Contemporary Islamic Movement

Contemporary Islamic Movement

There are four major Muslim underground groups currently actively in the four southern border provinces of Thailand. They include the Barisan Islam Pembebasan Patani (BIPP) or Islamic Liberation Front of Pattani; Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) or National Revolutionary Front; Pattani United Liberation Organisation (PULO) or Pertubuhan Perpaduan Pembebasan Pattani; and Barisan Bersatu Mujahideen Patani (BBMP) or United Fronts of Patani Fighters. These fronts emerged as a result of transformation of the earlier Muslim resistance movements which largely organized around members of the Malay ruling and religious elites, such as Gabungan Melayu Patani Raya (GAMPAR) and Patani People’s Movement (PPM). The earlier struggles, however, had been confined to political activities with only sporadic outburst of violence. When GAMPAR and PPM leaders died in 1953 and 1954 respectively, the organizations disintegrated. Tengku Abdul Jalal bin Tengku Abdul Muttalib, former deputy leader of GAMPAR formed Barisan Nasional Pembebasan Patani (BNPP)

The BNPP (presently BIPP) leadership comprised both traditional aristocrat and religious leaders. Its pattern of resistance became more ideologically-inclined; its objective was no longer autonomy or irredentism but restoration of independence. The preferred strategy also was widened to include not only political activities but also armed guerrilla warfare. Idris bin Mat Diah (alias Pak Yeh) became guerrilla leader and began his guerrilla operations in the four provinces. From the early 1960’s onward, armed clashes with the government forces occurred intermittently.

At the same time, cleavages among the Muslim activists emerged. Although the BIPP objective was to gain independence, the idea of restoring a sultanship was still floated by some of its leaders and supporters, especially the formar aristocrat. This left the impression that should the struggle of the BIPP succeed, the Patani sultanate might be restored. The more progressive Muslims, such as ustaz Karim Hassan and his colleague hesitated to join the BIPP, but, instead, formed the BRN in 1963 with the aim of establishing a republic of Patani. Thus, the main factor contributing to the emergence of the BRN was ideological differences.

Also in 1968 the third front, PULO, emerged. PULO was organized in India by Tengku Bira Kutanila (Kabir Abdul Rahman), a Patani student who graduated from Aligarh Muslim Univercity, and a group of other Patani students of the same university. Soon after the formation of PULO, Tengku Bira moved to Mecca, Saudi Arabia and focused his recruitment efforts primarily on young, non-committed Patani Muslims by stressing nationalism and differentiating PULO from BIPP’s orthodox Islam and BRN’s “Islamic socialism”. PULO also cultivated its support in the homeland, in Malaysia and among Patani students in different Arab countries.

In 1985 Wahyuddin Muhammad, former vice chairman of the BIPP and several other leaders formed BBMP in an attempt to provide an umbrella organization to the separatist struggle in Patani. Since it is a very young front, it is premature to discuss the nature of the organization and to predict its performances.

Although the fronts differ in many ways, they all view the Thai administration as a colonial power with which no compromises. At the height of their guerrilla activities (1970 – 75), the term “invisible governments” was used by some Muslim villagers to describe the fronts. Each organization developed its sphere of influence in different areas throughout the Muslim provinces. Muslim villagers who lived within these spheres were directly or indirectly involved in the activities of the fronts. They were often reminded of their obligation to be involved in the struggle and were cited the hadith that says, ‘the best of the believers is who fights in the cause of Allah with his wealth and his life’ (narrated by Bkhari and Muslim). Even though not all Muslim villagers were influenced by the fronts, most of them were aware of the liberation politics.

The fronts share certain common objectives: to fight for the independence of Patani; to establish a state and society based on Islamic values and way of life; and to promote Islam and preserve Malay identity and culture. All fronts stress the Islamic obligation of jihad and Malay nationalism.

Despite sharing common objectives, the fronts differ in ideology. BIPP is a conservative group committed to orthodox Islam, while BRN is more radical and outspoken in its opposition to the feudal institution of the sultanship. PULO seems to stand in the middle between the conservative BIPP and the more radical BRN, though it often sways either way to suit its purposes. The basic ideology of BBMP is also Islamic, though, as mentioned earlier, it is too early to suggest its actual ideological stance.

Apart from ideological differences, the fronts also differ in strategies and tactics. From the past experiences, the BIPP leaders today feel that they have only to recoup the front’s strength, but also to gather together more support, internally and externally, before launching another phase of militancy. The current emphasis is therefore on political organization and developing external political contacts rather than conducting insurgent activities. Whether or not this stance has led to a further weakening of the front is debatable.

The present leadership of BRN places emphasis on widening the base of internal support while organizing some guerrilla units and urban guerrilla forces. Under its former leader, ustaz Karim, the front was better known for its ability to mobilize support through the Islamic schools in the region.

Of the four fronts, PULO is most militant. It shares the political idea that “political power comes out of the barrel of a gun”. The front does not hesitate to create as much trouble for the Thai authorities as possible. It is not surprising, therefore, that PULO has been constantly being accorded responsibility for kidnapping, ambush and bombing.

In addition to the above differences, internal cleavages have further weakened each front. As mentioned earlier, some BIPP leaders broke away to form the BBMP. The BRN fractionalized into three main groups: religious, moderate and militant. Reconciliation among these groups seems too difficult at the moment. In the case of PULO, it has been divided into two groups since the removal of Tengku Bira in 1985 as its secretary-general. The main faction is led by Hajji Hadi Hajji Ghazali and Hajji Ismail Qadhafi, while Muhamad bin Muhammad, who views the former as being weak and not progressive enough, leads the other.

Presently, all fronts seem to concentrate their attention on repairing damages caused by internal cleavages than on keeping their liberation activities going. Nevertheless, a spate of violence which sporadicly occurred after relative lull in the past several years, is attributed to an attempt by the fronts, particularly PULO and BRN, to remind the Muslim villagers and the Thai Government of their existence.