Pattaya Today 15
Vol. 8 No. 20 1 - 15 July 2009
The Muslim Insurgency in the South Intensifies Dear Editor, A friend of mine is concerned about his degree, namely that it’s a forgery. He was told by his last school that he needed a degree for his work permit and they implied they didn’t mind where he got it from. Now he’s started applying for new teaching jobs and has heard rumours that one can be deported if found to have false documents. Do you know if this is so? Basil Franks, Bang Saray Dear Basil, Yes, I’m afraid this is so, if the school or Education Ministry run checks. People discovered to have false documentation run the risk of being arrested, tried and then deported. However, not everywhere is as stringent as Bangkok in carrying out documentation checks; I’m told Chonburi Province is not so rigorous. There is the other option of obtaining an ED Visa, which usually entails enrolling for a course of Thai lessons. Whilst it won’t be the same as a work permit in that you can’t work full time, it does allow you to work part time, presumably for a school or language school that doesn’t require full disclosure of documentation. Dear Editor, I know some might think me foolish for falling for the “gem scam”, which I unfortunately did, when I bought what I thought were real gems from “gem salesmen” on Jomtien Beach and I even saw notices about gem scams in Bangkok, but the stones I was sold looked so genuine and they were so comparatively cheap I didn’t see how I could go wrong, till I found out they were just coloured glass. Warn your readers so they don’t make the same mistake. Sincerely, Clive Chauvenon, Jomtien. Dear Clive, I’m told making such mistakes is easily done in Thailand, Burma and Cambodia, where these unscrupulous con-merchants operate. They probably even showed you how the gems could scratch glass as proof of their genuineness, right? Believe me, even gem experts can make mistakes. I believe the only way to be sure is to have chemical tests done and in future don’t buy from beach vendors, no matter how sincere they appear. Dear Editor, I was fortunate to narrowly escape being scammed by ‘black money’ con artists in Bangkok recently and would like to warn others about this scam. I met two black men who invited me back to their hotel telling me they had something there that was to our mutual advantage. After treating me to a free meal, they took me to their room and produced a suitcase full to the brim with blackcoloured money, which they told me so coloured to fool customs and bandits. They then took 3 black banknotes, put them in a tray, and produced a vial of liquid which they poured over them and lo and behold they turned into 20, 50, and 100 dollar bills. They then told me they would give me US$400,000 if I could go to my bank and withdraw US$10,000 in Thai baht and give it to them in exchange so they could buy more of the “magic” fluid. I told them that sadly I didn’t have that sort of money and said I was sorry to have wasted their time. I felt I was lucky to have escaped so lightly, but others might not be so lucky. Regards, Steve Johnson, South Pattaya. Dear Steve, Thanks for informing our readers about the magic ‘black money’ scam. There do seem to be many scam merchants around from the Black Continent with all kinds of wily schemes to deprive the naive of their funds. Recently, in the UK, there was a huge scam perpetrated by a Nigerian gang on the British Government, whereby they repeatedly sent disguised asylum seekers and other claimants for social security, using the identities of dead villagers from their home village. They cheated the British Government out of a phenomenal amount of money, before being caught. It’s best to be on your guard everywhere you go and remember you rarely get anything for nothing.
Dear Editor, I’m told it’s now necessary to have police clearance to work in a school, to prevent paedophiles and criminals becoming teachers. Do you know if this is the case and if so how do you go about getting clearance? Yours faithfully, Terry Smith, telsm2@gmail.com Dear Terry, Whilst I understand police clearance is not yet mandatory to apply for a teaching post, it might be as well to gain police clearance because it will almost certainly be necessary in the future as it is, for instance, in the UK. If you are currently resident in Thailand, you can apply to: the Police Clearance Service Center, Special Branch, Royal Thai Police, Building 24, Royal Thai Police Headquarters, Rama 1, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330. Or E-mail them at - pcsc@police.go.th You will need to submit the following: a) a certified photocopy of passport b) document(s) which proves that applicant has worked or resided in Thailand. c) a certified photocopy of Thai work permit (if available) d) two photographs (1 inch by 2 inches) e) three sets of fingerprints., together with the official seal and signature of the official taking the fingerprints; f) a sufficiently large envelope with pre-paid stamps (for applicants residing in Thailand) with applicant’s address to mail certificates back to the applicant. Presumably the police carry out a check to see if you have a criminal record in Thailand and then post all the necessary documentation back to the applicant, with the clearance certificate (always assuming one has committed no crime). Dear Editor, I appreciate that this may not be your domain, but as a notebook user, I’m worried about rumors circulating that Microsoft is going to quit supporting Windows XP users when it introduces Windows 7, later this year. Sincerely, Franklin D. MacGregor Jnr. Address withheld. Dear Franklin, Fear not, for you and other stalwart XP users, Microsoft has promised to continue producing Windows XP for at least a year following the official launch of its new operating system, Windows 7 in 2010. This means support for XP should continue even longer. Apparently, Microsoft is committed to a specific brand of notebook that shall be nameless, which is engineered to make the best use of XP. However, I’d seriously consider changing to Windows 7 when it does eventually come out if your CPU and RAM can take it. Dear Editor, I live near Sattahip and have the misfortune to get my mains water from Sattahip Water Company. I have lived all over the globe and have never before come across a water supplier that gives such abysmal service. They think nothing of discontinuing the water supply to the area with no notice whatsoever and they do so continuously. They also don’t deliver a water bill for 2 months sometimes and then get heavy when you don’t pay immediately, threatening to cut you off! We are lucky enough have a well, but I pity the poor folks that have to rely totally on the local water supplier, especially in this really hot weather. Regards, Georges Le Blanc, Sattahip Dear Georges, I commiserate with you. We also have had many water problems in the past, here in Pattaya. Thankfully, things are not so bad at present. However, I think you’ll agree, we farang all too often apply Western standards to Thai providers without them having the same levels of experience, efficiency or manpower. All you can really do is complain to the management and buy a large water container for emergencies.
That the Muslim insurgency in the 29 provinces of Southern Thailand has turned on its grass-roots support with a vengeance was proved conclusively by the attack on June 8 on 50 Muslim worshippers in Cho-ai-rong mosque, Narathiwat Province, killing 11, including the Imam, and wounding 14 others, with another 36 people killed and over 100 wounded in other terrorist incidents in the region during June. The insurgency, which flared up five years ago, has so far been responsible for the deaths of 3,700 people, a mere stone’s throw away from some of Thailand’s most popular beach resorts. Now, it has been revealed in a report published on June 22, by the International Crisis Group, that the National Revolutionary Front-Coordinate (NRF) insurgency group is recruiting an estimated 1,800-3,000 fighter from over 100,000 students in Southern Thailand’s Islamic school system. This in a week when Al Qaeda announced it would use Pakistan’s nuclear weapons against the United States, given the chance. “God willing, the nuclear weapons will not fall into the hands of the Americans and the Mujahedeen would take them and use them against the Americans,” Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, the leader of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, declared in an interview on Al Jazeera TV. Not that the Thai-Muslim insurgents are accused of having any ties to Al Qaeda, according to the International Crisis Group, who describe the insurgents as a home-grown movement of Malay Muslim mlitants seeking independence from Thailand. Their recruiters “appeal to Malay nationalism and the oppression of Malay Muslims by Buddhist Thai rulers” rather than invoking a universal Islamic state or a global jihad. However, the insurgents use many of the same methods in their recruitment, like oath-taking, indoctrination and military training, as other jihadist groups, so realistically it can only be a matter of time before they fall in with the Al Qaeda terrorist network. Significantly, al-Yazid stated the strategy of Al Qaeda is to open “new fronts in a manner that achieves the interests of Islam and Muslims and by increasing military operations that drain the enemy financially”. The Crisis Group report, based on 16 months of interviews with anonymous religious teachers and students involved in underground activities, describing the NRF recruitment methods in Islamic schools, asserts “Recruiters invite those who seem promising devout Muslims of good character who are moved by a history of oppression, mistreatment and the idea of armed jihad to join extracurricular indoctrination programs in mosques or disguised as football training”. The recruitment is surreptitious, going on under the noses of school administrators, teachers and students, many of whom are oblivious. A recruitment pamphlet discovered in a raid by security forces is couched in emotional terms - “Our land is crying and calling and waiting for independence and fraternity. We have been treated as second-class citizens or like children of slaves.” The insurgent recruitment drive is encouraged by reports of torture by the Thai military, disappearances and extrajudicial killings. A Muslim legal group cited 74 reports of torture of detainees between June 2007 and April 2008. However, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban was quick to dismiss any Thai military involvement in the recent mosque massacre and an Army spokesman asserted the insurgents “are trying to make it look like the attackers are the authorities, because Muslims would apparently not shoot inside a mosque. But it’s impossible that it is the work of the military”. Ironically, the Democrat Party has a firm standing in the region, but so far has not made headway in curbing the violence. The state of emergency existing in Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala Provinces since July 2005 gives security forces sweeping powers of search and seizure and virtual immunity from prosecution, although the premier has now vowed to end the measures and investigate claims of civil rights abuses by the military. Abhisit’s government has tried to change the traditional communitybased Islamic schools, where teaching is frequently in Malay, but has met lethal resistance. Over the past five years, 115 school teachers and education officials have been killed and 200 schools burned. The victims of these and other attacks on government officials and troops are often Buddhists, but over half those killed have been Muslims, many accused by the insurgents of being collaborators or spies for the Thai government.