Fears rise as tourism belt is hit by Thailand blasts

IT takes about two hours to drive from Penang to Haadyai, southern Thailand’s largest city, and for those living in Alor Setar, it takes only about an hour. That’s how close Haadyai is to Malaysia.

To be more precise, Haadyai is located just 30km from the Malay­sian border.

For northerners, it is easier, smoother and faster to reach these southern Thai towns than to drive to the heart of Kuala Lumpur from the suburbs when the traffic jam is at its peak, especially if flash floods hit the federal capital.

Most of us in parts of Penang or Kedah are able to watch the Thai TV stations and are likely to have relatives and friends in Haadyai or the seaside towns of Phuket and Songkhla.

Captain Francis Light, who discovered Penang in 1786, spent years in Phuket and married Martha Rozells, a Thai-Eurasian woman, before he managed to convince the British East India Company of Penang’s potential as a port.

It is common to see motorists from Penang or Kedah driving cars with Thai number plates and their homes probably have groceries from Haadyai. Possibly even their pets.

Saturday’s blast at the Lee Gardens Hotel has become the biggest talk up in the northern states because most of us would have stayed there at one time or another. Or worse, could have visited Haadyai over the weekend.

The Muslim insurgents have been blamed for the deadly coordinated attacks but there’s a huge difference this time.In the past, the bombs were planted in small, isolated towns that are off the highway. They were mostly small scale with little damage caused.

Sometimes, monks were beheaded in gruesome manner to send powerful messages of discontent to the authorities in Bangkok.But this is probably the first time that the Haadyai town centre has been hit. The bombing killed three people including a Malaysian.

By picking the 405-room Lee Gardens Hotel, a favourite of Malaysian and Singaporean tourists, the insurgents have now shifted their targets.

There is also a McDonald’s restaurant on the hotel’s ground floor at the busy Phachaitipat Road, popular with tourists. It is also within walking distance to the often busy Suntisuk Market.

Whoever is responsible wants to hit where it hurts most – the tourism dollar – and to create fear among tourists for some time. They did not care if there were women or children among the victims.

Another blast also took place at Yala city, another commercial hub of southern Thailand and the area chosen was also a busy area of restaurants and shops.

Over 5,000 people have been killed in Thailand’s three southern most provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala since Islamist insurgency flared in January in 2004, according to the Associated Press.

The coordinated bombings seem to suggest the start of an aggressive campaign by the insurgents against the authorities.

The dramatic killings, which have now received world media attention, also showed that the insurgents are now better organised and, eerily, better equipped. Instead of soft targets, they have picked tourists and foreigners to be killed – and that will put Bangkok in a greater spot.

Muslims in the south have long complained of discrimination by the government with insurgents attempting to set up an independent state.

In 2005, a state of emergency was imposed but the hardline stand failed to stop the violence and militancy.

Strangely, the peace accord between the Communist Party of Malaya and the Malaysian-Thai governments was signed at the Lee Gardens Hotel on Dec 2, 1989.

But in the case of the insurgents, the war of terror has continued and it will not be wrong to believe that the campaign could get worse from now.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shina­watra, from northern Chiangmai, certainly needs lots of luck to ease the escalating tension in the troubled South.

Source - thestar.com.my