The spirits of some 140 displaced villagers who have taken refuge in a local temple rose yesterday amid an outpouring of support and sympathy from local residents - both Buddhist and Muslim - who donated food, clothes, blankets and money to help them ease their suffering.

Pickup trucks filled with donated items arrived steadily throughout the day as news about the Buddhist villagers fleeing their home in Yala's Than To and Bannang Sata districts spread, prompting local residents into action.

Arriving discreetly at the temple grounds with goods to donate, local Malay-Muslim women were seen taking off their head scarves, possibly out of concern that the Islamic symbolism would provoke more anger from other Buddhists, many of whom see the violence as a sectarian issue.

But researchers and government statistics show that most of 1,800 people who have been

killed since January 2004 were Muslims of Malay ethnicity, suspected of collaborating with government security and intelligence forces.

Soldiers from the Task Force Unit 11 were dispatched to provide security for the displaced people, as they have attracted a flood of people and traffic to the temple.

A monks' quarters will become a temporary classroom.

Back in one abandoned village, a Special Forces unit found an elderly, paralysed woman in a wooden stilted house.

A soldier carried her out and took her to the temporary settlement at the temple. It was not clear as to what had happened to her relatives, if she had any. Most of the displaced Buddhists said they did not want to return to their villages and were hoping the government would help find a new settlement in the form of a cooperative commune for them outside the restive region.

Thongchai Iamnirand, 36, whose wife and father-in-law were killed on November 5 by suspected insurgents, tried hard to hold back his tears.

 "All I have left is my son," Thongchai said.

 "I am very bitter. This is Thai territory and something like this is still taking place. Was I wrong to be born in this place?," said Thongchai, who is hoping to be relocated outside the region with the help of the government.

Sommung Krainara, 50, recalled the November 5 incident, and how he trembled with fear as he gripped his shotgun given to him by the district chief. He said it was all very peaceful back in 1981 when he moved to the district.

"It never crossed my mind that something like this would occur," Sommung said.

Prince of Songkhla University in Pattani Assoc Professor Srisompob Jitpiromsri said the displacement of an entire Buddhist community suggested the situation had reached a new threshold. He warned that the worse was yet to come.

Srisompob said the incident was part of a new dimension in the problem that could pit Buddhists against Muslims if the situation is not handled properly.

About 20 per cent of the local residents in the three southernmost provinces are Buddhists.

Former Yala governor Boonsit Suwanarat called on the government to settle the matter within 10 days, otherwise it would boost the morale of the militants behind the violence.

Nakarin Shinworakomol

The Nation

YALA