By Tim LaRocco
In the latest twist in the increasingly violent saga of Thailand’s southern problem, last month’s triple bomb blast in the province of Yala highlighted another failure of Yingluck Shinawatra’s 8-month-old government: to meet a campaign pledge to grant the three southern provinces of Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat “special administration zone” status.
In what has been a feature of her time in office, there’s been plenty of rhetoric, but little action.
In August, when Yingluck was being inaugurated as the first female prime minister in Thailand’s history, I wrote that her stump speeches in the heart of Thailand’s largely Muslim south were cause for much optimism. This was especially so considering that her brother and former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had left a legacy of hostility with respect to his southern policy.
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