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Published on July 8, 2007

The decision to shut down the Islam Burapha private religious school in Narathiwat is in line with the law, but the government should explain its reasons to the public to prevent any bid to exploit it, two Muslim leaders said yesterday.

Abdulohni Kahamah, secretary of the Association of Islamic Private Schools in the Five Southernmost Provinces, said that the decision was based on the Education Act (1982) that prohibits any school activities against national security.

Violation of the Act is punishable by revocation of the school's licence, he said.

"Therefore the decision to shut down the Islamic Burapha school is right according to the law as plenty of explosives and weapons were found at the school. Its teachers and students were detained and accused of insurgent activities," he said.

But he said the government urgently needed to explain the decision to people, particularly those who lived near the school.

"It is a sensitive matter, so an explanation in detail from the government is needed to prevent any ill-intentioned group from using it to create misunderstanding of the authorities," he said.

Islam Burapha became the second private Islamic school to be ordered shut since violence erupted in the Malay-speaking deep South more than three years ago.

Abdulohni suggested that the government suspend subsidies to any school that violated the law and resume them once the problem had been resolved.

"Closing the school will benefit the militants as they could use the opportunity to instigate violence," he said.

Islamic Committee of Thailand member Paisarn Promyong supported the decision to close the school, saying the weapons found there and the students and teachers allegedly involved in insurgency violated the Education Act.

However, he said the government should make clear whether the school would be closed indefinitely or could be reopened once all the culprits had been arrested.

"It seems unfair that other students and teachers who are not involved in the insurgency have to bear responsibility. I believe that to close the school down indefinitely would have a negative impact in the long term," he said.

Paisarn said it could not be denied that there might be insurgent activities in many other religious schools in the South. He likened the situation to the problem of drug addiction in schools and said the government should deal with the actual culprits instead of closing down a school.

Meanwhile some 300 Thai Buddhists in Yala's Muang district blocked a road to their village to protest the decision to withdraw Rangers from the area. The villagers said the Rangers curbed the violence and it was their wish that they stay. They agreed to disperse after senior Army officer promised to forward their demand, but they vowed to regroup if their demand was not met.

An ongoing security sweep of suspect areas in the deep South has so far resulted in 348 suspects being detained for interrogation, senior Army deputy chief Colonel Attadej Mathanom said yesterday.

The suspects were divided into groups and are being questioned at five separate Army camps in Songkhla, Yala and Narathiwat. The Army can legally detain them for a maximum of 28 days.

Attadej said the Army would prosecute suspects against whom it found evidence of involvement in the violence, while those who confessed but against whom there was no evidence would be sent for training by the Army.

The Army will free suspects who were forced to help the insurgency or have relatives involved, he said.