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Dec. 7th, 2004 07:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theweaselkingThai goverment airdrops millions of origami cranes on troubled southern region. Responses include arson and murder.
Encouraged by the government, Thais across the country - Cabinet ministers, office workers, schoolchildren and even convicts - folded more than 130 million birds to promote peace in the south. Approximately 30 million will be delivered by land.
While meant as a morale-boosting measure for victims of violence, Sunday's origami airdrop resembled a festive treasure hunt with prizes offered for some specially marked birds. People who collected large quantities could trade them in for items ranging from cartons of milk to bicycles.
Especially coveted was one bird folded and signed by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, which offered a scholarship if found by a child, or a job for an adult.
Thaksin said Sunday the paper bird airdrop showed residents of the three southern provinces that they are part of Thai society, and that their countrymen care for them.
Hours after Thaksin spoke, the owner of a tea shop in Pattani was slain by gunmen, grenades were thrown at the homes of two policemen in the same province, and arsonists set fire to a state school in Yala and a teacher's house in Narathiwat.
The bombings, shootings and arson attacks came hours after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the airdrop Sunday of nearly 100 million Japanese-style origami cranes over the predominantly Muslim region had achieved an "enormous, positive psychological effect'' toward peace
Encouraged by the government, Thais across the country - Cabinet ministers, office workers, schoolchildren and even convicts - folded more than 130 million birds to promote peace in the south. Approximately 30 million will be delivered by land.
While meant as a morale-boosting measure for victims of violence, Sunday's origami airdrop resembled a festive treasure hunt with prizes offered for some specially marked birds. People who collected large quantities could trade them in for items ranging from cartons of milk to bicycles.
Especially coveted was one bird folded and signed by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, which offered a scholarship if found by a child, or a job for an adult.
Thaksin said Sunday the paper bird airdrop showed residents of the three southern provinces that they are part of Thai society, and that their countrymen care for them.
Hours after Thaksin spoke, the owner of a tea shop in Pattani was slain by gunmen, grenades were thrown at the homes of two policemen in the same province, and arsonists set fire to a state school in Yala and a teacher's house in Narathiwat.
The bombings, shootings and arson attacks came hours after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the airdrop Sunday of nearly 100 million Japanese-style origami cranes over the predominantly Muslim region had achieved an "enormous, positive psychological effect'' toward peace