The only thing that will resolve the violence in the Deep South is peace dialogue -- this could be just a dull, standard statement. But the proclamation bitterly uttered by those living amid the tense ideological and physical struggles in Thailand's southernmost provinces, where nearly 7,000 have died in the past 12 years, deserves respectful heed.
While the conflict continues and the future remains uncertain, Feb 28 is the third anniversary of the peace dialogue that was initiated during the Yingluck Shinawatra administration. The second phase of the talks began last year under the military government.
"People have tried many things. We know that violence feeds violence and turns into this cyclical phenomena. So why don't we walk the talking path? Other conflict areas like Aceh and Northern Ireland did it, so why can't we?" said Muhammad Ayub Pathan, a peace advocate and a prominent social activist in the region.
Ayub, as everyone calls him, is the ninth child of 12 children from a merchant family with an ethnic Pathan father (Pashtun) and a Malay mother. He has been moulded by the cultural and political activism of the 70s and 80s when he was a student at the Khanarassadorn Bamrung Yala School. Like many others in the area who grew up in the 1960s, Ayub witnessed how the Deep South was a venue of ideological clashes, from the memory of the long-lost sultanate to the 1960s theatre of communist insurgencies, in connection with the then-Communist Party of Malaya. The external Islamic forces also had their influences on the people, including the Iran Revolution in 1979 and the Sunni-Shi'ite conflicts elsewhere.
To the natives of the region, all of this shapes their view of the current conflict. Ayub grew up in Yala's Talad Kao area -- jokingly dubbed "the West Bank" by some due to the prevalence of violence from large-scale attacks to symbolic defiance against the Thai Buddhist state -- and he has been shaken and shaped by those interactions.
The Yala native doesn't have any form of higher education but he received an honorary master's degree in mass communications from Yala Rajabhat University in 2009 and a high-level certificate from King Prachadipok Institute's peace-building programme.
Ayub co-founded the Deep South Watch, a peace advocacy organisation in 2006. He has recently been elected as chairman of the Civil Society Council of southern Thailand, which comprises 23 active non-governmental organisations working on education, community development, women and cultural aspects in the far South.
His leadership in the peace-building effort is not shown through powerful rhetoric or religious charisma, yet he has garnered trust and respect bit by bit from his self-motivated education, networking and the expanding of partnerships with local and Bangkok media as well as Muslim circles.
In the eyes of sceptics, Ayub, 54, just happened to be at the right place at the right time. In the early 2000s, he was a stringer for major media outlets such as Matichon, Khao Sod, Bangkok Post and later Post Today. Earlier in the 1980s, he worked for Thang Nam -- a progressive Bangkok-based magazine on Islamic issues.
When the new round of violence broke out in 2004, Ayub was tasked to report on the situation by Isra News -- he was a voice from the troubled spot. Soon Ayub moved on to co-found the Deep South Watch a few years later with Srisompob Jitpiromsri, director of Prince of Songkla University's Pattani Campus Centre for the Study of Conflict and Cultural Diversity and younger teammates such as Romdon Panjor.
The DSW group has been regarded as a key promoter of the peace dialogue that was hatched during the Yingluck Shinawatra administration in February 2013. It involved the Malayu separatist movements that were led by the Barisan Nasional Revolusi (BRN) and brokered by Malaysia. After the latest coup, the process has been stalled, though back room conversations are believed to be taking place.
Critiques belittle Ayub's style of social and political activism, saying that his messages of peace and engagement with the state have softened -- if not totally sidelined -- the bargaining chips of the militant wings of the separatist movements, whose aim is more grand than that of a photo stunt or media publicity.
But his supporters consider him an honest narrator of how southern Thailand has evolved. Another significant contribution is in the way he engages other stakeholders in the conflict, not just the state apparatus, but also civil society groups, particularly the Buddhist networks, and that has helped minimise the scale of spoilers and has brought along differing parties into mainstream discussions and action.
"Actually, we worked on the peace process some time before the peace dialogue was launched [three years ago]. Providing information and wisdom is part of our work in promoting peace and we spread peace-related sets of knowledge to the southern community," said Ayub.
He did not consider that having his colleague Srisompob sit in during the dialogues for peace would be a liability for the work of the Deep South Watch group or peace process.
"It's an unavoidable and necessary stage. After all, anyone ready to engage and communicate at that level should get involved and balance other voices."
The Deep South Watch has garnered stature in shaping the narratives of the southern problem by channelling other sides of the conflict to have a greater space. Their website is now a trove for news, information and views that are often absent from the Bangkok-centric mainstream media.
Dissenting views by some local grass roots actors have been present as Deep South Watch has acted as a venue for exiles and separatist groups' sympathisers as well.
"Our blogs allow people to express more freely, hence the information flow and interactions," said Ayub.
Being part and parcel in the first phase of the peace dialogue has become an asset. Some of the DSW members are trusted and contacted by both the current military government and their counterparts -- the Majlis Syura Patani (Mara Patani) or Patani Consultative Council -- a new body in the second phase of the dialogue for peace.
"It's not just me or DSW, it's an interaction and mutual learning process for all of us in the region -- to become more understanding and persevere and not be swayed by any detrimental psychological operations of any sides," said Ayub, who concedes that at some points he was considered too "pro-government".
"In conflict areas, we need to work with all sides. A lopsided or one-sided collaboration will never sustain peace," said Ayub, who now lives in Yala's Yaha district with his wife and three grown-up children.
He also didn't mind that some people regarded him as an indecisive non-strategist who's also argumentative and confrontational.
"As long as I can provide a conducive environment for further discussions and dialogue, it's natural that people challenge my ideas and proposals. Actually, it's beneficial to have a mirror otherwise we will become arrogant and overconfident," said Ayub.
As the chair of the Civil Society Council of southern Thailand, Ayub has travelled extensively to discuss with religious leaders, business operators, students and youths, preparing groundwork for the launch of the Peace Confederation in the middle of this year.
"Political space is important and both the Thai government and the exile groups realise that the official track is not adequate. Outreach to the public via civil society helps clear misunderstandings and enlivens the conversation," he said.
Now he could claim he has access to all groups, even the armed wings -- of course not directly to them but through connectors. As the new round of dialogue hovers over him as a possibility, Ayub believes that even if hiccups happen and the tables are turned, it would not douse the fire of the overall quest for peace and self-declared stability, because at the end of the day, that's what everyone wants.
Muhammad Ayub Pathan.
