After the May 2023 general election, the eight-party coalition led by the Move Forward Party signed an MOU to form a democratic government, but the document was revoked when Pheu Thai left the coalition along with the Prachachat Party, an influential party in the Deep South, to form a coalition with parties under strong military influence. Hara Shintaro writes on the impact of revoking the MOU on the peace process in the Deep South and the possibility of rebuilding trust in the process under the current political situation.

<p>Sumaiya Minka had to spend the night in great anxiety after her husband, Abdullah Isomuso, was detained as a suspect by the security forces on 21 July 2019 after he finished the Maghrib prayer (the prayer after the sunset). He was taken for interrogation to Ingkhayutthaborihan Fort, the largest military installation in the southern border provinces of Thailand. She was later informed that her husband was found unconscious in his cell and was admitted to the ICU.&nbsp;</p>

<div> <div>At the end of February 2018 there were reports from the mainstream media in Thailand about the detailed plan for the safety zone and the safe house which would be located in the vast precinct of the Pattani Provincial Islamic Council <a href="#1">[1]</a>. These reports were based on sources from the Thai negotiation team, such as Gen Aksara Kerdphol, the head of the Thai delegation, and Maj Gen Sitthi Trakulwong, the secretary of the dialogue team. </div></div>

<div>Hara Shintaro compares 2 anti-social organisations: the Japanese yakuza and the Muslim Malay insurgents in Thailand's Deep South.&nbsp;</div> <p></p>

<div><em>Before the intensification of Southern Thailand’s long-running insurgency in the early 2000s, the region, (known as Patani) lacked a developed art scene, and the conflict which erupted in 2004 seemed to have devastated artistic creation among the local population. However, in the middle of the endless armed conflict, a new generation of artists has emerged in the region, struggling to seek out their identity/the region’s real identity through the creation of artwork.</em></div> <p></p>

<div> <div><em>Since ISIS has made headlines in international media, many analysts have linked the insurgency of Thailand’s three southernmost provinces to the transnational jihadist groups. Hara Shintaro, an expert on the Deep South conflict, argued that the struggle was more distinguishably nationalistic since it was led by the local elites and was strongly influenced by the atmosphere of post-World War II </em><em>decolonisation</em><em>.&nbsp;</em></div> <div> </div></div>

<p dir="ltr">With the north and Isan (northeast), the three southernmost provinces (Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat) are where the majority of the people rejected the draft constitution in the referendum held on 7 August 2016. It also must be noted that in 5 districts in the region, a majority of voters failed to cast a ballot (Khok Pho District in Pattani, Mueang and Betong districts in Yala, and Su-ngai Kolok and Sukhirin districts in Narathiwat).</p>

<div><em>The second round of the peace process in Patani seems to be following the first round’s suit: ending up in a stalemate. However, even an abortive attempt for a peace process is not at all useless, and is able to create a considerable impact on the political public sphere in the conflict area.</em></div> <p></p>