Advice From On High

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Thailand's revered monarch rarely comments on affairs of state. But following the surge in violence in the deep south that was sparked by the deaths in October of 85 Muslim protesters in the custody of security forces, both King Bhumibol Adulyadej and his wife, Queen Sirikit, have spoken out. On Wednesday, in a speech broadcast to the nation, the King told a gathering of military and police generals in Bangkok that they must adopt softer tactics to handle the unrest—and warned that if they do not "manage the situation properly" the nation may "fall into ruin." The previous day, Queen Sirikit had appeared on TV to make a tearful plea for peace and urged her predominantly Buddhist national audience to "care for their fellow Thai citizens"—both southern Buddhists and Muslims alike. "We have laws," said the Queen, who recently returned from a two-month stay in the south. "But I don't know why they can't be used [to stop the killing]." Her words obviously carried weight: the next day, for the first time since the protesters were killed, no violent incidents were reported in the region.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra appeared to be listening, too. Though he has said that he regrets the deaths of the protesters in October, Thaksin has not apologized for the military's actions. But last week he agreed to meet a group of Bangkok academics and human-rights advocates pushing for more sensitive policies in dealing with the region's woes. One suggestion he has embraced is a plan to mobilize the nation to fold 62 million origami paper "peace" doves that will be dropped on the south by military aircraft on Dec. 5, the King's birthday. Since hearing the royal family's speeches, Thaksin "has adopted a different tone," says Panitan Wattanayagorn, a security and defense analyst at the Institute of Security and International Studies at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "But he still stands firmly behind the use of force."