Thailand Hires Assassin As Security Adviser
Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 6:52 am
Finally deciding its policy of appeasement and hitherto softly-softly approach has failed, and after some 2,000 murders, Thailand's issuing a stark wakeup call to the Jihadis in the south: play time is over chaps!
International Herald Tribune, Thomas Fuller
BANGKOK: Frustrated by their inability to pacify a Muslim insurgency and concerned about rising impatience toward their rule, Thailand’s generals have named a former commando and self-described assassin as their top security adviser.
The appointment this month of Pallop Pinmanee, a retired general notorious for his harsh tactics but admired for his survival instincts, appears to be an acknowledgement that the military-backed government’s conciliatory approach toward Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand has failed.
“The way to solve the problem in the south is to get the people on your side,” Pallop said in an interview this week. But if the violence continues, he said, the military should carry out “search and destroy” missions against the insurgents. “If we cannot make them surrender, then we have no choice - we have to destroy them.”
Pallop, a retired general who turned 71 on Friday, speaks about his days as an army-appointed assassin in a casual, matter-of-fact tone and offers little to dispel his tough-guy reputation. He was the leader of what he called the "killer team," a secret seven-man unit of the army in 1970 that carried out extrajudicial killings.
But he is perhaps best known for his decision to raid the Krue Se mosque in southern Thailand in 2004, a controversial move that left 32 insurgents dead. The raid helped reignite the centuries-old conflict between Thai Buddhists and ethnic Malay Muslims.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/25/asia/thai.php
International Herald Tribune, Thomas Fuller
BANGKOK: Frustrated by their inability to pacify a Muslim insurgency and concerned about rising impatience toward their rule, Thailand’s generals have named a former commando and self-described assassin as their top security adviser.
The appointment this month of Pallop Pinmanee, a retired general notorious for his harsh tactics but admired for his survival instincts, appears to be an acknowledgement that the military-backed government’s conciliatory approach toward Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand has failed.
“The way to solve the problem in the south is to get the people on your side,” Pallop said in an interview this week. But if the violence continues, he said, the military should carry out “search and destroy” missions against the insurgents. “If we cannot make them surrender, then we have no choice - we have to destroy them.”
Pallop, a retired general who turned 71 on Friday, speaks about his days as an army-appointed assassin in a casual, matter-of-fact tone and offers little to dispel his tough-guy reputation. He was the leader of what he called the "killer team," a secret seven-man unit of the army in 1970 that carried out extrajudicial killings.
But he is perhaps best known for his decision to raid the Krue Se mosque in southern Thailand in 2004, a controversial move that left 32 insurgents dead. The raid helped reignite the centuries-old conflict between Thai Buddhists and ethnic Malay Muslims.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/25/asia/thai.php
