Right Of Self Determination - Give Back For The PATANIAN Entire Land

Jumat, November 25, 2011

Pelanggaran HAM di Thailand Selatan: Komnas HAM ASEAN Tidak Berkontribusi

Komisi Hak Asasi Manusia (HAM) ASEAN (AICHR), dinilai Lembaga Swadaya Masyarakat (LSM) Komisi untuk Orang Hilang dan Tindak Kekerasan (Kontras), tidak berkontribursi berarti di dalam penegakan HAM di wilayah Asia  Tengggara.

Menurut Kordinator Badan Pekerja Kontras, Haris Azhar, AICHR yang merupakan Komnas HAM ASEAN ini, tidak merespon pelanggaran HAM yang terjadi di negara-negara anggota ASEAN, seperti yang terjadi di Burma, Thailand Selatan, dan Filipina Selatan.

"AICHR ga merespon dan memberikan kontribusi terhadap isu-isu pelanggaran HAM, yang terjadi di ASEAN," ujar Haris dalam acara jumpa pers Gerakan Masyarakat Sipil di ASEAN, Jakarta, Kamis (24/11/2011).

Selain itu AIHCR, menurutnya tidak independen, transparan, dalam melaksanakan tugas dan, wewenangnya.
Cerminannya, institusi ini  tak memiliki rekam jejak bagus dalam merespon pengaduan dan partisipasi rakyat sipil. Begitupula dalam hal pengumuman hasil  penyelidikan yang tak pernah memberi akses kepada masyarakat.
"AICHR ini enggak lebih dari cerminan para politisi ASEAN, yang kalau bicara HAM itu gagap, gugup, dan gemetar," katanya.

Selain itu, AIHCR nilainya, hanya kepanjangan tangan kepentingan, negara-negara anggota ASEAN.

Seperti diberitakan sebelumnya, Komisioner Tinggi HAM Persatuan Bangsa-bangsa (PBB), Nevanethem Pillay, akan berkunjung ke Bali, Indonesia pada 27-28 November 2011, untuk berdialog dengan 10 Komisioner HAM ASEAN (AICHR). Salah satu isu yang dibahas mengenai deklarasi HAM ASEAN.

Rabu, November 23, 2011

Partai Pendukung Pemerintah Indonesia 'Golkar' Tawarkan Penyelesaian Konflik di Thailand Selatan


Aburizal Bakrie Ketua Partai Golkar
Indonesia memiliki cukup pengalaman dalam penyelesaian konflik Aceh, Papua, dan Poso.

Aburizal BakriePartai Golkar menawarkan upaya kerjasama antara pemerintah Indonesia dengan pemerintah Thailand dalam penyelesaian konflik di Thailand Selatan.

Ketua Umum DPP Partai Golkar, Aburizal Bakrie, mengatakan kepada Perdana Menteri Thailand, Yingluck Shinawatra, bahwa Indonesia memiliki cukup pengalaman dalam penyelesaian konflik, seperti di Aceh, Papua, Poso, dan lain-lain. Karenanya, jika diperlukan, Golkar melalui pemerintah Indonesia, siap membantu atau sekadar berbagi pengalaman dengan Thailand.

"Bahkan, jika perlu, kerjasama dilakukan antara Partai Golkar dengan Pheu Thai Party (Partai Rakyat Thailand, yang merupakan partai pendukung utama Yingluk Shinawatra)," ujar Aburizal kepada wartawan seusai bertemu Perdana Menteri Yingluk Shinawatra, di gedung Parlemen, Bangkok, Rabu, 23 November 2011.

Duta Besar Republik Indonesia untuk Thailand, Muhammad Hatta, yang turut mendampingi Aburizal dalam pertemuan itu, mengakui bahwa kunjungan Partai Golkar ke Thailand cukup membantu tugas-tugas kediplomatikan Indonesia. Jika pemerintah Thailand meminta bantuan Indonesia untuk penyelesaian konflik Thailand Selatan, KBRI siap melakukannya.

Jalinan komunikasi antara salah satu partai politik (parpol) di Indonesia dengan parpol di Thailand pun, katanya, pasti sangat berguna. Lagi pula, Partai Golkar maupun Pheu Thai adalah sama-sama partai pendukung pemerintah berkuasa sekarang. Golkar merupakan partai politik anggota koalisi pendukung pemerintah Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, sedangkan Pheu Thai  adalah partai pendukung utama PM Yingluck.

Partai Golkar, kata Dubes Hatta, merupakan parpol pertama Indonesia yang melakukan kunjungan dan menjalin komunikasi dengan parpol berkuasa di Thailand, juga dengan Parlemen dan Pemerintah negeri Gajah Putih itu. "Ini pertama kali setelah 61 tahun hubungan Indonesia-Thailand."

Konflik di Thailand Selatan berakar pada keinginan masyarakat muslim di wilayah tersebut untuk mendapatkan hak mengatur tanah dan wilayah mereka sendiri. Sekitar 1.800 orang telah kehilangan nyawa selama waktu tiga tahun pertama konflik meletus. Kini, jumlah itu telah mencapai sekitar 4.800.

Wilayah selatan sebelumnya adalah wilayah otonomi kesultanan Melayu, hingga masuk wilayah Thailand pada 1902.(Laporan M. Arief Hidayat, Bangkok, eh)

Sumber dari:
VIVAnews,  23 November 2011

Sabtu, November 12, 2011

Operation Nasi Kerabu: Finding Patani In An Islamic Insurgency



(Disclosure: This book is yet another complimentary copy from ZI Publications with no obligations to review it. For other reviews of books I received from ZI for free, check out Malaysian Tales Retold, Rojak Fakta Malaysia, Teohlogy, Found In Malaysia and a couple of books from ZI which I actually bought: Amir Muhammad’s Rojak: Bite Sized Stories and Hisham Rais’ Tapai)

About 100 years ago, the British colonials in the Malay States wanted as much distance as possible from the French in Indochina so they sought to create a buffer zone between their two empires. The British made a pact with the Siamese king who agreed to act as a buffer and to sweeten the deal, the northern parts of Malaya were carved out to become what is today the Malay/Muslim majority provinces of southern Thailand (comprising of Patani, Yala and Narathiwat). Apparently that pissed off the Patani Malays and they have engaged in an on-again, off-again violent uprising against Bangkok ever since.

Or have they? Malaysian broadcaster and journalist Zan Azlee travels to southern Thailand with a smile and “a big ass camera” in order to interview the people of Patani on what they think of the insurgency and how they cope with it while keeping an eye out for suicide bombers. It was to his surprise that what Zan Azlee saw there was not a bombed out war zone with a scared populace eking out a living whenever it was safe for them to leave their homes but a vibrant albeit under developed region where the locals are just as busy with their daily chores as anybody else in the world. Sure, there have been shootings and ambushes. In fact, his guide Daniya informs him that the hotel he was booked in was bombed not two months prior but things seemed to have cooled down overall. Two bomb-less months. Well, that’s nice.

A ‘warzone’ Patani may be, with the ubiquitous Thai soldiers patrolling the streets and motorcycles parked in the middle of the street with their seats unlocked and pointing up to the sky (because an opened seat means there are no bombs hidden underneath it and parking the bikes in the middle of the street places them away from the pedestrians),  but it is a complicated ‘warzone’. Interviewing the locals like restaurant owner Ku Souh Ku Hasan, Zan Azlee learns that no one knows for sure anymore which group is behind which attacks. Unlike in the Middle East, the Patani insurgents never take credit for any attacks on government officials and assets and the Thai authorities aren’t exactly paragons of virtue either. The police are allegedly corrupt and the army are heavy handed when dealing with suspects. The Krue Se Mosque massacre, where over 30 young men with no weapons were allegedly shot execution style by the Thai army, is cited as an example. Then there are the  drug dealers and smugglers, who take advantage of the troubles by engaging in their own turf wars and letting the insurgents take the blame. As usual, the local population are stuck in the middle with their heads bowed to avoid the bullets. It’s complicated. Nevertheless, life goes on as usual. Patani children are enrolled in privately funded schools where they learn Malay and Islam, two subjects that are not given much emphasis in government funded schools, marriage courses for about-to-be-wed Muslims are regularly held and even da’wah (preaching Islam) classes are not banned.

Zan starts off cautiously at first because like most outsiders he believed the news reports that Patani is an exceptionally ‘hot zone’ but is gradually more confident and curious as he travels around the place with his guide relatively unscathed while interviewing the locals whom he found to be very friendly and open. Operation Nasi Kerabu is an okay read especially as a primer on the situation in southern Thailand. It’s a quick read, just 111 pages not including a glossary at the back of the book, and it includes a DVD of his banned documentary on which the book is based. It was banned by the Malaysian government for what I thought was a spurious reason — they didn’t want to embarrass Bangkok. So why is it okay for it to be included for free with the book then? Sometimes I just don’t understand these bureaucrats.