Photographs + Words: Matt Hunt

“Nowadays, they’re just killing them [police] in the checkpoints for their guns. They’re coming in the middle of the night, shooting them dead, and taking the guns to build their own arsenal to keep killing them more. It’s getting worse.” 

A high-level police informant based in the region – August 2023

Thailand’s Deep South—Yala, Narathiwat, and Pattani provinces—has been mired in an ongoing insurgency for almost two decades.

The roots of the insurgency trace back to the early 20th century when Thailand annexed the Malay-Muslim-majority region known as the independent Pattani Sultanate or Pattani Kingdom. Over the following decades, tensions festered due to forced assimilation policies and discrimination against the Malay-Muslim population now living in Thailand’s territory.

The region shares cultural and religious ties with neighboring Malaysia, contributing to a distinct identity in contrast to the Buddhist majority in the rest of Thailand. The Thai government’s promotion of Buddhism and centralizing power in Bangkok has sparked cultural and religious tensions in this predominantly Muslim area in various ways.

The cultural and religious divide has created a sense of alienation and marginalization among the Malay-Muslim population, making them more susceptible to radicalization. While there have been periods of relative calm, violent outbreaks have consistently reemerged, fueled by various factors such as inadequate economic development and unequal distribution of resources.

The establishment of separatist groups, particularly the Barisan Revolusi Nasional Melayu Patani (BRN) in 1963, marked a critical shift in the conflict, moving it towards war. These groups have engaged in guerrilla warfare and have been responsible for numerous attacks, often targeting security forces, schools, and government facilities. The Thai government’s response has included deploying additional security forces, martial law, and emergency decrees.

In 2004, the Thaksin Shinawatra government played a pivotal role in declaring the current emergency decree in Thailand’s Deep South. Thaksin’s approach to the insurgency was marked by a heavy-handed response, including the controversial “war on drugs” campaign that led to widespread human rights violations and over 3,000 unexplained deaths.

Thaksin’s approach escalated tensions and further fueled the insurgency. The watershed moment came in April 2004, when the Krue Se Mosque in Pattani was stormed by Thai security forces who killed 32 Muslims taking shelter in the mosque during a standoff. This event, known as the Krue Se Mosque incident, led to a significant upsurge in violence and marked the Thai government’s declaration of the regional emergency decree in July 2005.

This decree, renewed every three months, has remained in effect for 18 years, giving the government broad powers to control and suppress the insurgency but also raising concerns about human rights abuses and lack of accountability in the region.

The most obvious sign of the emergency decree to those not involved in the conflict is the checkpoints. There are scores of checkpoints throughout all of the southern three provinces, especially within the cities. Working in Yala on this project, for example, required going through armed checkpoints 5-10 times per day, at least.

These checkpoints are common targets of insurgent violence. The soldiers working at the checkpoints are often in their early 20s, kind, and nowhere near the person you’d think was carrying the automatic rifle they grasp while waving cars through.

The following documentary photographs were taken in Thailand’s Deep South, between Yala, Narathiwat, and Pattani provinces, in August 2023. The copyright of these pictures belongs to the photographer, Matt Hunt. Additional copyright of specific images has been transferred to Anadolu Ajansi, who generously supported my independent coverage this year and licenses those images through their website.

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