Thailand, Myanmar can learn from Manila's move on its restive south

THE insurgents in southern Thailand who killed 15 people (including a police officer and several village defence volunteers) last week served a grisly, but timely, reminder that the region remains a restive and dangerous place.

Early this year, insurgents killed two Buddhist monks at a temple; the same day, bombs were set off against Thai soldiers. The conflict has its roots in the attempt to impose civil law in the Muslim-majority Thai provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat in the 1940s. It led to demands that the southern provinces be allowed to continue to be administered by Islamic law. These unmet demands gradually turned violent over the years. Things took a turn for the worse from 2004. About 7,000 peopl…