Leader's Death Will Not Jeopardise Southern Thai Peace Talks - Analyst

By Mohd Haikal Mohd Isa BANGKOK, Jan 18 (Bernama) -- The death of Syafiin Abdurrahman or 'Sapae-ing Baso' recently is not expected to jeopardise the involvement of Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) in the ongoing informal peace talks with the Thai government. Syafiin, 81, who passed away peacefully in Malaysia on Jan 10 was reportedly regarded by many as the spiritual leader of BRN, the most influential and capable armed group in southern Thai. Dr Srisompob Jitpiromsri of Deep South Watch, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to monitoring the southern Thai conflict said BRN would probably maintain its participation in MARA Patani after Syafiin's death. "The passing of Syafiin will not have any immediate impact on the peace process as being the spiritual leader of BRN, he did not play an active role in the group or in the day-to-day running of it," he told Bernama recently. Furthermore, he said, the late Syafiin who was born in Yarang, Pattani could not exert an active role within the armed group as he had been known to be in ill-health for quite some time. BRN along with several other southern Thai groups had formed MARA Patani (Patani Consultative Council) as their umbrella body and representative in the informal peace talks with Bangkok. Facilitated by Malaysia, MARA Patani and the Thai government have been holding several rounds of informal peace talks in Kuala Lumpur with little success so far. MARA Patani spokesman Dr Abu Hafiz al-Hakim in a statement to Bernama following Syafiin's death, described the man as a "distinguished and unfaltering fighter". Srisompob who is also a lecturer at Pattani's Prince of Songkla University said no one really knew about BRN's command structure or its leadership due to the secretive nature of the armed group. The group which has been blamed by the Thai authorities for most of the armed attacks in southern Thai, was known to maintain a separate political and military wing, with its own set of leaders. On the possible replacement of Syafiin as the ideological head of the group, he said it was hard to know, as "the situation is still unpredictable", in addition to the difficulty in obtaining any information about BRN. The late Syafiin who was recognised by the Muslim community in southern Thai for his immense contribution in Islamic education and religious affairs in the provinces, had been living abroad for several years until his death. A religious school he led, the Thammwittaya Mulniti in Yala had churned out approximately 50,000 students since its establishment more than 30 years ago, according to a local media. Last Monday, more than 3,000 people performed a prayer service for him at the school. Due to his suspected involvement in security-related incidents, the Thai authorities was alleged to have put a bounty for his arrest, forcing Syafiin to flee. Meanwhile the local media quoted the head of government's peace panel Gen Aksara Kerdphol as saying that the peace process would not suffer due to Syafiin's death. -- BERNAMA