The military has deployed some 14,000 soldiers from three different Army regions to the deep South. Each unit adopted its own organisational culture and working style to restore peace and order to the region, said Colonel Jirasak Sukwattana, a military academic from Chulachomklao Cadet Academy.

Jirasak conducted the study jointly with his colleague Lt-Colonel Pimonphan Uchotgit under the supervision of peace advocate and academic Chaiwat Satha-anand.

Military units from three different regions, the First Army Region from the Central region, the Second Army Region from the Northeast and the Fourth Army Region from the South, are overseeing security in the deep South, Jirasak said.

No units from the Third Army Region, which takes care of the North, were deployed to the deep South because they already had a heavy duty load in the Thai-Burma border areas, he said.

Units from different regions were commissioned to take care of different areas of the three southernmost provinces Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.

Troops from the First Army Region were mobilised from two Royal Guard infantry divisions based in Bangkok and Prachin Buri. Their commanders are well educated and soldiers are well disciplined.

"The Royal Guard soldiers obtained respect and good cooperation from local residents, of whom the vast majority are Muslim Malay," said Jirasak.

"Their iron principles are not to drink or have sexual affairs with local Muslim girls," he said.

Soldiers from the Second Army Region are mostly natives of the Northeast whose units have experience fighting communist insurgents in 1970s and '80s, but their culture did not go well with southern culture, he said.

"Muslim people are not comfortable with some eating habits of soldiers from Isaan, such as eating frogs," Jirasak said.

The Fourth Army Region's troops are mostly local or from upper southern regions who are familiar with the area and culture, but they sometimes used too much pressure and thus created resistance, the colonel said.

Co-researcher Pimonphan said the study was based on interviews with soldiers in six different units representing the three Army regions, both commanding officers and subordinates. Their performance was judged by the number of violent incidents in areas under their control.

Colonel Anuchart Bunnag of the National Defence Studies Institute of the Supreme Command Headquarters disagreed with the finding, saying the Army region and home province of soldiers would not contribute to their working style as the military had the same culture and work values throughout.

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation