"Siam dan Thaksin tahu hanya satu jalan saja untuk menakut dan mengajar Umat Melayu Patani ialah dengan guna mucung senapang."

'Siam and Thaksin know only one way to frighten and teach the Patani-Malays, that is using the barrel of the gun" (Statement from The Patani United Liberation Organisation, Pulo).

When it comes to law enforcement and military operations, there isn't such a thing as a miscalculation or a mistake. This is especially so in an area where martial law is enforced. Every scenario is played out. Every move is painstakingly calculated. Collateral damage is factored in. There are even special guidebooks for law enforcement agencies on how to do crowd control and quell demonstrations, complete with little stick figure drawings.

So when the Thai security personnel fired shots into a crowd of peaceful protestors in southern Thailand, killing at least six men and wounding scores, it was not a mistake.

When more than a thousand men were rounded up, stripped, cuffed behind their backs and forced to prostrate on the ground, it was not a mistake.

When these men with broken necks and limbs were crushed into four trucks for a six-hour journey, it was not a mistake.

Cold-blooded murder

This was Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's version of 'Shock and Awe' or to put it plainly cold-blooded murder at our doorsteps.

Unfortunately the commission of inquiry constituted only after the deaths of 84 southern Muslim-Thais comes a little too late. Answers sought on the 'who, how, why and how many' will inevitably steer clear of this macabre conclusion.

It is apparent that the recent reshuffle of the Thai cabinet, which saw General Sirichai Thanyasari appointed the new military head for the South and General Sanphan Boonyanan as the new minister for defence, has done little to placate the frustrations of the south and ameliorate the situation. Instead it suggests a more Bangkok-centric and hardline approach.

There have been some well-intentioned concerned Thais who would prefer to comprehend the restless south as a region of neglect that can be remedied with increased socio-economic development. However that alone will not solve the prevalence of everyday fear of living in a state of martial law.

Regular sweeps of homes, military checkpoints, arbitrary arrests, military and intelligence posturing have served only to further aggravate and provoke the population into greater suspicion and resentment. Each military offensive there is designed to force an equally potent reaction from the southern Thais.

The cycle of violence does not end until all resistance is wiped out. In Narathiwat this week, the detention of six local villagers, said to be local religious teachers, stirred their students, families and friends to call for their release. Their concerns were answered with tear-gas, truncheons and live ammunition.

The need to hold Thaksin accountable for the loss of innocent lives is slowly whittling to the fear of alleged Muslim 'extremists' groups setting up recruitment camps in southern Thailand - a theoretical framework eagerly put forward by security 'experts' and intelligence agencies.

After the massacre at the Kerisik Mosque on April 28 this year (coincidentally 300 Muslim villagers were killed back in 1948 on this very same date), many were quick to suggest that Jemaah Islamiah had won over the hearts of the southern Thais with their embroided 'JI' jackets and 'how to jihad' handbooks. Adding insult to injury were a number of proposals - from rewriting the Quran, to bringing in Malaysian-based ulamas in order to teach 'moderate' Islam to their Thai counterparts, and even constructing a concrete wall along the 500 km Thai-Malaysian border.

'Special' problem

The problems in southern Thailand have been, by all accounts, painted as a Muslim 'problem'. Hence what is proposed as a 'special' problem involves a 'unique' solution, lest the latest incident gives the upper hand to alleged Muslim 'extremist' groups to take advantage of the situation.

Unfortunately this line of argument of exclusivity veers far from the realities of the region. Most of region's problems at hand are unresolved remnants of legitimate struggles for self-determination dating back to the-colonial years. In the past, the rule of thumb would be to persecute the communists and leftists. But these days, the hue has changed from red to green, it is en vogue and increasingly easy to point fingers at Muslims and accuse them of being terrorists and religious zealots.

The value of human life and human dignity has been diminished by virtue of one's religious background. It is as if this one particular conclusion, which coincides with Washington's myopic fear and theory of Southeast Asia's version of a Muslim 'Band of Brothers' is far more dangerous than that of this region's authoritarian regimes who would not think twice of shooting at civilians, curbing civil liberties and detaining suspects without legitimate grounds and fair trials.

The lack of contrition from Thaksin is to be expected. Thaksin will eventually wriggle out of this mess, just as he did earlier this year at Kerisik Mosque and when his government shot dead more than a thousand men on mere accusations that they were involved in the drugs trade. A responsible prime minister would have recalled all military personnel involved in the Narathiwat massacre, sacked the generals and offered his resignation.

But Thaksin is fortified by Asean and knows that the cabal of new authoritarian leaders cloaked only in new clothes will stay voyeuristic from afar. Asean's contribution to the lexicon of international foreign policy 'non-interference' - absolves its guilt. Its collective conscience cannot be pricked. One need not go too far to see end game of this policy Aceh, Mindanao, East Timor, and Burma.

The body count will no doubt increase in southern Thailand under the blinkers of Asean. As the cycle of violence makes yet another round, what will be left of the region's moral imperative?