Jebat : Malaysian Journal of History, Politics and Strategic Studies

The turmoil and conflict that emerged in 2004 was in essence a sequence of events between the Muslim Malays of Patani in Thailand and the government that began approximately a century ago. The Government of Thailand, especially during the reign of Chulalongkhorn now headed by Abihisit Vijajiva has adopted a magnitude of changes in approaches of conflict resolution. Various approaches have been applied but to avail in successfully bringing peace to the Kingdom. Hitherto, this situation provokes heuristic endeavors on the implementation as it overtly faces a conundrum surmounting conflict and its implications seem to tantamount and simultaneously paramount other conflicting issues. Hence, the Thai government’s conflict resolution approach in attempting to solvent key issues (independence) has raised other issues (identity, economy, education and human rights) evokes the OMIP rebellious struggle to continue. Thus, this descriptive analysis will discuss the forms of approaches adopted by the government of Thailand between 1960 and 2011. By employing the theory of political conflict and the conflict resolution management, these lenses will assist this discourse on the intentions behind the approaches to conflict resolution implemented in the territory of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala. The main findings indicate that the Kingdom of Thailand government`s policy approach towards Patani has negative effects and that causes other issues. Through this analysis, there are possibilities indicating that the government attempts to covert its role in addressing issues that arise.