Article 47

VIOLENCE IN THE SOUTH TRAINING, REHABILITATION AND RE-EDUCATION

Training for ustaz and `education' for inmates
POST REPORTERS

Yala _ A week-long training course has begun to boost relations between the state and Muslim religious teachers in southern border provinces.

Organised by the Provincial Administration Department, the Sept 20-26 course is being attended by 240 religious teachers under the government's programme to involve religious teachers, or ustaz, in solving southern unrest.

The teachers, 80 each from Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, are from Islamic private schools, ponohs and tadikas.

Guest speakers will include the Fourth Army commander, the Police Region 9 commissioner and security advisers.

Areefin Musor, chairman of the Tadika Association in Narathiwat's Tak Bai disrict, said the courses provide opportunities for the state and the ustaz to correct any misunderstandings and a forum where the ustaz can voice their opinions about the southern situation.

The Corrections Departme! nt will launch a special programme to try to change the attitude of prisoners in the South. Sutassa Chanlikit, director of the Prisoners Behaviour and Programme Development Centre, said the programme on security and ideology for national development was created to change the attitude and behaviour of prisoners whose minds were set against the government.

It will be launched in Nakhon Si Thammarat provincial prison where convicts guilty of serious crimes are being held, she said.

About 11 prisoners, mostly teenagers and middle-aged men, would be targeted in the first programme. Some of them were guilty of assaulting police, she said. They would not be told they were participating in the programme in order to prevent resistance.

``These people have been taught since childhood to be against the government and they believe firmly that what are doing is right,'' said Ms Sutassa.

``These inmates will be in prison for a long time so therefore they sho! uld be given a chance to change their behaviour before going back to s ociety.''

Re-educated militants now volunteer rangers
MUHUMMAD AYUP PATHAN

Yala _ Five militants who were rehabilitated in the wake of the April 28 bloody uprising have been recruited as volunteer rangers by the Fourth Army.

Narongporn na Phatthalung, chief of Krong Pinang district, said the men were involved in the riot but turned themselves in afterwards. They had completed a re-education scheme and returned to their communities and would work under the supervision of Krong Pinang district.

He gave their names as Isma-ae Mahae, Preecha Majeh, Masae Domah, Romli Ding and Adinant Masatae.

Mr Isma-ae yes! terday called on others who had taken part in southern violence to surrender to the authorities.

He said that he had been well treated by district officials and the army since surrendering.

Authorities yesterday ordered tighter security for teachers and urged volunteer workers to work in pairs, amid reports of possible attacks in Krong Pinang district.

Meanwhile, officials in Yala were reportedly scrambling for bullet-proof jackets for personal use following murder of a Pattani provincial court judge, shot while driving through the town on Friday.