureaucratic Thai attitude toward religious congregations is not merely irrational — it approaches outright lunacy. First Thais fail to comprehend Islam, and then they propose to deal with a vicious Islamist insurrection as if it were a question of how to bring tax legislation up to date.

Would the US Congress draft legislation called “Roman Catholic Organizational Restructuring Act of 2007”? Imagine, if you can, a headline in a US paper that reads, “President to sign Presbyterian bill today,” or “Congressional committee told Orthodox rabbis are uncooperative, new legislation likely.”

Why is the “unity” of any religious community a proper matter of concern to the Thai government?

Why should pastors, rabbis, priests, monks or imams be scolded for not being “cooperative” with the government? The absurdities multiply every time I re-read this news item.

I have often said that Thais, like most people in the so-called “developing” nations, do not believe in freedom of speech or in freedom of the press. Now I must add that Thais do not understand or believe in the value of freedom of religion. Their claims to the contrary, they do not share the evolved Western conceptions of these three freedoms. Confusion and ignorance — and a failure to recognise that both are present — characterise the Thai view of freedom.

Muslims, however, are very clear on freedom.

VI. The Puzzle

Unpleasant reality seems not to impress the Thais, who cherish a short-term value system and a crippling desire to avoid conflict. No one admits that Islam is invading Thailand. Yet if the present ineffectual policies remain in effect, the flight of Buddhists from the south will grow, and the border of Thailand will be redrawn. The insurgents will eventually deprive Thailand of at least three of its provinces.

Thais cannot believe that will happen, nor can they face the fact that their implacable enemy is a death cult that will never tolerate Buddhism. Simply being a Buddhist is a capital offence, according to the Koran. Thailand has yet to learn this, let alone believe it and take it into account.

Even though I can describe these irrational responses to the horror in the south, I admit I cannot explain why the Thais prefer them over common sense.

I can only provide this absurdly inadequate explanation: there is something in Thai culture, some pernicious maladaptation, that shrinks from reporting, facing or coping with bad news. Call it denial, call it a hatred of confrontation and conflict, call it the Thai misunderstanding of the Buddhist scriptures (the local version of Buddhism is profoundly infused with Hinduism, superstition and animism) — whatever you call it, I call it insanity.

Ultimately, I can not answer the question, “What in the world is WRONG with these people?” It seems to me that whatever the flaw, it may be fatal.

VII. The Future

All will not be well when the rebellious southern provinces are torn away. For many years, Muslim men have been literally colonising the rural regions of the country north and northeast of Bangkok, taking advantage of poverty. They collect desperately poor multiple Thai “wives” (polygyny is not legally sanctioned but widely practiced) and establish mosques and Islamic schools for the resulting swarms of Muslim children. As we see in Europe, the ultimate Islamofascist weapon is demographic. The seeds of tomorrow’s insurgencies are being planted.

Islam takes the long view. Recall that Osama bin Laden is still upset by “the tragedy of Andalusia,” the expulsion of the Moors from the Iberian peninsula five hundred years ago. He remains infuriated by the crusades. If it takes centuries, Islam intends to consume Thailand, the soft target inhabited by people whose religion qualifies them for decapitation.

Of course the Thais could easily prevent that tragedy. Islamic conquest is nowhere inevitable; it can succeed only when and where it is permitted to. Whatever happens, I believe Thailand’s fate will provide a lesson for the West.

7 comments:

Daniel Greenfield said...

the same liberal media which stood by approvingly when a Muslim coup took over Thailand, helped insure there would be no international outrage leaving a coup in power that has made sure the army will be helpless to aggressively root out the terrorists, which had been Thaskin's policy

ziontruth said...

To quote Biff Tannen from the second episode of Back To The Future:

"Something very familiar about all this."

Or in a less cultural form:

This Israeli feels solidarity with the Thais.

Thank you for the informative post, Baron. Dymphna's and your work in bringing us a global view of this conflict is unparalleled.

Anonymous said...

Regarding the first piece (I. The suffering): Is it the right thing to compare the number of killed Thais due to Islam with the number of killed American soldiers in Iraq, by percent? (related to the size of population in Thailand and US) One individual is one individual! With that way of thinking you can come to the conclusion that if 500 Americans would be killed it is less tragical than if 500 Canadiens would..
And perhaps it's more appropriate to compare the number of killed non-evils (i.e. non-radical-Muslims) in Iraq with non-evils in Thailand, since tens of thousand, perhaps hundreds of thousands, have been murdered in the name of Allah in Iraq?
Except for that, good work on enlighten us. I had no clue about any Islamic menace in Thailand. Now, I at least know a little about it....

Counter-Jihadist said...

.

Dan said...

The whole world is in denial; think of all the worlds hot spots.

The Balkans
Bataan and the southern Philippines
Chechnya
Darfur
East Timor
Israel
Kashmir
Kenya
Lebanon
Liberia
Nigeria
Pankisi Gorge
Sri Lanka
Et all.

Then look at this map; it’s mindnumbingly obvious.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/world_maps/muslim_distribution.jpg

Wally Ballou said...

Thailand's suffering is a great tragedy, but this acocunt adds littl to the understanding of it. The writer alludes to the US "adventure" in iraq and asserts (by a coincidence of dates) that the "cuurent cycle of violence" in Thailand is directly attributable to it. Rubbish. Post hoc ergo propter hoc, on wheels.

The muslim separatist movement in Thailand has been active for deacades; it is hard to credit that these separatists are in any way motivated by what is happening in Iraq.

Further, he says the number of dead "may" include dead terrorists, but "his sources" don't know. Talk about inside information.

Actually, I have the footnote he failed to provide. The 2088 number and other numbers come from
a thinktank called Prince Songkhla University's Intellectual Deep South Watch (IDSW).

"IDSW estimates that a total of 2,088 people have died in the region since January 4, 2004, when militants attacked an army depot in Narathiwat and stole 300 rifles, marking a militant turning point for the decades-old insurgency."

(apparently they were so upset about Iraq they stole some rifles to kill Buddhists with - that'll show them dam Americans)

The IDSW further reports:

"1,061 Thai Muslims and 918 Buddhists have been killed, while 1,988 Buddhists and 894 Muslims have been injured"


How about - what percentage of the violence has occurred outside the 4 provinces where the separatist movement exists? How many deaths in Bangkok, where the entire cultural life of the country is centered? I know about one fatal attack, which resulted in 3 deaths.

How many attacks in Phuket or Pattaya, where the degenerate foreign tourists hang out? None so far. (not to say there won't be any)

Lastly, it is worth pointing out that the 3 provinces (once cellectively known as the Sultanate of Pattani) are not ancient Thai territory. They have been under direct Thai rule for only 100 years. They are 80% muslim. They don't share a common language or culture and never have. I think eventually Thailand will have to let them go, along with the other majority muslim province. Remember these muslims are NOT immigrants.

BTW, 5,000 persons died of AIDS in Thailand in 2004, while 500 died in the separatist violence. if we are playing with numbers, which number is more destructive?

Captain USpace said...

Nasty situation...

absurd thought -
God of the Universe loves
beheadings of schoolgirls

kill Christians, Buddhists and Jews
peacefully burn down their homes
.