It may be true that the Thai public has never had high expectations of the armed forces in terms of their combat readiness - if not also their willingness to put themselves in physical danger to defend the country against threats to national security. However, the military could, at the very least, have been expected to gain a foothold in the area and then try to establish control of a geographical area under its authority.

Three years and 2,000 mostly civilian deaths later, the armed forces have done neither as the raging insurgency in the Malay-speaking southern border provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat threatens to get out of control. The insurgents have virtually complete freedom of movement within the strife-torn region and are free to pick and choose their targets, military or civilian, either by blowing them up with improvised bombs, attacking them in roadside ambushes, or simply hunting down defenceless civilians, killing them and mutilating their bodies.

The insurgents can do all of these things without having to worry that government security forces will come after them to try to apprehend them and bring them to justice, or kill them if they were to resist arrest. They have learned that there are no consequences whatsoever if they simply flee the scene and blend into the nearest village or community that is either sympathetic to their separatist cause or too afraid to turn them away.

Members of the military brought shame upon themselves through their brutal treatment of Tak Bai protesters in their custody, which left more than 80 people dead on October 25, 2004. Either military officials have never recovered from this episode and are reluctant to engage insurgents when civilian collateral damage might result, or they do not want to put their men into combat under any circumstances.

What is interesting is that even after a military patrol has come under attack either by a roadside bomb or in an ambush, the Army almost never dispatches reinforcement units to pursue the insurgents. The reason that is often cited by rescue teams to justify taking so long for coming to the aid of their fallen comrades, is that the road may have been strewn with spikes that could deflate vehicle tyres.

Several soldiers, teachers and policemen have been tortured to death by kidnappers, or even beaten to a bloody pulp by frenzied mobs, because military commanders in charge dared not take the responsibility to order the rescue of hostages for fear of being blamed for any injuries the hostage-takers might incur.

Her Majesty, lamenting the unnecessary loss of innocent civilians and dutiful schoolteachers at the hands of insurgents in the troubled region, said: "I know there are many bad people everywhere, but it is our duty not to allow them to do such bad things. They can kill people and officials cannot bring them down? That's not the right thing and not honourable for our nation."

The fact that Her Majesty found it necessary to remind the armed forces to perform their duties says a lot about the sorry state that the military is in. In January, the Defence Ministry asked for and received a budget of Bt115 billion for this year - an almost 50-per-cent increase over fiscal 2006. The military has simply run out of excuses not to fight insurgents, protect civilians and restore peace in the deep South.

No one says that separating insurgents hiding among civilians is an easy task, but that does not mean the military should sit on its hands and watch insurgents kill innocent people they are supposed to protect and sow the seeds of hatred among Thais.