fareheit 9/11 review - Roger Ebert

[doc]

Yes, I was going to mention this. I read it in the newspaper this morning. This is not uncommon in Thailand however, this episode was just one of the RARE ones that got mentioned in the international press. Apparently, it is very common here, in southern Thailand, for the muslims to kill and maim innocent Buddhists, at will. Car and motobike bombings are also common. In fact, I was stopped tonight in my car by police, at a road block. They were searching all vehicles and bikes for radical muslims. Yes, radical muslims. They take a very proactive approach when dealing with terrorists. They were looking for suspicious characters (and yet, they let me go), and bomb materials. And I'm up in Phuket, 1000 km from the turbulent south. My gf, who lives in Hat Yai, near Malaysia, tells me that the "secret police", undercover agents, and the military are scattered all throughout southern Thailand, because the muslims have been such a huge, huge problem. The current thought here, amongst these very peaceful and very Buddhist Thai people, is to kill them all. They are tired of this nonsense. It is far more prevalent than you could ever imagine, for, few of these killing and terrorist episodes get publicized.

Interesting viewpoints here. You wouldn't find this type of activity or thought processes in the US. Not with liberals like meattosser hanging around, (ROFLMAO, just kidding). On a side note, in the good old USA, my mom tells me that in parts of Vegas, it's illegal to fly the US flag this memorial day. They're arresting people who have flags on their lawns. Something to do with "homeowners association" rules.... God, what have we done to ourselves.

[lester1/2jr]

Fearful Buddhists rally in Thailand's Muslim south
Wed 2 June, 2004 07:35


"In the past, when monks went out for alms, children helpers followed to help carry food. But nowadays when they go out, soldiers carry M-16s to protect them. This is very ugly."
Temple abbot Phrakru Praphassorn Sirikul


By Nopporn Wong-Anan

NARATHIWAT, Thailand (Reuters) - Buddhists in Thailand's Muslim-dominated south have gathered 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.

WEALTHY BUDDHISTS FLEE

The 1,000-strong rally of mainly government officials and students in Narathiwat, 1,200 km south of Bangkok, was billed as a morale booster for the region's nervous Buddhist population.

Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said the situation appeared to be 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 told Reuters Television.

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."

Tension in the region began on January 4, when dozens of suspected Muslim militants raided an army camp and stole about 400 guns, provoking fears of a resurgence of a low-key separatist war that rocked the region in the 1970s and 1980s.

More than 200 people have died in the violence.

In the latest gruesome incident, an elderly Buddhist rubber tapper was found decapitated in Narathiwat over the weekend. Muslim leaders have urged locals not to assume the 67-year-old's attackers were Muslim.

The killers left a note suggesting the murder was linked to unrest in the south, where many people speak Malay and feel closer to Kuala Lumpur than Bangkok. Thai officials say the killers were trying to stir up religious strife ahead of Wednesday's Buddhist holiday.

The government has blamed gunrunners, smugglers, local mafias, and Muslim separatists for the violence in the south.

Talks to discuss the violence were planned for later this week between the Thai administration and Wan Abdul Kadir Che Man, the leader of Bersatu, an umbrella group for separatists.

[doc]

The Thai government is giving guns to the Buddhists in the south to protect themselves from the muslims.

Imagine that.

Imagine that happening in the US, lol.

[zachsan]

hell, the south already has all our guns.

[doc]

Yet our Prez is basically 'in bed' with the Saudi Royal Families.

Well, thank god for that.

The economy of the world, unfortunately, is in the hands of those who control the oil. We're seeing the effects of that now; they're even seeing it in China and Thailand. Rising oil prices lead to diminished economies. Period.

We have to be friendly with these people. Until we become energy independent, we have to be friendly with them. Funny you should mention this mt; the democrats also tend to be the ones who are overly concerned with the caribou in northern Alaska, the caribou that god forbid we displace with some oil drilling.

Oil drilling that would make us less dependent on these Arab countries.

[shaolinstylee]

Remember that one of the first things this administration did was to reduce the budget for renewable and alternative energy resource testing and investigation.

[zachsan]

well it's a classic american problem. something that is rapidly becoming more and more necessary (self-reliance in energy) is hindered on one side by people crying out for the souls of caribou and on the other side by companies with vested interests in the traditional way of doing things.

[lester1/2jr]

The Historical Roots of Conflict

Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist nation of around 60 million people. Almost 10% of the population is Muslims, living mostly in the five southern provinces bordering Malaysia.8 Most Muslims in southern Thailand are ethnic Malay who speak a dialect known as Yawi. They constitute a majority in the three southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Songkhla. Although there is no precise date for the introduction of Islam to Thailand, it is evident that Southeast Asia’s initial contact with Islam was through Arab traders in the region as early as the 8th century AD.9

Eventually, Arab and Persian pioneers settled in Thailand, setting up businesses, taking local wives and bringing up their children according to the principles of Shari’ah law. In time, they were joined by their Indian coreligionists, and by the latter half of the 10th century there was an established Muslim community in Thailand.10 Between the 12th and 15th centuries Islam spread extensively, with large numbers of people converting, including the King of Pattani, who declared an “Islamic kingdom” in 1457.11


A Pattanese Muslim holds a bloodied religious book

The subsequent Islamization of Pattani replaced many elements of the Hindu-Buddhist culture, and the Muslim religious elite came to dominate the kingdom’s sociopolitical system. However, the Muslim dynasty was abolished in 1786 when Pattani was conquered by the Kingdom of Siam. Under Siamese rule, Muslim provinces were governed by Siamese-appointed bureaucrats working under a centralized administrative structure. Muslim rebellions in opposition to Siam’s administrative “reforms” were suppressed. The subsequent Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 guaranteed Siam’s undisputed control over Pattani, following which the Siamese government took various measures aimed at weakening the Islamic identity of the Pattanese to develop a mono-ethnic, Buddhist, Thai state.12

Under Siamese rule, the local governors of the Muslim-majority provinces were replaced by Thai rulers. In addition, an act was passed in 1921 forcing Muslims to attend Siamese schools to receive a secular education. As a result, Islamic schools were closed and the power of Muslim scholars was greatly undermined.

During World War II, the Thai military regime of Pibul Songkhram initiated a series of policies aimed at the forcible assimilation of Muslims. The wearing of western-style trousers was made compulsory for men, and Muslims were prevented from adopting Muslim names or using the Malay dialect. In addition, Shari’ah law was set aside in favor of the Thai Buddhist laws of marriage and inheritance.13

Such policies generated a great deal of resentment among the Muslim population of Thailand. Consequently, Haji Sulong, the president of the Islamic Religious Council, submitted a seven-point list of demands to the Thai government, calling for an end to the government’s discriminatory policies. The Thai government responded by arresting Haji Sulong and his associates and charging them with treason.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Muslims constitute 10% of the population of Thailand.


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By the end of World War II the Thai state had militarily subdued the Pattani separatist movement.14 In the initial post-war period, the government tried to adopt a more conciliatory stance towards Muslims in the south. But centuries of marginalization and suppression at the hands of Thai officials, state penetration of Muslim civil society and the absence of Pattanese political participation contributed to mutual antagonism between both sides. This antagonism erupted on April 28, 1948, in a pivotal event known as the Dusun Nyiur incident - a violent clash between Thai police and Pattanese Muslims that left an estimated 1,100 Muslims and 30 policemen killed and set the stage for the rise of more militant Muslim separatist groups.15

[shaolinstylee]

Thanks for the history lesson, I was looking for something like that.

[lester1/2jr]

sorry It's totally boring i know. I was just curious to see if they were indigenous or not. "muslim rage" is usually atttributed to jews or the US oil interests. none of those in this story

[zachsan]

partly, they're just pissed because they were supposed to have conquered the world by now.

[doc]

Has anyone seen this work of art yet? I can't find it in the "stalls" here in Thailand.

I guess the people who do all the DVD piracy see no value in it, lol.

[lester1/2jr]

I saw it. It was good and if you aregenerally interested in the issue it's worth seeing. None of the big revelations are really that amazing, but it's sort of depressing how phony and inept the government is and how the saudis so have us by the balls. You could see it as a communist movie or simply a critique of capitalism. BUsh comes off looking like a retard.

[mortal]

Anyone who is always in the public spotlight is going to do things that are stupid sometimes. He probably searched thousands of miles of footage. I wish I had footage of Moore in his daily life. I bet I could make him look like he was mentally retarded.

[dogchow108]

i dont think you need to try too hard to make bush look stupid...just look up quotes...

for that matter, you dont ahve to try too hard to make ANYONE look stupid

i havent seen the movie but one big criticism of it is Moore's lack or regard for context. i just dont like him personally since he makes himself famous by slandering americans. i just dont see why that should make you notable.