Muslim clerics from all parts of the country will gather in the coming months to debate the use of Islam by militants in justifying their attacks against civilians, including women and children, in the deep South, Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC) director-general Pranai Suwanrath said yesterday.

"No one can debate this very issue with the same authority as the cleric," Pranai told reporters and senior editors at the Nation Multimedia Group. The idea comes amid increasing attempts by the militants in the Malay-speaking South to incorporate religious elements into their campaign of violence, which has seen a growing number of innocent civilians, including women and children, being killed.

Leaflets from the militants usually justify their actions in religious terms in their attacks against the state agencies and other targets.

Contrary to popular believe that many of the insurgents are drug-crazed youths, Pranai said a significant number of the militants were actually model students who have embraced separatist ideology that also incorporates Malay identity, history and Islam into their message to the local community.

Pranai played down suggestions that the gathering of Muslim clerics, including chairmen of the 36 provinces that have a provincial Islamic committee, would amount to the declaration of a fatwa - or a religious edict - saying such a move would be entirely up to the clerics.

He admitted the state agencies had been on the losing end of the propaganda war against the militants in the South and urged the public to have patience.

"The public wants to see a knock-out, but this fight will not be over any time soon," he added.

Pranai said he was satisfied with the pace and direction of the SBPAC. He described the centre as a non-security mechanism that works towards building peace in the region, focusing on civil affairs.

He said Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont's policy of reconciliation and the using of peaceful means in addressing the problem in the South had given hope to the "silent majority" who are caught between the militants and the government agencies.

He said the SBPAC had been reaching out to all sectors of society, including youth groups, business people and restaurant and teashop owners to listen to their complaints and inputs.

He said the SBPAC planned to put more emphasis on the younger generation out of concern that Buddhist and Muslim youngsters, unlike the previous generation, are drifting further apart because of the violence in the region.

Pranai also wants to come up with a system to identify rising stars for scholarships. Summer camps and Boy Scouts activities are some of the activities the SBPAC has in mind. "We are telling them the future is theirs," he said.

Don Pathan

The Nation