Southern Discomfort

In

his three years in office, Thailand's Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, has helmed the best-performing economy in Southeast Asia and enjoyed stratospheric approval ratings. But a series of recent setbacks has many Thais wondering if he's losing his touch. Thaksin's woes began with his slow response to the recent bird-flu crisis, which has killed eight and devastated the country's chicken industry. Then, in quick succession, he was forced to back down from a controversial plan to close entertainment venues at midnight, respond to accusations that he was using his influence to muffle criticism in the local press, watch as thousands rallied in Bangkok to protest government plans to privatize state-owned industries, and defend his heavy-handed war on drugs after the U.S. State Department cited it as proof that Thailand's human-rights record had "worsened."

But the most troublesome of Thaksin's recent problems is the unrest in the country's Muslim south. To counter the resentment that many Thai Muslims feel at being marginalized, Thaksin traveled to the violence-plagued region last week to unveil a $300 million economic-aid package. But whatever credit Thaksin received for this development initiative he soon lost when reporters grilled him about another issue galvanizing the south: the disappearance of prominent Muslim lawyer Somchai Neelahphaijit. Somchai, a father of five, had vanished after going to a Bangkok hotel on March 12 to meet a client. A few days later his Honda Civic—showing signs that it had been rammed by another car—was found abandoned in a parking lot.

Thaksin at first appeared to dismiss the case, telling reporters that Somchai "just wanted to get away from family problems for a while." Rebuffing calls for a special investigation, he called Somchai "merely a lawyer." But to Muslims in the south, Somchai, 52, is a hero and icon. He has devoted his career to defending their rights against what he felt were "gross injustices committed by the central government against Muslims," says Sittisak Kongluer, a colleague of Somchai's at their small Bangkok law firm. Somchai's high-profile and often-controversial clients include four Thai Muslims accused of involvement in regional terror network Jemaah Islamiah and five men suspected of planning a deadly raid on a Thai army base on Jan. 4. The attack sparked an upsurge of violence in the area that has left at least 50 people dead, most of whom were local officials or police. Somchai claimed that police tortured the five suspects to extract confessions, an allegation the authorities deny. He also led a campaign to gather 50,000 signatures to petition the government to abolish martial law in the south.

Though Thaksin later ordered the police to assign a special team to the case, his government may already be losing the war to win the south's hearts and minds. Last Thursday nearly 40 buildings, mostly government offices, were burned down across the region; the authorities blamed the violence on Islamic militants. Thaksin is used to having his way, but this is one part of the country that's proving to be beyond his control.