Thai leader tours scarred south
SUNGAI KOLOK, Thailand (Reuters) -- Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has toured a bullet-riddled mosque that has become a lightning rod for Muslim anger over his government's tough military response to an uprising in the restive south.
More than 30 people were killed when security forces stormed the Krue Sae mosque on April 28, the bloodiest incident in a day of carnage in which 108 militants died, threatening Thailand's image as a safe tourist haven.
"Let's start over," Thaksin told onlookers during a 10-minute stop at the mosque on Saturday, the last day of a tour aimed at mending relations with the mainly-Muslim region.
Critics say the army used excessive force to stop the uprising, particularly in killing the militants, many of them young students, who were hiding in the mosque after a failed attack on a nearby police post.
In the past week, thousands of curious and angry Muslims have flocked to the centuries-old mosque to see the pockmarked walls for themselves.
Some have handed out leaflets condemning the "barbaric" Bangkok government, but there was no public protest against Thaksin on Saturday.
"Most people are happy that he came. No one is mad at the prime minister. But people are not happy that so many people were killed at the mosque," said Abdul Kolae Waedeleh, a 36-year-old fisherman.
Thaksin, who has promised to help relatives of those killed, is on a three-day tour of the region, home to most of Buddhist Thailand's six million Muslims, many of whom are ethnic Malays, speak a Malay dialect and feel alienated by wealthier Bangkok.
He has not apologised for the actions of his security forces, but has launched an independent investigation into the violence at the mosque.
Muslim leaders are demanding Thaksin appoint non-partisan southern Muslims to the investigating commission, now made up mostly national-level Muslim judges, lawyers and academics.
"This should also boost confidence of local residents to come forth with information and minimise linguistic problems of communicating in the local Malay dialect," the Network of Muslim Organisations in Southern Border Provinces said in a statement.
It also urged the government to order state agencies to release all information and photos of the mosque incident to investigators, and compensate the relatives of those killed in a wave of violence in the south since January.
Development focus
 |  More than 30 people were killed when security forces stormed the Krue Sae mosque on April 28. |
Thailand's "CEO-style" leader has made development a focus of his three-day visit to one of Thailand's poorest regions, hoping promises of money and projects will defuse anger.
Thaksin told 30 business people in the southern town of Sungai Kolok on Friday night that he would create 100,000 jobs in the three southernmost provinces as soon as possible.
"Even though rubber prices are very good now, people are too afraid to go out to tap it. I've ordered every ministry to create 100,000 jobs urgently in the region," he said.
However, Bangkok's $300 million development plan for the region remains in limbo after it was halted last month to seek more local input on how to spend the money.
"We haven't seen any project that the government has pledged to do yet," said Yarpa Wajanalerdkul, vice president of Narathiwat's Central Islamic Committee.
Mystery still surrounds the mainly machete wielding attackers, who launched a series of dawn raids on army and police posts across three southern provinces, a severe escalation of four months of low-level unrest.
The government says they were drug-crazed and manipulated by extremists. Authorities are investigating whether religious schools, particularly privately run pondoks, are being used to recruit and indoctrinate young militants.
In his weekly radio address on Saturday, Thaksin said poverty and unemployment were the root causes of the violence.
"They are poor and have little education and no jobs. They don't have enough income and have a lot of time so it creates a void for people to fill," Thaksin said.
