April 01, 2005
Change of heart?
"Thaksin yesterday confirmed for the first time that he would not pursue his earlier stated policy of keeping development funds from communities deemed sympathetic to insurgents. He admitted the controversial policy, which would have divided the region into three different colour-coded zones, was a knee-jerk reaction. He urged all sides to forget the matter."
So what brought about this change of heart? Interesting development... will definitely follow this one! Well... he's definitely been getting a lot of pressure...
"The behaviour and conduct of these officials, said the lawmakers, had further alienated the local Muslim community from the country as a whole and made them feel like second-class citizens.
Abhisit said Thaksin’s “simplistic” perception of the violence in the South had misled the public into thinking the problem could be solved with a simple solution.
I'm glad that attention is finally being paid to this issue. Simplistic, indeed... or, as I mentioned in my previous post, political and ideological as opposed to 'simplistic'?
Personally, I feel that the response was anything but simplistic. Make no mistake. A hardened and succesful politician does not make simplistic mistakes. I think it's more like he thought nobody would mind, given the current "political climate", the killing of a few "muslim rebels" here and there. I mean, after all, there's a lot of bad feeling about islamic groups out there, regardless of their motives. Thank goodness there are also agencies interested in human rights out there that aren't focusing on religious and political prejudice.
Quotes from "The Nation", 31/04/05
“We cannot let bygones be bygones . . . life is not a game like golf or chess to be renewed when the game is over, life cannot be brought back after death . . . Life cannot be reborn but we can deliver justice to rehabilitate the damage,” he said.
-Chuan Leekpai
Let's hope that justice is done.
fon @ Friday, April 01, 2005 link to post * *