Amidst the sense of hopelessness and desperation among many people from the unrelenting violence which has claimed more than 4,300 lives for the past seven years, there are still people who have not lost hope but who also have the drive and energy for new innovations for the good of the people in the deep South.

“From the old days, the people of Satun have never been starving because Satun is a land of aplenty. Satun is the land that our ancestors explored and built the first town and it is also a peaceful Muslim territory. It is also melting pot of peoples of all religious faiths who co-exist peacefully. We are the sons and daughters of the land of Satun, the land of the South and the land of Thailand…” ...

It was a week of bloody violence in the far South following the killing of Ma-ae Apibarnbae, a notorious extremist, and his three colleagues by security forces in Tambon Tarn To, Tarn To district of Yala province on May 20.

The unresolved violence in the deep South which has been going on for more than seven years appears to have taken a more sinister and worrisome aspect as some locals – both Thai Buddhists and Malay Muslims – have resorted to revenge attacks to settle the score themselves.

The Pattani provincial court ordered the release of eight Thai Muslims detained under emergency decree on Friday April 29 after the court rejected the requests of the security authorities to have their detention extended.