Idealism is great until you're mugged by reality. It would be wonderful if we could negotiate with our enemy and resolve our differences peacefully but what if the enemy refuses to negotiate? What if their tactics for getting their way are the death of thousands? Children and teachers slaughtered, schools are bombed, Buddhists beheaded, drive by shootings, journalists beheaded, bombing markets, and many more atrocities. Thailand has finally figured out that when you are at war it's better to fight than negotiate:
Frustrated by their inability to pacify a Muslim insurgency and concerned about rising impatience toward their rule, Thailand's generals have named a former commando and self-described assassin as their top security adviser.(via)
The appointment this month of Pallop Pinmanee, a retired general notorious for his harsh tactics but admired for his survival instincts, appears to be an acknowledgement that the military-backed government's conciliatory approach toward Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand has failed.
"The way to solve the problem in the south is to get the people on your side," Pallop said in an interview this week. But if the violence continues, he said, the military should carry out "search and destroy" missions against the insurgents. "If we cannot make them surrender, then we have no choice - we have to destroy them."
Pallop's appointment also seems to signal that the generals who overthrew the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in September, and who have trodden lightly against their political opponents so far, are contemplating harsher and more repressive actions toward dissent.
[...]But he is perhaps best known for his decision to raid the Krue Se mosque in southern Thailand in 2004, a controversial move that left 32 insurgents dead. The raid helped reignite the centuries-old conflict between Thai Buddhists and ethnic Malay Muslims.
"Diplomacy is not his strong point," Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University, said of Pallop. "His expertise is to kill people and deal with things by force."
[...]
"When things get hairy, you get Pallop on your side," Thitinan said. "He knows how to fight back."
I wonder what it will take for us to realize that lesson as well.
