Buddhists in Thailand's Muslim-dominated south gathered yesterday for a morale-boosting rally after the beheading of a Buddhist man this week stoked fears of sectarian conflict in the restive region.
Tension between Muslims and Buddhists, who are the overwhelming majority in Thailand but are outnumbered four to one in the deep south, is on the rise after five months of attacks on government officials, teachers and security forces.
The Thai government called off talks between the military and a Muslim separatist group on Tuesday because of the beheading and an attack on a Chinese shrine popular with Buddhists.
Some Buddhist temples have been ransacked and three monks killed this year. The unrest burst into major bloodshed on April 28 when police and soldiers killed 108 Muslim attackers, including 32 who had taken refuge in a mosque.
The Lim Ko Nhieo Chinese shrine in the town of Pattani is next to Krue Se mosque, where the 32 militants were hiding after an earlier shootout.
"In the past, when monks went out for alms, children helpers followed to help carry food," said Phrakru Praphassorn Sirikul, abbot of the temple that hosted the gathering to commemorate the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha.
"But nowadays when they go out, soldiers carry M-16s to protect them. This is very ugly," he said.
The 1,000-strong rally of mainly government officials and students in Narathiwat, 1,200km south of Bangkok, was billed as a morale booster for the region's nervous Buddhist population.
Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said the situation was improving after Bangkok sent in military reinforcements, although authorities remain fearful of infiltration by foreign Islamic radicals and their ideas.
"There is some influence from outside but we are trying to explain to our people what is the correct thing in the Koran," Chavalit said.
Despite his assurances, Thais are evacuating the region.
"Wealthy Buddhists have already fled their homes and the middle-class people are joining them," the abbot said.
"Only the poor can't afford to leave and they can barely nourish Buddhism. We may soon become another Indonesia, where there are many Buddhist structures, but few followers," he said.
Tension in the region began on Jan. 4, when dozens of suspected Muslim militants raided an army camp and stole 400 guns, provoking fears of a resurgence of a low-key separatist war that rocked the region in the 1970s and 1980s.
In the latest incident, an elderly Buddhist rubber tapper was found decapitated in Narathiwat over the weekend.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including