By P. M. Yeophantong
As the Thai police struggle to find new leads in the case, speculation about the perpetrators has been rampant.
No one could have anticipated the bombing of Thailand’s Erawan shrine on August 17. Although the shrine itself has been the target of an attack by a crazed individual before – in 2006 a mentally ill Muslim man had used a hammer to destroy the Hindu shrine’s deity statue – it is widely considered a holy place of worship by Thais, having also attracted “believers” from other countries, especially from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Taiwan.
Reading through popular Thai blogs and websites like Pantip.com, it’s striking how quickly this tragedy has been politicized. For a country that has experienced more than its fair share of divisive political unrest in the past years, this is to be expected. Yellow Shirt supporters have already pinned the blame on the Red Shirts (and ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, in particular), just as critics of incumbent Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha have voiced concern over how the military government could use this tragedy as a ruse to stay in power.
But while there might be reason to suspect rogue Red Shirts given their track-record of arson in the surrounding area, as things stand, there is no reason why one should not also suspect Malay-Muslim insurgents from Thailand’s southern provinces, or Uyghur militants unhappy with the Thai government’s deportation of 109 Muslim Uyghurs back to China in July. (In contrast, speculation that the attack could have been orchestrated by the U.S., in the hope of undermining the ruling junta, does not sound compelling.)
Read the full story at The Diplomat