PATTANI – With the dramatic flooding in Thailand’s mid-south dominating headlines, the ongoing insurgency and violence in Thailand’s deep south suffered yet another demotion to second-rate news in both print and electronic media.
The demotion represents the 327th consecutive week that the ongoing violence has been superseded in Thai people’s consciousness by sexier, more easily digestible lead stories. The October 2004 Tak Bai incident was the last time the insurgency was the top story across all channels.
Despite having accounted for over 3,400 deaths since 2004 – making it by far the worst political crisis in human cost in Thailand’s history – as well as the destruction of 120 schools, the detonation of 561 bombs, the theft of 2,900 military-grade weapons, the shutdown of countless businesses and markets, and the failure of the Thaksin, post-coup junta, Samak, Somchai, or Abhisit administrations to make headway in even identifying the nature of the insurgency much less begin to solve the problem, the story has spent an incredible six-year run off the front page.
“The southern insurgency is just too damned complicated,” explained Kavi Chongkittavorn, an editor at The Nation. “No one even knows who the bad guys are, or what they want. There’s too many players – Muslims, local mafia, politicians, cops, the army. To explain it would require a 5,000-word story with research, by real journalists. We don’t do that here.”
“Fifty Western tourists stuck at the flooded Samui airport, now that’s front-page news,” he added.
Kavi’s sentiments were echoed by Dr. Sorajak Kasemsuvan, former director of the Mass Communications Organization of Thailand. “To uncover the south is to expose the fundamental failures of Thai government, as well as the myth of homogenous Thai society,” he said. “You could get a few anti-Thaksin headlines out of it, since he did screw things up there, but ultimately Thais just aren’t comfortable with the story.”
According to Thai Rath senior editor Manich Sooksomchitra, the insurgency also lacks a narrative flow and iconic images. “It’s just tiny bomb after bomb after bomb. Where’s the dramatic buildup? And the victims are just poor rubber tappers or plain teachers. Decapitated bodies don’t sell papers.”
“Now a nice young rape victim in a university school uniform with her face exposed, that sells papers,” he added.
Stories deemed more important than this complete loss of government control over its own territory include the recent flooding, civil unrest in Libya and other Arab nations, the Japanese tsunami and earthquake, unseasonably cold weather, various PAD and UDD protests, the Cambodian border row, the U.S. midterm elections, Annie and Film’s paternity scandal, Viktor Bout’s extradition, Haiti floods, 13 other earthquakes, nine typhoons, the World Cup final, the Santika fire, the birth of Lin Ping, and the winner of Academy Fantasia Season Two.
Meanwhile, the death toll climbed once again as a roadside bomb killed two bystanders in Yala yesterday.
The story was mentioned for 15 seconds on Thai PBS news, right after a six-minute segment on the possible danger of radioactive yams imported from Japan.
