Over 100 million paper birds were folded by ordinary Thais across the nation and distributed by air to say `peace' to their compatriots in Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani, Thailand's troubled, predominantly Muslim South, still reeling from the recent tragedy of Tak Bai. Of course, paper birds are too thin a consolation for the much maligned Muslims, too symbolic a token for their more tangible socio-economic problems of deprivation, discrimination and neglect. Of course, they are not enough. Indeed, the whole gesture is only good when it is followed as soon as possible with concrete action plans - long overdue - to alleviate the Muslims' plight.

But there is still something inspiring about the paper birds' event. Not because the Thai Army Officer uttered the word "sorry" when interviewed recently by the BBC, but because he acknowledged the mistake: To quote him verbatim: "Something we have done; a lot of mistakes in the past&&.We are now going the right way&..Will take at least two to three years to restore the faith of the southern Muslim population in the Army (BBC News Video and Audio entitled "The Thai government is planning a flamboyant goody gesture", 18 Nov. 2004). Imagine if the Israeli Prime Minister were to do that. How different the Palestinian scenario would be.

Then, there is that touching display of reciprocity when as the `birds' fell to their targets in the Muslim provinces, Muslim school children rushed out to collect them and seek the notes inside. Some students had constructed giant nets stretched across school yards to capture the paper cranes. What their reciprocity signifies is a reminder that for a long time the Muslims and the Buddhists have managed to co-exist amicably in this corner of the world. There is a message of hope in that reminder : that if they could live together in the past they could do it again, post-Tak Bai.

To be sure, let us not fail to recognize the more sinister side of the troubles in the South : of the bomb that exploded in Narathiwat province, just hours after army planes dropped the `birds' as a peace offering, injuring at least one soldier. Or, of the Thai Muslim girl from Narathiwat's Rusoh district who thought she would meet the Thai Prime Minister after she found the origami bird, supposedly folded by him, but was disappointed when she discovered that the phone number on the wing belonged to a construction worker (The Nation, December 8).

The message is already clear that paper birds and well-intentioned gestures are not enough to make for a durable peace in Thailand's troubled South. Let us be realistic about this stark truth. We are not naïve. But let us also give non-violent gestures a real chance. Because we must.

Dr. Amriah Buang

Committee Member,

International Movement for a Just World (JUST),

Malaysia.

10 December  2004.