Religion and Political Conflict in Southern Thailand-Northern Malaysia
Alexander Hortsmann (Muenster University Germany)
My paper draws on the recent clashes between the Thai military, the Thai police, the local mafia, and militant Islamic organizations in Southern Thailand. Taking a longue dureé perspective, the paper looks at earlier clashes as well.
The war on drugs as well as the war on terrorism has escalated a political conflict with facets of ethnic cleansing. This civil conflict raises expectations for autonomy for the Muslims South in Buddhist Thailand.
My paper is concerned with the violence, the religious symbolism of this violence, its legitimation and its representation in the media. I discuss the brutal murder of Buddhist monks, the massacre at Kru Ze mosque, in Songkla and Tak Bai, and the show of the Tak Bai VCD during prayer in Kota Baru.
I thus offer a thick description of the conflicts in the Thai-Malaysian borderland with a special eye on the dynamics of religion.
