A New Life: Ex-extremist Yousif Longpi making scarves
The call came early last year. The would-be terrorist—a tall, powerfully-built Malaysian in his late 30s—was summoned to southern Thailand to meet with a group of fellow jihadis. Among them were members of Southeast Asian terrorist organization Jemaah Islamiah (JI). They gathered at a Thai madrasah, he claims, where "we were preached to about armed conflict and discussed how to undertake suicide bombings." They were given newspaper cuttings showing "atrocities committed against Muslims worldwide, and this really riled me up. I wanted to seek revenge for every Muslim killed."
The education he received in Thailand was designed to hone the terrorism skills he would need. The group, he claims, was taken to a Thai military base where they underwent weapons and explosives training. "Uniformed Thai military officers were there," he says, "and they taught a few of us to handle C4 (explosives) and weapons like the M-16 ... Some were taught the skills of producing homemade bombs." The man, a member of Kumpulan Mujahideen Malaysia (KMM)—a militant Islamic group with strong links to Jemaah Islamiah and al-Qaeda—claims rogue Thai soldiers and local gangsters were paid protection money to ensure that the jihadi visitors could meet and train there without disturbance.
Since returning to Malaysia, the KMM member—interviewed by Time at a secret location 30 minutes drive from Kuala Lumpur—claims not to have put his terror training to use. "We had to go underground when September 11 happened," he explains. "I lost touch with many of my friends and members of different groups whom I had met in Thailand. But I know my friends are alive and that the cells are still active after the Bali bombings." For his own part, he says he is still waiting to be given a mission. (Another, more highly placed KMM source confirms this account, but says that since Sept. 11, this type of training in Thailand has ceased. Additionally, Malaysian authorities broke up a KMM-JI linked plot even before 9/11 and have arrested 60 suspected terrorists.)
If true, the KMM member's claims are among the most disturbing signs yet that Thailand was used as a training site and staging base for terrorist attacks. Lieutenant Lertrat Ratanavanich, Deputy Chief of Staff for the Royal Thai Army, strongly denounces such charges, "This is absolute rubbish. We have no intelligence report stating that the madrasahs were used by the Muslim radicals. There are also no intelligence reports showing that the JI had even come into the country." He also adamantly denies that Thai army officers trained jihadis: "It's not true." He adds, "I agree that there have been some unfortunate incidents in southern Thailand, but these were the work of the thugs and gangsters."
Perhaps. But speculation is rising that the south, which is predominantly Muslim, has become a hospitable base for would-be terrorists to meet and plan without arousing suspicion. Earlier this month, a chilling FBI report surfaced, revealing that leaders of Jemaah Islamiah had gathered in southern Thailand in mid-January. Led by JI's alleged head of operations, Riduan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali, they are said to have hatched plans at the meeting to attack tourist retreats and other "soft targets" in Southeast Asia.
Violence is no stranger to residents of Thailand's deep south. At first glance the five Muslim provinces at the tip of the Thai isthmus are some of the sleepiest communities in this largely Buddhist country. Indeed, there are few visible reminders of the bloody struggle waged here in the 1970s and 1980s by Islamic separatist groups. The fervor for separatism has waned as the era of suppression once practiced in the south by the Buddhist-dominated central government has passed. "The vast majority of Muslims in the south simply want to live in peace," says Perayot Rahimula, a professor of Islamic Studies at the Prince of Songkhla University in Pattani. "They have no time for violence."
Yet bloodshed is on the rise. A spate of bombings of Buddhist temples, arson attacks on schoolhouses and the cold-blooded murders of 21 police officers this year have shaken the south. Intensifying the unease is the fact that no one knows for sure who is behind this violence. "We are all frightened," says Sanit, a 26-year-old Muslim police officer in Narathiwat, who wears a bulletproof vest on patrol. "The bullets come out of the bushes. We don't have a chance."
The government has dismissed any link between the attacks and radical Islamic separatist groups. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has stated repeatedly that the violence is linked to criminal gangs working with corrupt politicians to discredit the government, as well as rogue police and army officers jostling for control of the border's lucrative trade in guns, prostitutes, petroleum and drugs. Likewise, Thaksin has lashed out at claims that Hambali planned the Bali blast on Thai soil. The Prime Minister branded these reports as "fabrications" from "crazy people."
Others are not so quick to rule out the idea that southern Thailand has become a base for terrorists. "Security has been tightened dramatically in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and now Indonesia," says Panitan Watanayagorn, a security and defense analyst at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. "If these guys have fled, where would they go? Thailand is the obvious choice." A Western intelligence source based in Kuala Lumpur agrees, "On a local border level, anything goes in that part of the world, so anything is possible."
Yousif Longpi, a founding member of what was once the most feared Islamic separatist group in the south—the Pattani United Liberation Organization (PULO)—has no doubt that if international Islamic extremists want to use southern Thailand as a launching pad for attacks on tourist destinations, or as a transit or meeting point, it's easily done. Longpi, a former PULO guerrilla commander who admits to blowing up police stations and bridges in the 1980s, accepted a Thai amnesty for Islamic militants in 1993 and now ekes out a living in a small town in Narathiwat province stitching patterns on headscarves for Muslim women. "Even when I was one of the most wanted men in Thailand I could easily slip across the border and find refuge in Malaysia," he says. "Nothing has changed now. Anyone who wants to come into Thailand can do it. And they can do whatever they want, as long as they have enough money."
While politicians in Thailand deny in public that international terrorists operate there, nobody wants to risk being caught napping. Thailand's National Security Council, an influential foreign policy body, "is concerned," says university professor Panitan. "The NSC chief recently said he didn't want to hear anyone say terrorism can't happen here. He's trying to raise awareness of the problem." Panitan also credits Prime Minister Thaksin with broadcasting a different message at international forums than the more calming one he delivers to the domestic audience. In recent speeches at an ASEAN conference in Cambodia, says Panitan, "Thaksin said he is stepping up security, and working with foreign security and intelligence organizations. By these words and actions he's admitting something is happening here."
So far, Thailand has stayed out of the terrorist line of fire. But in the shadowy world of the south, it's never wise to discount the enemy that may be lying in wait. As the frightened policeman put it: Bullets come out of the bushes, and you don't have a chance.
—With reporting by Mageswary Ramakrishnan/Kuala Lumpur
