Thailand tackles unrest with origami birds

A Royal Thai Air Force BP-67 plane drops paper birds on the southern Thai province of Yala, about 1,084 km (674 miles) south of Bangkok. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom
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It is a Government-sponsored goodwill gesture to bring unity to a region where more than 550 people have been killed this year in a Muslim insurgency.

The Thai people responded overwhelmingly to a call by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for each of the country's 62 million people to fold a paper bird in the name of peace, doubling the target to 120 million.

The air drops will coincide with celebrations to mark the birthday of revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

An estimated 50 military, police and government aircraft will deliver the paper birds over the southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat on a day-long air drop.

Some Islamic community leaders in the region have dismissed the plan as a political stunt and a Government-backed act of littering.

Mr Thaksin conceded the gesture would not end separatist militancy but hopes it could have a soothing psychological effect on communities traumatised by a year of violence.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1258150.htm

The Thai government is to launch an unusual peace offensive on Sunday.

Military planes will drop an estimated one hundred million paper origami cranes on the country's Muslim south.

The "peace bombing" of the paper birds has been scheduled to coincide with the 77th birthday of Thailand's revered king, Bhumibol Adulyadej.

More than 500 people have been killed this year in a surge in violence in the troubled provinces close to the Malaysian border.

It has been difficult to avoid the flurry of folding ahead of this weekend's paper crane bombardment.

This is inspired popular politics from a government that has faced severe criticism over its handling of the crisis in the south.

The idea was publicised by the Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, about two weeks after an incident that shocked the nation.

After demonstrations near the Thai-Malaysian border, close to 80 Muslim protesters suffocated when they were taken into custody and piled one on top of another into army trucks.

The government blamed insurgents for inciting violence but critics blamed an over-zealous response by security forces, whom they accuse of fighting a self-appointed war on terror.

Bemused locals

Thailand's moderate Islamic neighbours, Indonesia and Malaysia, have expressed their concern, worried that such violence could serve as a call to arms for extremists in their own countries.

But so far, this still appears to be a local matter.

Britain's foreign office has issued a warning against all but essential travel in the far southern provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla.

But on Sunday, the only danger will be the aerial onslaught of paper cranes.

The Muslim majority in the south appear bemused by the idea.

While reluctant to reject any goodwill, they say a political solution would have more meaning.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4069471.stm