Translated from: Piyasak A. ย่ำรอยเท้า ย้ำรอยคิด : เดินสู่สันติปัตตานี. [Online]. URL: http://www.deepsouthwatch.org/node/914
From the very first day that the march started from "Salaya", the headquarter of Mahidol University's Research Center for Peace with the finish line at "Pattani Central Mosque", today the "Salaya to Pattani Walking Group" has passed beyond the halfway mark.
Their bodies have also adjusted to the new environment. The feet that were once swollen became tougher, while their spirits remained full of strength from the support that was given to them throughout their way.
The goal of the march remains the same: to invite all sides to come and think of peaceful means.
"We're just a small group of people hope to set a spark for people to think about whether the policy used has been in the right direction. Should there be a review considering the 4,000-something people who have died? How should the fight be fought without using violence..." Ngam-suk Ratanasathian, one of the members of the Walking Group for Peace in Pattani, talked to using during the break under a tree's shade.
"The Center has been working on the 3 Southern Border Provinces issue over the past 4-5 years. We have done many things: training, researches, seminars. So, we figured that we should do something that would enable people to question what was happening."
Nonetheless, this initiative to invite the society to question the use of violence in managing the conflict in the Deep South has boomeranged a question back to the very beginning: how would this walk help to stop the situation of violence?
"The walk serves as a tool...", said Dr. Pramuan Pengchan, former faculty member of Chiang Mai University who once walked back to her hometown of Samui Island in Suratthani Province. Dr. Pengchan joined the walking group from the very first day and answered the question to us while her legs moved forward.
"When we walk as individuals, there will be a dimension of interpersonal relationships. People who walk together may have different meanings, but the power of the walk will be able to unite a group of people and create a meaning for the society." Dr. Pengchan described the details of the science of walking.
"From my understanding, the fact that we, as in all the people including myself, share certain sentiments for our small endeavor here would have connections for a larger meaning. The walk would enable the people who live along the way, even though they do not know us personally, to realize the meaning of the word "peace, unity, or friendship", which is something valuable."
Examples of the support for the mentioned "small endeavour" included food and water given by people living long the way, as well as smiles and waving hands that greeted the walkers along the way once people realized that they were walking for peace in the Southern border. When Mr. Chartree Angachariya, an elderly walker aged 63, passed away en route and a Buddhist prayer was made, one tok guru (Islamic religious teacher) traveled more than 100 kilometers to bid his eulogy at the Buddhist temple. These may be the reflections of the small bonds that have already been made.
"During this month of Ramadan, we also aim to practice fasting like people in the Deep South. We wish to know what it is like to fast. However, we may have to drink some water, but not all. We want the Muslim Malay people in the 3 Provinces to know that even people outside of their religion, or people outside their area, do care about the problem in the Deep South." said one of the walkers.
Meanwhile, Professor Kothom Areeya, Director of Mahidol University's Research Center for Peace, also marches along with the group from the very first day, except for the day when Mr. Chartree Angachariya was cremated, during which he had to join the ceremony in Bangkok. Nonetheless, he returned to the march the very next day. Professor Areeya said that "We try to make the best of the process, as the result depends on many other factors. But initially, I'm unexpectedly happy with the response of the people throughout the road traveled. What we need is the spark in the imagination, so we have to do something extraordinary. Whether it will work, we cannot answer. This is something that is abstract, a spiritual matter."
The Director of the Research Center for Peace explained that "There are two methods and one key component to a peaceful mean. The first method is forcing or coersion, such as demonstrations or, for a more lenient version, a worker strike or even a fasting protest. The second method is persuation, invitation, and symbolic gesture. These two methods have a key component of the lack of animosity. There is no anger, nor hate, nor fear. If coersion is done by anger, hate, or fear, I don't think that it can be considered as a peaceful mean. Our walk here is based on the method of persuation, not coersion. It is also a symbolic gesture in order to get other people to question about how this violence would benefit anyone, or whether the violence would lead towards the response that each side is calling for, or the basic needs of each side."
"Our gesture here is done with the aim of pursuading people to think and re-question whether violence is the answer. If not, they have to think further and see whether there are other means to achieve basic needs of each side, but without resorting to violence.", emphasized Professor Areeya.
Could this walk, by itself, create enough motive for each side to realize about peaceful mean? What would the peace at the end of the road be? How would the short distance of a few kilometers, where we followed and talked to some of the people on this march, be enough for us to understand and arrive at the way to peaceful mean that can end the on-going violence?
Deep down, we just feel that...we're going to get there someday !!