After the arson of six schools in Thung Yang Daeng District on the last Saturday, Pattani Province, Thai mainstream media unanimously reported the event and a so-called demonstrations against the crime by the local people on the last Tuesday. In a picture from the FB page of the PSU Pattani Radio Station (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=800930103308121&set=pcb.80093045...), the local school children who actually had been called by the authority were holding three banners, with messages like "Why did you burn down our school?", "The new semester about to start. Where's my place for study?" and "Thung Yang Daeng people need happiness". Yes, happiness, not peace.
Needless to say, these banners with whimpering words hadn't been prepared by the local people, but by the authority, especially the section of It to which the gentleman with a gun in his hand on the right hand side of the picture belongs. In addtition, the mainstream media has also becoming a part of this propaganda activity, by telling the children about what they should say when they are interviewed. Therefore, not all information scattered by the mainstream media is regarded as 'voices of the local people'.
Every time a remarkable violence case happens in the south of Thailand, the authority hardly fails to seize the chance to distribute this kind of propaganda, summoning the local people, especially those who are soft targets of military operations (such as women and children), then handing out banners prepared in advance (in most cases messages are written in red letters on white background) and doing some actions to be reported by local medias which are usually at the behest of the military.
This time the authority is trying to create a one-sided image that this is a tragedy for children and teachers. It certainly is, but imposing such a image conceals so many facts lurking behind the arson cases. A school burnt down will be re-built, which is a chance to get some amount of budget, at least. Schools in the conflict area tend to have certain military functions, which turn the schools into legitimate target of military operation even under the International Humanitarian Law. Schools are also regarded as active agency of cultural assimilation and ethnical suppression. Until quite recently use of the local language was strictly prohibited in government schools, violation of which was often followed by certain forms of punishment, including fining, beating and so on. Heavily nationalism-loaded Thai curriculum is not a welcome for those local Patani Malays who are culturally aware of their own identity.
The manipulation of the local people for the sake of propaganda brings about no benefit whatsoever in terms of peace building in the conflict area of the Southern Thailand. However, there is only one party which needs this kind of action, i.e. the military, which is always justifying their consumption of a huge amount of military budget each year, by alleging that they’re about to win the hearts and minds of the local people. For the military, probably pictures of the local people holding banners prepared by the military is the symbol of their victory. However, the violence has been going on for more than decades, claiming more than 6000 lives despite the alleged psychological victory of the military.
