Since January 2004, a violent separatist insurgency has raged in
southern Thailand, resulting in more than three thousand deaths.
Though largely unnoticed outside Southeast Asia, the rebellion in
Pattani and neighboring provinces and the Thai government's harsh
crackdown have resulted in a full-scale crisis. Tearing Apart the
Land by Duncan McCargo, one of the world's leading scholars of
contemporary Thai politics, is the first fieldwork-based book about
this conflict. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of the region,
hundreds of interviews conducted during a year's research in the
troubled area, and unpublished Thai-language sources that range
from anonymous leaflets to confessions extracted by Thai security
forces, McCargo locates the roots of the conflict in the context of
the troubled power relations between Bangkok and the
Muslim-majority "deep South."
McCargo describes how Bangkok tried to establish legitimacy by
co-opting local religious and political elites. This successful
strategy was upset when Thaksin Shinawatra became prime minister in
2001 and set out to reorganize power in the region. Before Thaksin
was overthrown in a 2006 military coup, his repressive policies had
exposed the precariousness of the Bangkok government's influence. A
rejuvenated militant movement had emerged, invoking Islamic
rhetoric to challenge the authority of local leaders obedient to
Bangkok.
For readers interested in contemporary Southeast Asia,
insurgency and counterinsurgency, Islam, politics, and questions of
political violence, Tearing Apart the Land is a powerful account of
the changing nature of Islam on the Malay peninsula, the legitimacy
of the central Thai government and the failures of its security
policy, the composition of the militant movement, and the
conflict's disastrous impact on daily life in the deep South.
Carefully distinguishing the uprising in southern Thailand from
other Muslim rebellions, McCargo suggests that the conflict can be
ended only if a more participatory mode of governance is adopted in
the region.
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