The failure of the government to kickstart peace talks on the South is a disappointment to all involved. The Malaysia-based Mara Patani negotiating faction said on Sunday it won't talk until a new Thai government is formed. Peace talks were already barely moving but Sunday's events mean there will be no chance of any official movement for at least six months.
This delay was all the more lamentable since it was all about egos and personalities. The Mara Patani and Thai government teams had scheduled another meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday. The government's designate chief negotiator, Gen Udomchai Thammasaroraj, delegated his deputy, Maj Gen Kriangkrai Srirak, to attend. But when the Mara Patani team discovered that Gen Udomchai was actually in Kuala Lumpur, they were angry and called off the meeting.
On Sunday evening, the Mara Patani spokesman, Ustaz (Archan) Shukri Hari read a statement on Facebook Live. It condemned Gen Udomchai for a lack of respect for the Malaysian negotiators. It ended with the announcement that it had decided "to suspend all peace dialogue meetings until after the coming Thai general election" on March 24.
Gen Udomchai's replay was that he was in Kuala Lumpur only to meet the talks' facilitator, Malaysian ex-police chief Abdul Rahim Noor. "I had no appointment to meet Mara Patani," he told the Thai media on his return to Bangkok on Monday. He described the resulting bitterness as political sparring. In truth, it seemed more like personal bickering.
This unfortunate clash of wills has torpedoed all chances to advance a peaceful agenda in the deep South for now. Peace efforts have of course made no progress for decades. But the two negotiating teams were about to address a new and previously forbidden topic, had they ever got to the actual peace table.
The course of events and outside pressure has convinced the Prayut Chan-o-cha government to put "decentralised power" on the table for discussion. Bangkok regimes for 60 years have rejected home rule in the deep South as strongly as separatism. There seems no way to agree on official peace in the region, however, except for Bangkok to allow local people in the four southernmost provinces to have a more direct voice in their governance.
That plan now is out the window. Unless the current administration is returned virtually intact by voters, the entire peace process will have to begin again. This is especially noteworthy because of Gen Udomchai. He was 4th Army Region commander until his retirement on Oct 1 last year and had established trust among many doubters in the South. His lack of understanding over the Kuala Lumpur meeting may be lamentable, but his presence at any and all peace efforts is a desirable plus.
In retrospect, the Sunday meeting was poorly planned by both sides. For Gen Udomchai and Mr Hari to act so petulantly is a blow to Thailand and especially to the conflict-weary residents of the deep South.
The governments of Thailand and Malaysia owe it to their citizens to try to restart peace talks. The two negotiating sides should act more like serious adults, and remember they must sublimate their personal feelings for the common good.
