Internal Security Act Likely to Be Enforced in Certain Areas in the Three Southern Border Provinces

(21/02/2013)

The Government is considering the possibility of replacing the Executive Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situations with the 2008 Internal Security Act in certain areas in the three southern border provinces. Security officials responsible for handling the southern situation have discussed the issue with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who stressed the need for further discussions and assessment before the decision would be made. The decision is likely to be made before 19 March 2013, when the existing three-month emergency decree expires. The emergency decree was announced on 19 July 2005, covering Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and four districts of Songkhla (Chana, Thepha, Na Thawi, and Saba Yoi). Its enforcement lasts three months each time before it is renewed. The law was described then as a more adequate legal instrument with which state officials could deal with “emergency situations” in the deep South appropriately and with greater efficiency. In late 2009, the Internal Security Act was announced in the four districts of Songkhla to replace the emergency decree. Later, on 23 December 2010, the Cabinet revoked the emergency decree in Mae Lan district, Pattani province, replacing it with the Internal Security Act. Mae Lan was the first area in the three southern border provinces to be covered by the Internal Security Act. Violent incidents in Mae Lan dropped significantly from 12 in 2009 to only three in 2010, and no local residents have left their homeland to live elsewhere. Altogether, the Internal Security Act now covers five districts in the deep South. The Ministry of Interior, the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center, and the governors of the three provinces will assess the situation before proposing the areas that should be replaced with the Act. Section 21 is considered the core of the Internal Security Act, as it provides a channel for misled militants to turn a new leaf by accepting to undergo re-education that will take no more than six months in lieu of facing trial. But this must be passed through a screening process to ensure that the perpetrators have been misled. The Act intends to seek ways to end the southern unrest that has continued for nine years now. On the occasion of his visit to Pattani on 20 February 2013 to inspect the southern situation, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army General Prayut Chan-O-Cha discussed with local authorities and residents the enforcement of the Internal Security Act. He also met a group of 200 misled militants who have joined the authorities in peace-building in the South. General Prayut said that the tackling of southern problems was not only a matter of security. All agencies involved need to create better understanding among local people and encourage them to take part in problem-solving. Ensuring justice and respecting for human rights must be emphasized, as well, for the goal of restoring peace in the deep South.